Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

Small Times

Sept. 18, 2006 — The Woodrow Wilson Center Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies will release the results of a nationwide poll about the American public’s perception of nanotechnology.

A representative national telephone survey of 1,014 adults was conducted in August 2006. Results from the poll — as well as two complementary focus groups of adult women — will be released by the Center on Tuesday, Sept. 19. Geoffrey Garin, president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, which conducted the phone survey and the focus groups, will present the findings.

Questions addressed included: How many Americans are aware of nanotechnology? Who do they believe should monitor the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs, over-the-counter cosmetics and skin care products — categories that are being greatly impacted by nanotechnology? Does the American public feel that the benefits of nanotechnology will outweigh the potential risks?

Sept. 18, 2006 — SUSS MicroTec, a Munich, Germany, supplier of precision manufacturing and test equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, announced an order for its ELAN CB6L wafer bonding system to NanoWorld Services.

NanoWorld Services, located in Erlangen, Germany, is a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of integrated solutions for micro and nanotechnology. The company is part of the Swiss NanoWorld Group and specializes in the development and fabrication of microtechnological products, such as probes for scanning probe microscopy, based on semiconductor fabrication methods.

The ELAN CB6L manual wafer bonder is designedIspecifically for research, development, and pre-production wafer bonding markets. It has the same core technology as the SUSS fully automated bonders– including precise temperature and force during bonding, as well as computer controlled wafer processing — to ensure high-accuracy post bond alignment. The bonder is intended for MEMS, optoelectronic, advanced packaging and SOI applications.

Sept. 18, 2006 — Nano-Proprietary Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Applied Nanotech Inc., has been awarded an SBIR Phase I contract for the development of a “Dual Sensor Module for Human Detection” from the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency (HSARPA).

Applied Nanotech will design, develop and demonstrate a high reliability, low cost, low power chemical sensor to detect humans hiding in cargo shipping containers with the ability to operate in the harsh shipping environment.

Sept. 15, 2006 — NIL Technology, a Denmark-based provider of stamps for nanoimprint lithography and nanoimprint services, announced the launch of nanoimprint stamps with standard nanostructure down to 100 nm at a price of 1,950 Euros, or a little under $2,500.

The company said it believes the product will provide private companies and universities access to a technology which was previously reserved for the largest conglomerates.

“By making a stamp with standard structures which are ideal for test, development and education we make it possible to utilize the benefits from producing many identical stamps,” said managing director of NIL Technology, Theodor Nielsen, in a prepared statement, “and this allows us to provide stamps to the market with standard structures down to as little as 100 nm at a very low price,”

Nanoimprint lithography has been shown to produce structures smaller than 10 nm. NIL Technology specialized in the production of stamps which define the structures of the NIL process. The company says it has received orders over the last six months from countries such as the United States, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Germany, and Denmark.

Sep. 14, 2006 — FEI Co. of Hillsboro, Ore., and Malvern Instruments Ltd. of Malvern, UK, announced they have entered into a joint development and marketing program for advanced nanoparticle analysis utilizing Malvern’s particle image analysis software on FEI’s line of Quanta scanning electron microscopes (SEMs).

The companies say the combination delivers a powerful particle analysis solution that extends current analysis technologies for nano-sized particles.

Under the agreement Malvern’s particle image analysis software will be optimized for FEI’s Quanta SEMs. The software package is already used on Malvern systems that encompass traditional optical microscopes, such as the Morphologi G2, with many research and industrial users around the world.

The systems provide rapid data on particle size and morphology and yield distribution profiles for quality control and manufacturing applications. Rationalizing batch to batch variation of materials, identifying crystal polymorphisms and the identification of foreign bodies are just some of the current applications.

“As the size of materials used in product development and manufacturing continues to move from the microscale into the nanoscale there is an increasing need for characterization tools that move beyond the limits of light microscopy,” said Matt Harris, FEI’s vice president of worldwide marketing and business development, in a prepared statement. “This combination of FEI and Malvern technologies provides a powerful process and quality control tool for a growing number of nano-enabled products that are moving into production.”

Malvern’s business development director, Duncan Roberts, said that the joint venture with FEI represents the first time that Malvern software has been applied to another company’s instrumentation.

The bundled solution will be released later this year. It will be actively promoted to current and potential customers of both FEI and Malvern Instruments.

Sept. 14, 2006 — Agilent Technologies and The Institute for Biophysics at the University of Linz announced the annual Linz Winter Workshop where more than 25 invited speakers will present recent advances in single-molecule research in biology and nanoscience.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM), optical microscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques will be included. Attendees are invited to submit 15-minute talks or poster presentations. The workshop will take place Feb. 2 to Feb. 5, 2007 at the University of Linz, Austria.

“We are pleased to continue supporting this prestigious conference, which has a record of presenting new discoveries in the field of single-molecule research,” said Bob Burns, vice president and general manager of the Nanomeasurements Division at Agilent Technologies, in a prepared statement.

The company says that the 2006 workshop attracted more than 250 of the world’s leading researchers interested in the development of single-molecule techniques in the fields of biophysics, drug discovery and nanobioscience.

Dr. Peter Hinterdorfer, associate professor at the Institute for Biophysics and Workshop organizer, said in a prepared statement that “the goals of the workshop are to share new developments in single-molecule studies and to provide a common platform for industry and academia to exchange ideas.”

The AFM Winter School is offered in conjunction with the Linz Winter Workshop. It offers scientists new to the field hands-on training in a variety of topics including cell and recognition imaging, high-throughput screening with single-molecule sensitivity, and single-dye tracing in cells. The dates for the AFM Winter School are Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, 2007.

NanoCon Newswire

Sept. 11, 2006 (Romeoville, Ill.) — Nanophase Technologies , a technology leader in nanomaterials and advanced nanoengineered products, announced that the Company is a Gold Sponsor for NanoCon International 2006 conference and exhibition in Las Vegas September 20-22. NanoCon International 2006 focuses on key business issues, partnership development and marketing strategies in diverse nanotechnologies and anticipates more than 700 leading nanotech executives and decision-makers from around the world.

Joseph Cross, Nanophase’s president & CEO, is a member of the Advisory Board for the event and will participate on an expert panel on September 20 to discuss nanomaterials and current and emerging applications. Dr. Thomas Sawitowski, Manager of Nanotechnology for Altana Chemie/BYK Chemie, Nanophase’s market partner for nanomaterial enabled coatings, plastics, and inks, plans to make a keynote address on September 20 entitled “Partnering for Market Leadership: Case Study for the Plastic and Coatings Market” that will feature joint product development based on Nanophase’s unique platform of nanomaterials technologies.

Nanophase Technologies Corporation (NANX), http://www.nanophase.com/ , is a leader in nanomaterials technologies and provides nanoengineered solutions for multiple industrial product applications. Using a platform of patented and proprietary integrated nanomaterial technologies, the Company creates products with unique performance attributes from two ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 facilities. Nanophase delivers commercial quantity and quality nanoparticles, coated nanoparticles, and nanoparticle dispersions in a variety of media. The Company owns or licenses 19 United States and 43 foreign patents and patent applications. Information about Nanophase may be found in the Company’s public filings or on its website.

This press release contains words such as “expects”, “shall”, “will”, “believes” and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward- looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements in this announcement are made based on the Company’s current beliefs, known events and circumstances at the time of publication, and as such, are subject in the future to unforeseen risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s results of operations, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risk and uncertainties include the following: a decision by a customer to cancel a purchase order or supply agreement in light of the Company’s dependence on a limited number of key customers; uncertain demand for, and acceptance of, the Company’s nanocrystalline materials; the Company’s manufacturing capacity and product mix flexibility in light of customer demand; the Company’s limited marketing experience; changes in development and distribution relationships; the impact of competitive products and technologies; the Company’s dependence on patents and protection of proprietary information; the resolution of litigation in which the Company may become involved; and other risks described in the Company’s Form 10Q filed August 8, 2006 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Company’s forward-looking statements could be affected by general industry and market conditions and growth rates. Except as required by federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new events, uncertainties or other contingencies.

Nanophase Technologies

CONTACT: Joseph Cross, President, CEO, +1-630-771-6705, or, JessJankowski, VP, CFO, +1-630-771-6702, or, Nancy Baldwin, Investor Relations,+1-630-771-6707, all of Nanophase Technologies Corporation

Web site: http://www.nanophase.com/

Small Times

Sept. 12, 2006 — Surface Technology Systems plc (STS), a developer of plasma process technologies required in the manufacturing and packaging of MEMS and advanced electronic devices, announced the development of a new Deep Reactive Ion Etch (DRIE) plasma source which is compatible with 300mm silicon wafers commonly used in the large scale manufacturing of silicon-based integrated circuits.

The DRIE process is a key silicon micromachining technique invented by Robert Bosch GmbH, developed by STS and used in the manufacturing of MEMS for the past 10 years. As circuit complexity and device speed increases it is becoming increasingly necessary to stack thinned wafers or chips rather than integrate all the required functional elements into a single, two-dimensional system-on-a-chip (SoC).

As the number of stacked die and their I/O count increases wire bonding technologies become increasingly complex and costly. STS says through-wafer interconnects offer other advantages over wire bonding, including reduced die footprint, shorter interconnect distances and vias that can be positioned within the die rather than only at the edges.

With the launch of its Pegasus DRIE source in 2005, STS demonstrated higher silicon etch rates, which made the fabrication of the through-wafer via solution more attractive to IC manufacturers. The company says this created a demand for the same process capabilities on a 300mm platform.

Sept. 12, 2006 — QD Vision Inc. of Watertown, Mass., announced it has been quietly developing and refining a proprietary and scalable printing technique for the manufacture of quantum dot (QD) displays and has begun discussions with commercialization partners.

The company says the fabrication method employed is derived from a quantum-dot contact printing method originally developed at MIT. According to QD Vision CEO Mark Comerford, the successful demonstration of the company’s proprietary process is a technological milestone that will help pave the way for a new generation of displays that are larger, more reliable and higher quality.

The prototype red monochrome QD display has a 32 x 64 pixel count. The light emission originates from quantum dots — tiny inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals synthesized at QD Vision. The quantum dots were printed within a sandwich of organic semiconductor thin films, which deliver energy to the quantum dots enabling light emission.

“This is the first time we have produced a multi-pixel display using our new process, which is fundamentally capable of printing the fine features required for high-resolution display applications,” said Seth Coe-Sullivan, chief technology officer and co-founder of QD Vision, in a prepared statement. “In addition to making an attractive prototype display, this achievement demonstrates that QD Vision’s printing method can provide the uniformity over the extremely large areas necessary for printing displays.”

Sept. 11, 2006 — Cascade Microtech, a maker of tools and systems for precise electrical measurements on small structures, announced a partnership agreement with Philips’ MiPlaza research center and Agilent Technologies to create a new world class Electronic Measurement Laboratory on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The laboratory will enable development of complex nanoscale high-speed integrated circuits (ICs) at the heart of next generation wireless systems.

The laboratory will be equipped with high-performance, high-frequency measurement instrumentation, including Cascade Microtech’s RF probes and wafer probe station and Agilent Technology’s network analyzer for handling 300mm wafers with frequencies up to 67 GHz.

The lab will enable research groups to perform precise electrical measurements on ICs directly on-wafer and will be fully supported by applications personnel and measurement specialists.