Aug. 8, 2006 – Dow Corning Corp.’s Plasma Solutions Business introduced its PlasmaStream platform, which the company says can be used to coat virtually any surface to improve such characteristics as adhesion, waterproofing, low-friction slickness, or anti-microbial properties.

“The PlasmaStream benefits manufacturers of 3-dimensional, rigid or molded parts where surface or interface functionality can add value to their product,” said Andy Goodwin, Dow Corning’s program manager, in a prepared statement. “By providing new capabilities in terms of the variety and performance of functional coatings, product designers and engineers have new opportunities to customize the surface properties of a substrate, providing added value and competitive differentiation.”

For example, plastics used in automotive components, medical devices and microelectronics typically are difficult to bond, glue, coat or laminate. But Dow Corning says its PlasmaStream can deposit an ultra-thin plasma polymerized primer film, customized to the chemistries of the specific plastic materials, to deliver adhesion, bond strength and durability, even in harsh environments.

“While designed to be a mainstream manufacturing tool, PlasmaStream’s versatility and cost effectiveness make it suitable for R&D and pilot production as well,” said Goodwin. “This technology provides customers with options as they seek to further innovate their products.”

In addition to new or improved product performance, Dow Corning says the platform reduces manufacturing costs by eliminating process steps, such as drying and curing. The company maintains that the technology is environment-friendly, uses no water and is energy efficient since it operates at or near room temperatures, needs no solvents or surfactants, and has negligible waste disposal and recycling needs.

Its versatility in delivering many engineered surface functions is achieved by the use of a liquid precursor which is atomized and sprayed into the plasma jet, a Dow Corning patented process. A jet of cool plasma covers substrates with a uniform coating only tens of nanometers thick that chemically bonds to the underlying material.

PlasmaStream’s precursor polymerization and coating process is designed to be gentler than conventional plasma deposition processes which typically damage or destroy the precursor molecules, along with their functionality and value.

Aug. 7, 2006 – At the ECM 23 (European Crystallographic Meeting), Incoatec GmbH from Hamburg, Germany, a manufacturer of X-ray optics, and Bruker AXS Inc., a provider of advanced X-ray solutions for life and advanced materials sciences, launched their IuS X-ray microsource. The companies are calling it the brightest sealed-tube X-ray generator ever.

The companies say it offers numerous benefits: it has no moving parts, has a long lifetime without maintenance, is very stable, does not require water-cooling, is easy to replace, and has low cost of ownership comparable to common sealed tubes.

“For our Nanostar, Bruker AXS’s small angle X-ray scattering instrument, there is a factor of five intensity gain of the IuS over a conventional sealed-tube setup. This intensity gain is the optimum achievable value as predicted from ray tracing calculations,” said Frank Burgazy, executive vice president of Bruker AXS.

Aug. 4, 2006 – Nanogen Inc., a San Diego developer of advanced diagnostic products, and Fisher Scientific International Inc. of Hampton, N.H., announced that the companies have expanded their relationship to include a research and development collaboration in molecular diagnostics. The companies said the collaboration agreement complements Fisher’s equity investment in Nanogen announced in March 2006.

Nanogen and Fisher agreed to share technology and patent rights specifically for the development, manufacture and marketing of new molecular diagnostic products. Under the agreement, Fisher Scientific may provide up to $10 million in total during 2007 and 2008 for the research and development of infectious disease and molecular diagnostic tests that will be mutually agreed upon. The intention is that knowledge, intellectual property and capabilities of both companies will enable molecular diagnostic products to be brought to the market more quickly.

In addition, Nanogen and Athena Diagnostics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fisher Scientific International, have agreed to develop, manufacture and market products based on Athena’s proprietary biomarkers for research and for in vitro diagnostic use.

Aug. 2, 2006 – RASIRC, a steam purification company, announced that Rogue Valley Microdevices has purchased four RASIRC Intaeger UHP systems to install in its facility in Medford, Oregon. The systems will be used to generate the ultra high purity water vapor used for wet oxide growth. The Intaeger UHP is the first commercial technology that can purify steam from de-ionized water.

Rogue Valley Microdevices is a wafer foundry that grows oxide and nitride films on silicon wafers. Prior to purchasing the Intaeger System, Rogue Valley was using a heated water bubbler with an oxygen carrier gas. The companies say the Intaeger UHP system delivers more water vapor to the process than the bubbler and eliminates the need for a carrier gas. By eliminating the carrier gas and increasing the amount of water vapor, the company says it can now reduce process time.