Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

Dec. 9, 2005 – Arrowhead Research Corp. (Nasdaq: ARWR), a developer of nanotechnology research and companies, announced that it has created a wholly owned subsidiary NanoPolaris Inc. in order to assemble a portfolio of intellectual property in the area of carbon nanotubes. The intent, according to a company release, is to facilitate and enable the manufacture of nanotube-based products.

“We believe carbon nanotubes will create a manufacturing revolution comparable to what plastics did for materials and silicon did for electronics,” said Bruce Stewart, Arrowhead’s chairman, in a prepared statement. The company itself will not engage in manufacturing but intends to provide a “patent toolbox” to corporations planning to integrate nanotubes into their end products.

Arrowhead said its subsidiary has licensed patents and patent applications from at least eight universities.

Dec. 9, 2005 – A consortium of companies has announced its first research grants under the Semiconductor Industry Association’s new Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI).

The grants will fund the creation of two new university-based nanoelectronics research centers — one in California and the other centered in New York — as well as support additional research at five National Science Foundation nanoscience centers and at a research group in Texas.

The two new research centers are The Western Institute of Nanoelectronics (WIN) in California and The Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration (INDEX) in Albany, N.Y.

WIN will be headquartered at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Participants will come from three University of California campuses (Los Angeles, Berkeley, and Santa Barbara) and Stanford University. The institute will focus on novel spintronics and plasmonic devices. In addition to its NRI funding, it will also receive additional direct support from Intel and the UC Discovery program.

INDEX will be headquartered at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the State University of New York-Albany. It will include also the Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Yale University.

The New York-based institute will focus on the development of nanomaterial systems; atomic-scale fabrication technologies; predictive modeling protocols for devices, subsystems and systems; power dissipation management designs, and realistic architectural integration schemes for realizing novel magnetic and molecular quantum devices. It will also receive additional direct funding from IBM, and the Semiconductor Industry Association says support from New York State is expected.

The industry consortium — known as Nanoelectronics Research Corp., or NERC — and NSF also announced supplemental grants for nanoelectronics research during fiscal year 2006 at five existing NSF nanoscience centers: Network for Computational Nanotechnology at Purdue University, Center for Nanoscopic Materials at the University of Virginia, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Center for Electronic Transport in Molecular Nanostructures at Columbia University, and Center for Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications at Harvard University.

In addition, NERC announced an individual grant to the research team led by Professor Banerjee at the University of Texas at Austin for exploratory work in spintronics, and NSF announced an additional supplemental grant for nanoelectronics research to the Center for Semiconductor Physics in Nanostructures at the University of Oklahoma/University of Arkansas.

The companies participating in NRI (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.; International Business Machines Corp.; Intel Corp.; Micron Technology, Inc.; and Texas Instruments, Inc.) will assign researchers to collaborate with the university teams.

– David Forman

Dec. 8, 2005 – ASML Holding NV (ASML) announced it has made significant progress towards development of both high NA immersion and Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography technology.

The company presented the first resist images produced by its Twinscan XT:1700i. ASML says qualification of the total system is ongoing and that the first tool will be ready for shipment by the end of the first quarter of 2006. The company claims to have multiple orders for its fourth generation immersion tool and expects to ship between 20 and 25 immersion systems in 2006.

ASML also said it has made progress on its EUV alpha tool development. The company said two alpha tools are under assembly and an initial projection system is being qualified and integrated. ASML plans to ship a 0.25 NA EUV alpha tool in the second quarter to the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC) in Leuven, Belgium, and Albany NanoTech at the State University of New York at Albany, N.Y.

Dec. 7, 2005 — Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq:VECO), a Woodbury, N.Y., maker of metrology tools and process equipment, announced that it has introduced the Dimension Atomic Force Profiler (AFP).

The device is designed for a broad range of metrology applications in the semiconductor fab. Veeco says it combines the resolution of an atomic force microscope with the long-scan capability of an atomic force profiler to offer semiconductor manufacturers a high performance, fast AFM solution for in-line process control.

Specific metrology applications for which it is suitable include chemical mechanical planarization, etch depth, step heights, roughness and die maps for advanced technology nodes.

Dec. 6, 2005 – China Automotive Systems Inc., a Wuhan, Hubei, China, power steering components and systems supplier and Sensor System Solutions Inc. (OTC.BB:SSYO), an Irvine, Calif., manufacturer of MEMS sensors, interface electronics and control systems, announced a new project for its joint venture to manufacture and distribute manifold absolute pressure (MAP) and temperature and manifold air pressure (TMAP) sensors in India, as well as provide technical and commercial support to an unnamed Indian automobile manufacturer.

In April 2005, China Automotive Systems and Sensor System Solutions announced a joint venture agreement to produce sensors for the Chinese automotive market. That joint venture will operate as Universal Sensor Inc., and will manage the India project. This phase of the project is expected to be in place for three years.

“We are moving ahead quickly and expect to be in the production phase in late 2006,” said Michael Young, chief executive officer of Sensor System Solutions. “The production quantity is estimated to be approximately 200,000 units in 2007 and could ramp up to approximately 1 million units by 2010.”

Dec. 6, 2005 — Lumera Corp. (Nasdaq:LMRA), a Bothell, Wash., developer of proprietary molecular structures and polymer compounds for the bioscience and communications/computing industries, announced that it has been awarded an extension to a U.S. government contract to continue development of wideband optic modulators.

The company said the one-year contract is valued at approximately $1 million and the overall contract value has now reached approximately $5.7 million.

Lumera is developing high-performance modulators intended to enable a new generation of fiber optic systems that can deliver increased bandwidth and use less power than current devices.

Dec. 5, 2005 — NaturalNano Inc. (OTC.BB: NNAN), a materials company whose primary business is discovering, refining and marketing naturally occurring nanomaterials, announced it has completed a merger with a public company. The combined company’s stock began trading on the over-the-counter market on Friday.

The merger was accomplished by virtue of an existing public company, Cementitious Materials Inc., acquiring the privately-held NaturalNano Inc. and changing the name of the new, combined company to NaturalNano Inc.

Before the merger, NaturalNano closed a private placement for $4.2 million. NaturalNano says its efforts are currently directed toward research, development, production and marketing of proprietary technologies in the development of commercial applications for halloysite nanotubes intended for applications in material additives for polymers, plastics and composites; cosmetics and other personal care products; absorbent materials; and pharmaceuticals and medical device additives and coatings.

In the merger, the company issued 44,919,378 shares of common stock in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding common stock of the privately-held NaturalNano. In addition, the Company issued 10,469,600 shares of its common stock to the investors who purchased securities in the private placement.

Dec. 2, 2005 – Measurement Specialties Inc., a Hampton, Va., designer and manufacturer of sensors and sensor-based consumer products, announced it has acquired the capital stock of HL Planartechnik GmbH, a sensor company located in Dortmund, Germany for $7.1 million ($3 million at close and the assumption of $4.1 million in debt and liabilities). The company said the sellers can earn up to an additional $3.5 million if certain performance hurdles are achieved in 2006.

Measurement Specialties CEO Frank Guidone said in a prepared statement that the combination of proprietary and complimentary IP, existing product platforms, and the management team made HL Planartechnik attractive. For 2005, HL Planartechnik is expected to post approximately $14 million in sales.

HL Planartechnik specializes in thin-film metallization processes, producing sensors in four main categories: (1) infrared thermopiles used in appliance, automobile, medical and other applications for non-contacting temperature measurement; (2) magneto-resistive sensors that measure changes in magnetic fields to determine position, angle, rotation, or current; (3) mass air flow sensors to measure the changes in air flow and other gases for use in automotive, medical and industrial applications; and (4) MEMS-based inclination sensors for the precise measurement of level, angle or tilt in construction equipment, automobile and aerospace applications.

Dec. 2, 2005 – Aviza Technology, Inc., a global supplier of thermal process and atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, and Trikon Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRKN), provider of plasma etching and deposition systems for the global semiconductor industry, announced the closing of their consolidation through merger.

The new company, Aviza Technology, Inc., will begin trading on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “AVZA” today.

Dec. 1, 2005 — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A), the Hewlett-Packard spinout that recently reoriented itself to focus on test and measurement applications, moved into the atomic force microscope market this week when it announced the acquisition of Molecular Imaging Corp. of Tempe, Ariz.

The acquisition is intended to support Agilent’s broad goal of addressing test and measurement markets for both electronics and life sciences, according to Bob Burns, general manager of Agilent’s Nano Measurements Division. In addition, it is intended to take advantage of business and technology synergies between the two organizations.

Agilent’s global sales staff is expected to substantially increase the exposure of the Molecular Imaging AFM product line. In turn, said Vance Nau, president and CEO of Molecular Imaging, the acquisition will help his staff members focus on their core responsibilities.

Molecular Imaging’s chief product line is the PicoPlus family of modular, high-resolution AFMs, which are used for imaging in fluids as well as ambient and controlled environmental and temperature conditions. Customers are currently researchers in the areas of drug discovery, life science, electrochemistry, materials science and polymer science.

On the technical side, Burns said he and Nau shared “a vision…to take this technology and evolve it to the next level.” In particular, the executives explained, that means working to simultaneously improve performance and ease-of-use.

“Right now scanning probe microscopes are still very much something that needs to be operated by a specialist,” said Burns. He said the company intended to improve the device’s speed as well as add functionality that would make imaging less reliant on the interpretive abilities of the user.

“To broaden the customer base, you need to greatly simplify it,” said Nau, who said if the device were easier to use, then a technician could operate it rather than a Ph.D. scientist. Other long-range plans include automating devices for specific applications in manufacturing and other areas.

Burns said Agilent will keep the Molecular Imaging group — which numbers roughly 40 people — in Tempe because the company has strong ties with Arizona State University. Nau said all Molecular Imaging employees were offered positions with Agilent and that “virtually 100 percent” accepted them. Molecular Imaging was founded in 1993 by Stuart Lindsay and Tianwei Jing of Arizona State University.

– David Forman