Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

Feb. 22, 2006 — SUSS MicroTec, a supplier of precision manufacturing equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, announced the new installation of an additional wafer bonding system at Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) in Santa Barbara, Calif.

IMT required additional wafer bonding capacity as part of its ramp up to volume production on several new MEMS products. These include novel patented IR emitters as well as MEMS switch products, both of which are now in production at IMT’s wafer fab.

Feb. 21, 2006 – Texas-based Nano-Proprietary Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Applied Nanotech Inc., has developed a “gated” metal oxide sensor for carbon monoxide detection and measurement. The gated approach allows the sensor to operate without heating, as compared with most sensors which require heating the sensor to greater than 250 degrees Celsius.

The company said the sensor is specific to carbon monoxide with no cross sensitivity to other gases and elements and that it can operate in extreme environments ranging from negative sixty degrees Celsius to one hundred and sixty degrees Celsius. The sensor also operates at low power, is easily portable, highly sensitive, and has a fast response/recovery time with instant-on operation.

Feb. 21, 2006 – The University of Pittsburgh announced Monday that it received a $5 million gift from alumnus John Petersen and his wife, Gertrude, to create an endowment supporting research at Pitt’s Institute of NanoScience and Engineering. The institute was renamed the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering.

John Petersen, the retired president and chief executive officer of the Erie Insurance Group in Erie, Pa., earned a degree in business administration at Pitt in 1951.

The institute was founded in 2002. Within the last three years, Pitt-developed nanotechnology has been licensed to three startup companies and one corporation. Fall 2006 will mark the opening of Pitt’s 4,000-square-foot nanoscale fabrication and characterization facility.

Feb. 20, 2006 – IBM researchers announced they have found a way to extend a key chip-manufacturing process to generate smaller chip circuits.

IBM scientists said they have created small, high-quality line patterns using deep-ultraviolet optical lithography.

The distinct and uniformly spaced ridges are only 29.9 nanometers wide, less than one-third the size of the 90-nanometer features now in mass production and below the 32 nanometers that industry consensus held as the limit for optical lithography techniques.

The company says its new result indicates that a “high-index immersion” variant of deep-ultraviolet lithography may provide a path for extending Moore’s Law further, thus buying the industry time.

“Our goal is to push optical lithography as far as we can so the industry does not have to move to any expensive alternatives until absolutely necessary,” said Robert Allen, manager of lithography materials at IBM’s Almaden Research Center, in a prepared statement.

The pattern of well-defined and equally-spaced 29.9-nanometer lines and spaces was created on a lithography test apparatus designed and built at IBM Almaden, using new materials developed by its collaborator, JSR Micro of Sunnyvale, Calif.

Feb. 17, 2006 — Integral Vision Inc. of Wixom, Mich., announced that it has received two additional orders for MEMS display inspection systems.

One of the orders is from a repeat customer and the other order is from a new customer. Integral Vision’s products provide for detection of display defects to assure quality in the manufacturing process.

The company now has four companies that manufacture MEMS displays using its SharpEye inspection system, according to a prepared statement by Charles Drake, chairman and chief executive officer, who added that the customers represent potential production volumes of displays that will be used in televisions, projectors, telephones, and cameras.

Feb. 16, 2006 – Ener1 Inc., a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., company developing renewable energy technologies, announced that its EnerFuel subsidiary has relocated its headquarters to a larger and more equipped fuel cell facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The 7,600 square-foot facility, formerly occupied by another fuel cell company, includes a laboratory for developing experimental materials and fuel cell testing stations — two key components necessary to help EnerFuel develop fuel cells that it believes will be more cost effective, smaller and less complex than other products in the current fuel cell market.

Most of EnerFuel’s team of 16 engineers and technicians who have experience in fuel cell stack development will be located in the new headquarters. EnerFuel will continue to retain a laboratory and business presence in its facility located in Fort Lauderdale.

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Feb. 16, 2006 – The NanoBusiness Alliance (NBA), a U.S.-based nanotechnology trade association, announced that two days of meetings between members of the nanotechnology business community and government officials commenced this morning. Attendees include CEOs, scientists, chief technologists, financial professionals and consultants from the nanotech sector, according to an NBA news release.

“The U.S. currently leads the world in nanotech development, but has several strong international competitors that threaten our leadership position,” said Sean Murdock, executive director of the NBA, in a prepared statement. He added that uncertainty over environmental, health and safety issues also represent barriers toward commercialization and that it is therefore important for the business community to engage in a dialogue with government leaders.

The two days, officially dubbed the NanoBusiness Alliance Public Policy Tour, began this morning with a Senate Nanocaucus meeting and joint press conference being held by U.S. Senators George Allen (R-VA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Meetings slated to follow include other members of Congress and members of the NBA. Additional briefings are scheduled through Friday, at which NBA members will present their key objectives and proposals, including a tax credit intended to spur investment, the creation of a reference materials library, and an increase in the budget devoted to researching the health and environmental implications of nanotechnology.

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February 15, 2006

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Feb. 15, 2006 – Nanosphere Inc., a nanotechnology-based molecular diagnostics company, and Applied NeuroSolutions Inc. (OTCBB:APNS), a company focused on the development of an integrated product portfolio for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, announced this week a research collaboration for the development of diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s disease. Both companies are based in Illinois.

This research program will apply Nanosphere’s proprietary Biobarcode(TM) technology for protein detection to Applied NeuroSolutions’ proprietary biomarkers, which have been shown to be 85 to 95 percent accurate in the detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Ultra-sensitive detection of these markers has the potential to lead to the next generation of diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s disease.

Alien names CFO, controller


February 15, 2006

Feb. 15, 2006 – Alien Technology Corp. announced on Monday that Robert K. Eulau has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer. Most recently chief financial officer for Rambus Inc., Eulau will head up the finance, corporate development, human resources, legal and information technology functions at Alien.

Also joining Alien’s senior management team is Todd Lowenstein, who will be corporate controller, reporting to Eulau. Lowenstein was most recently corporate controller for VeriFone Inc.

Based in Morgan Hill, Calif., Alien uses a self-assembly process to make radio frequency identification (RFID) products for customers in government, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation and other industries.