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By Tom Cheyney
Small Times Contributing Editor

Feb. 15, 2007 — As the first commercial flexible electronics reach consumers, many significant manufacturing and technological obstacles must be overcome for the market to reach its multibillion-dollar potential over the next five to 10 years. This was one of the key themes at the U.S. Display Consortium‘s sixth annual Flexible Display & Microelectronics Conference, held last week.

The conference broadened its focus beyond flexible displays this year, adding photovoltaics, RFIDs, sensors, LEDs, and other organic and printed electronics to the topical mix. The event organizers also increased the number of technical sessions, with parallel tracks for manufacturing and thin-film transistor (TFT)/flex technologies convening during the second day.

The manufacturing track was particularly well attended, with presentations by Hewlett-Packard, Philips, and Applied Materials focusing on the development and differentiation of roll-to-roll and batch-style processing techniques. Papers from Semprius, Kodak, and Fujifilm Dimatix detailed efforts to adapt inkjet and classic printing techniques to flexible electronic applications.

The popularity of the manufacturing sessions also reflected the pioneering efforts by Polymer Vision, Plastic Logic, and other companies to move from the lab or pilot-line stage to volume production. Citing a long-term goal of putting “a rollable display in every mobile device,” Polymer Vision CEO Karl McGoldrick described his company’s efforts to bring its ultrathin-film-transistor polymer display module to market.

Polymer Vision, which spun off from Philips late last year, has announced it will ramp up a Southampton, U.K., manufacturing facility (in partnership with Innos). The company has also entered into an agreement with Telecom Italia to “bring the ‘cellular book’ to market.” Models of what the company touts as the “world’s first commercial rollable display product” were to be unveiled at the 3GSM World conference in Barcelona this week, according to McGoldrick.

Company CTO Edzer Huitema told Small Times that a blend of refurbished and new AMLCD equipment will be deployed, as well as a proprietary lamination/delamination tool, in its Class 100 production facility (scheduled to come on line later this year). He said they are “on spec for creating the product,” with field-effect mobility and driving voltages comparable to conventional TFT devices. Although it is early, yields appear to be sustainable throughout the process flow. Defect sources, which are “comparable to those found in LCD manufacturing,” are “under control.” Ongoing quality control work is focusing on materials purity and various types of insulator layers, he added.


A prototype Plastic Logic e-book at the Flexible Display & Microelectronics Conference. (Photo: Tom Cheyney)

Bolstered by a recent funding round of $100 million, Plastic Logic plans to build and equip a green-field factory site in Dresden, said Simon Jones, VP of product development. The company expects to have “product-quality modules” of its “take anywhere, read anywhere thin, light, robust e-paper displays” by mid-2008, with a production target of more than 1 million 10-in.-equivalent units for 2009.

Plastic Logic’s direct-write, room-temperature process requires no mask alignment and can be scaled to a large substrate size. Jones explained that the company “measures contrast and yield on every panel” and has “captured a huge amount of defect data,” which is “essential for the move from R&D to production.”

During his presentation on the alignment of market forecasts, manufacturing capacity, and investments in organic, plastic, and printed electronics, cintelliq‘s Craig Cruickshank offered a sober assessment of the prospects for manufacturing. He said that, other than in the organic LED (OLED) sector, “the industry will take longer to commercialize than currently anticipated.”

Cruickshank’s data showed that despite the recently announced factory investments, “significant production capacity will need to be built over the next three years to satisfy demand by 2010/2011.” Nearly $800 million will be necessary over the next three years “to build the capacity needed¿to meet the forecasts.” As a result, device and materials companies “need to decide whether to enter production in the next year or so.” He also noted that government investments in the industry in Europe and North America “still exceed the accumulated venture capital funding,” which suggests that the industry remains in R&D mode.

The development of a highly sensitive biochip based on silicon nanowire technology promises to advance the detection and analysis of RNA and DNA, which is central to many life sciences endeavors, ranging from uncovering and diagnosing disease to the discovery and screening of new drugs.

Development of the silicon nanowire biochip is made possible with a research collaboration agreement among the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) of Singapore, Australia-based BioChip Innovations and a Singapore biotech company, SiMEMS. The collaboration will bring together IME’s expertise in silicon nanowire-based sensor chip technology and the work that BioChip Innovations and SiMEMS had been doing on silicon biochips for RNA and DNA testing.

The silicon nanowire biochip will be able to shorten the time for genetic testing by directly detecting single molecules of RNA or DNA. Nanometer-scale dimensions enable silicon nanowires to offer increased detection sensitivity. The nanowires can also electronically detect bio-markers and other bio-molecules such as viral, bacterial and other specific genetic sequences.

According to Uppili Raghavan, CEO of SiMEMS, most biochip systems in use or in development currently depend on complex and expensive optics, signal processing systems and data interpretation, all of which are impediments to adoption by the diagnostics industry. “The development of nanowire sensors with electrical data readout is a breakthrough advancement in molecular based medicine. These devices can be manufactured in standard CMOS silicon foundries, which means they can be mass produced reliably and cost effectively,” said Mr Raghavan.

Associate Professor Theo Sloots, Unit Head of Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, said there is a huge potential market for such applications in the DNA diagnostic area.

“The silicon nanowire biochip technology promises to become the new generation of diagnostics which will surpass the potential of previous technologies. The application of this technology in infectious disease diagnostics offers the exciting promise of rapid testing in the laboratory and ultimately at the bedside. This will have a significant impact on health economics and models of patient care,” he speculated.

TopChim’s NanoTope is used to produce Mondi’s new neox paper (Photo: Mondi Business Paper)

Feb. 14, 2007 — A research company focused on innovation for the paper coating industry, TopChim says its patented nano-hybrid technology is being used to achieve an industry first in paper production surface treatment.

According to the company, its new technology, NanoTope, creates a smooth, homogenous, nano-structured paper surface. This makes Mondi Business Paper‘s neox “uniquely versatile,” TopChim says: It unites the gloss and smooth surface feel of a coated paper with the high whiteness and stiffness expected of a quality uncoated paper. “By utilizing nano-hybrid technology, developed by TopChim nv, we have achieved a breakthrough in production of pigments on nano-scale for coatings to produce color laser printing paper. It is a paper more versatile than anything on the market to date,” explained Günther Hassler, CEO of Mondi Business Paper.

“We have succeeded in combining the advantages of coated and uncoated paper in one sheet. neox is like nothing the paper world has seen before,” Hassler added.

“For more than two years, our research team and the Competence Center for Innovation of Mondi Business paper have been working on the development of neox,” commented Henk Van den Abbeele, R&D director and founder of TopChim.

TopChim CEO Eric Jönsson elaborated, “This mutual agreement covers one of the first industrial roll-outs of our successful inventions in nanotechnology. TopChim’s objective is to introduce its nanotechnology in a variety of surface performance applications, including innovative barrier coatings for packaging, printing inks and textile treatment.”

NanoInk, a company specializing in nanometer-scale manufacturing and applications development for the life sciences and semiconductor industries, has exclusively licensed intellectual property from Arrowhead Research Corporation, a publicly-traded nanotechnology company commercializing new technologies in the life sciences, electronics, and energy arenas. The licensed patent application covers use of surfactants to support NanoInk’s Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) technology, which involves deposition of nanoscale materials onto a substrate.

“Our license from Arrowhead Research Corporation, coupled with several recently awarded patents, is helping to protect and strengthen NanoInk’s intellectual property portfolio,” said Dr. Cedric Loiret-Bernal, NanoInk’s Chief Executive Officer. “This intellectual property will play a critical role as we continue to explore the applications of our DPN technology to drive the development of high value end products.”

The licensed technology was developed through Arrowhead’s sponsored research at the laboratory of Dr. Patrick Collier at the California Institute of Technology. “The dip pen nanolithography project was one of the first to be sponsored by Arrowhead, and we have worked with Dr. Collier and Caltech to patent the inventions generated under the agreement,” said R. Bruce Stewart, Chairman of Arrowhead. “We intend to continue to license Arrowhead’s new technologies when the economics make sense, in addition to commercializing products through our subsidiaries.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has notified NVE Corporation that it will issue today a patent relating to NVE’s magnetothermal Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM).

NVE is known for commercialization of spintronics, a nanotechnology that many experts believe represents the next generation of microelectronics. MRAM is an integrated-circuit memory, fabricated with nanotechnology, that uses electron spin to store data. MRAM may have the potential to combine many of the best attributes of different types of semiconductor memories.

Magnetothermal MRAM uses a combination of ultra-fast magnetic fields and heat pulses, both from electrical current, to reduce the energy required to write data and allow reduction of the memory cell size while maintaining thermal stability.

The patent, number 7,177,178 and titled “Magnetic Memory Layers Thermal Pulse Transitions,” is in addition to patent number 7,023,723, which is similarly titled and was granted in April 2006. The invention of the new patent relates to dual-film MRAM cells.

Andy Tao uses a linear ion trap mass spectrometer to analyze several hundred proteins per hour. (Photo: Purdue Agricultural Communication/Tom Campbell)

Feb 13, 2007 — The problem with current protein profiling methods is that the small samples are so sensitive that “we can’t effectively use existing technologies to study them,” says Andy Tao, a Purdue University biochemist. In an effort to discover a better way to ascertain the presence, concentration, and function of proteins involved in disease processes, Tao and his colleagues bound a complex nanomolecule, called a dendrimer, with a glowing identification tag delivered to specific proteins in living venom cells from a rattlesnake.

The researchers hope the new method will also facilitate better, more efficient diagnosis in living cells and patients. Because molecular interactions and protein functions are disturbed when samples are collected, researchers can’t obtain an accurate picture of biochemical mechanisms related to illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

Tao and his research team used dendrimers because they can pass through cell walls efficiently with little disturbance to the cells and then label specific proteins with isotopic tags while cells are still alive. This allows the scientists to determine the activities of proteins that play roles in specific diseases. Proteins carry genetic messages throughout the cell causing biochemical changes that can determine whether a cell behaves normally or abnormally. Proteins also are important in directing immune responses.

The team, which includes Purdue postdoctoral student Minjie Guo and Purdue graduate student Jacob Galan, report on their new strategy to discover proteins and protein levels, called soluble polymer-based isotopic labeling (SoPIL), in the current issue of the journal Chemical Communications. The study also is featured in the journal’s news publication Chemical Biology.

The dendrimers would carry one of the stable isotopic or fluorescent labels to identify the presence or absence of a protein that can be further developed for use as a disease indicator, or biomarker.

Snake venom cells were used because they have a very high concentration of proteins similar to some found in human blood, Tao said. The proteins apparently are part of the biochemical process that affects blood clotting or hemorrhage. Understanding how the proteins behave could help determine predisposition to heart disease and cancer and also be useful in diagnosis and drug development.

In future research, Tao plans to investigate how dendrimers are able to enter the cell so easily, what happens to them once they are in the cell and whether there are any long-term effects.

Purdue University and the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute provided funding for this study.

By Sarah Fister Gale
Small Times Contributing Editor

Feb. 12, 2007 — Mark Field, president of Ford Motor Company of the Americas, recognizes the huge potential nanotech research holds for the future of automotive manufacturing. “The breadth of possibilities for new materials are endless,” he said at a press conference on February 7 during the 2007 Chicago Auto Show, where Ford unveiled its latest investment in nanotech research at Northwestern University.

In a drive to ramp up development of lighter weight metals, more durable plastics and other revolutionary materials, the company invested $2 million in Imago’s Local Electrode Atom Probe tomograph (LEAP), that is now housed at the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The LEAP, one of only four such tools in North America, uses a high electric field to remove individual atoms from material surfaces and a position-sensitive detector to record information that reveals the atom’s position and identity. The incorporation of a local electrode eliminates or mitigates many of the performance limitations of traditional atomic probe tomographs (ATPs). It can rapidly analyze the molecular make-up of metals and plastics down to their atomic structure, and projects statistically relevant 3D image of the nanostructure. The resulting data breaks down the primary elements in the composition and defines the make-up and location of trace elements and unusual clusters that could have implications for material improvements.


Ford has invested $2 million in Imago’s LEAP (Photo: Imago)

The device is exciting, both in that in delivers information in a fraction of the time that conventional ATPs require, and that it enables researchers to gather data not previously attainable, says Erica Perry Murray, Ford on-campus manager for the Ford Boeing Northwestern Alliance. “Experiments that used to take 10 months to complete, can now be conducted in less than 16 hours,” she says. “With that speed and statistical relevance, the LEAP eliminates much of the trial and error of developing new materials.”
Ford anticipates that the work being done with the LEAP will lead to new materials being incorporated into vehicle design faster than previously imagined. “We are at the early stages of nanotechnology research but our research is solutions-based and we are excited about the potential applications,” says Fields.

While none of the nanotech materials projects being conducted through the Alliance have come to market yet, Ford anticipates developments in the areas of lighter weight metals, more durable plastics, scratch and ding resistant paint, light sensitive window tints and stain resistant upholstery. Initially the coatings and paints have the most near term potential because they will not have to go through the rigorous safety testing that the structural materials must complete, Murray says. Ford predicts that it will be using durable nano-based paints and some coating technologies on several vehicles by 2010.
Fields notes that all of these potential materials will translate into value-adds for consumers and have potential for greater fuel economy through the reduction of vehicle weight. “Weight savings is going to be very important in the future of vehicle design.”

Innos, a U.K.-based research and development company for innovations in nanoscale technology, is part of a consortium that has won funding from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to research the medical applications of a MEMs microgenerator. The two-year Self-Energising Implantable Medical Micro Systems (SIMM) project will prototype a device capable of harvesting energy from movement in or on the body. It will provide power and prolong the life of electronic medical implant devices such as cardiac pacemakers, prosthetic joint wear monitors and nerve stimulation.

“Typically, medical implant devices will fall short of their required lifespan due to the degradation over time of batteries and inductive power loops used to power them,” says Alec Reader, Business Development Director of Innos. “This DTI funded project will deliver the prototype of a commercially viable microgenerator that will prolong the life of a medical implant, reducing the number of costly and distressing replacement surgical procedures currently required.”

Innos will execute the silicon-based development and fabrication of the device, from the vibration energy-harvesting microgenerator technology provided by Perpetuum, completing the prototype for Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd. to comprehensively test. InVivo Technology will be establishing the clinical acceptability and feasibility of the energy capture mechanisms and Odstock Medical will use the technology developed in the FES marketplace. Project leader Zarlink Semiconductor is responsible for the advanced micro-packaging techniques.

Feb. 9, 2007 — Independent MEMS microfabrication company Micralyne Inc. has broken ground on a facility expansion that will increase its manufacturing capacity to accommodate a growing customer base.

The expansion includes 10,000 sq ft of new manufacturing space in the existing building with Class 10 and Class 1000 clean rooms for silicon MEMS fabrication, testing, and assembly. This increases Micralyne’s Class 10 clean room space by 70% and Class 1000 space by 50%, and positions Micralyne for continued revenue growth.

An extension for additional offices and meeting rooms is also under construction.

“The push behind our expansion is due to an increase in customer demand as well as the need to relieve congestion within our existing clean rooms”, said Chris Lumb, President & CEO of Micralyne. “We will be able to serve the needs of our current customers plus have strategic capacity available for prospective customers who are considering outsourcing their current MEMS production”.

Lumb added that Micralyne’s revenues have grown steadily and its employee base has more than doubled since 2005, to 175. “Furthermore, with the new space, we will have the room to add new equipment for an even broader product and service offering,” he added.

Expected completion date is October 2007.

By Barbara G. Goode
Small Times Staff

Feb. 9, 2007 — “Nanotechnology,” said National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) director William Jeffrey, “promises to redefine 21st century manufacturing just as the assembly line redefined 20th century manufacturing.” But, Jeffrey pointed out, “there are definite ‘minefields’ that must be crossed and technical barriers that must be scaled before nanotechnology can reach its full potential.”

Nanotech was a major focus of Jeffrey’s a press briefing this week in which he discussed NIST’s fiscal-year 2008 plans.

Jeffrey began by pointing out that President Bush’s 2008 budget request calls for an 11% increase in funding for the NIST core (research and facilities) over the 2007 request. That is a 21% increase over the funding as specified in the joint resolution passed by the House of Representatives last week and sent on to the Senate. The proposed increases are part of the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), a long-term plan to not just maintain but to enhance the U.S.’s global economic competitiveness. Under the ACI, funding for NIST’s core, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science is slated to double by 2016.

The 2007 and 2008 budget requests include a total of $26 million in initiatives for NIST research in nanotechnology. This includes funding for the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, a partnership among NIST, industry, and universities that combines a “world-class” nanofabrication and nanometrology user facility with a strong research program. The Center’s emphasis will be on overcoming technical barriers for nanotechnology development and adoption.

“For example,” Jeffrey said, “products built from nanoscale components require entirely new ways to accurately quantify their properties and determine their sizes, shapes, and chemical composition. And there is an urgent need to improve understanding and measurement of nanomaterials to ensure safe handling and protection against potential health or environmental hazards that may be posed by specific types of these materials.” NIST says it has already made substantial contributions on these two fronts for the carbon nanotube, which may one day be the critical elements in the strongest of fibers, the fastest of circuits, and the most sensitive of sensors. “But first we must learn how to make them consistently in the same sizes and shapes, with reliable properties,” said Jeffrey.

He also said that the unusual properties of carbon nanotubes have raised questions about possible health and environmental effects. “Recent NIST measurements have shown that typical nanotube samples are far from uniform and often contain large amounts of impurities that arise as a byproduct of the manufacturing process,” said Jeffrey, adding that we don’t yet know whether possible adverse effects of nanotube samples are caused by the nanotubes themselves, by impurities, by size variation, or by some other factor. “But we do know that for health and environmental researchers to draw valid conclusions they need accurate ways to measure, analyze, and purify nanotube samples,” Jeffrey noted. “NIST will use a portion of its funding to develop the measurement techniques required to better characterize potential nanotechnology impacts to our health, safety, and environment.”

Among NIST’s proposed 2008 research initiatives is an additional $4 million in funding for quantum science to help provide the fundamental physics methods needed to manipulate individual atoms and light particles.

NIST’s 2008 facilities budget is designed to ensure that staff and guest researchers have the laboratory capabilities they need to continually advance measurement’s cutting edge, said Jeffrey. So, the 2008 budget will start construction of state-of-the-art laboratory space that will meet the stringent environmental conditions. Likewise, the capacity and capability enhancements at the NIST Center for Neutron Research is critical for promoting innovation. This initiative begun in 2007 is in the second year of a planned five-year program to expand significantly the capacity and capabilities of the center. “With the 2008 funding, we will complete construction of a new guide hall which will ultimately house five new state-of-the-art instruments and allow an additional 500 researchers per year to study advanced materials and biological systems at the smallest spatial scales,” Jeffrey explained.

According to Jeffrey, the proposed NIST increases and the fact that the House joint resolution provided a $60 million increase in NIST’s core ¿ despite a severe budget climate ¿ demonstrates broad recognition of the important role that NIST plays in supporting innovation. “Research universities are the wellspring of American scientific creativity and new knowledge. Industry uses that knowledge to build the products that allow a pilot to find her way in a snowstorm or a teenager to carry thousands of songs, a phone, and a photo album in one pocket-sized device. NIST is the glue that holds the two together. The results of NIST research are found in virtually every manufacturing and service industry,” he said.