Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

August 2, 2011 — Dolomite has embedded electrodes into microfluidic chips to integrate microfluidics and electrochemistry. On-chip functionalities include electrical impedance spectrometry, electrophoresis, amperometric detection, electrical heating and high voltage microfluidic experimentation.

Dolomite implemented its thermal bonding process to create complex, leak-free microfluidic structures with electrodes as small as 2μm. An additional layer of PECVD oxide or PECVD nitride can be applied to the electrodes for insulation. The electrodes — platinum, copper, titanium, gold, etc. — can cover up to 50% of the microfluidic chip when bonded.

Dolomite functions as a microfluidic application center and designer of microfluidics products and accessories. For more information, visit www.dolomite-microfluidics.com.

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August 2, 2011 — The University of Louisville (UofL, Kentucky) worked with IBM (NYSE:IBM) to double the school’s high-performance computing power as part of a $1.8 million investment in its supercomputing system. U of L needed the additional capacity to power advanced research projects on treating pediatric cancer and developing better materials for solar power, both of which are at critical development stages.

The Cardinal Research Cluster (CRC) supercomputing system, an IBM iDataPlex high performance computing cluster, was first installed in 2009, and had reached 100% capacity. The UofL CRC added a new iDataPlex systems to the original cluster and now has a peak speed of more than 40 teraflops (trillion calculations per second), roughly 10,000 to 20,000 times faster than today’s average desktop computer. The Health Resources and Services Administration, a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided a $1.8 million grant to fund the upgrade.

Researchers at the UofL James Graham Brown Cancer Center working on cancer treatments for the last 3 years have screened over 200 cancer targets in the maxed-out system. The enhanced computer will enable an additional focus on pediatric cancers, such as Neuroblastoma and Ewing’s Sarcoma.

The supercomputer is also in use by researchers at UofL’s Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research to explore new semiconductor materials to improve solar energy capture technologies.

IBM also awarded UofL a Shared University Research (SUR) award to help further the school’s efforts: extra computing systems and access to IBM engineers who will work closely with the University’s information technology staff to get maximum performance from the supercomputer.

For more information on IBM High Performance Computing Systems please visit: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/deepcomputing/

August 1, 2011 — Sensor manufacturer Sensirion inaugurated a new production building in mid-July 2011 in Stäfa, Switzerland, near to the company’s main building.

The building is slated to house Sensirion’s entire production, with development, administrative, and sales departments staying in the main building.

The new space features highly automated production lines in a three-story, 10,000sq.m. layout. Four clean rooms enable manufacturing of temperature, moisture, gas, differential pressure, and liquid-flow sensors. The largest ISO-6-certified cleanroom occupies 1,000sq.m. The design is energy-conscious, with geothermal/heat pump air conditioning and an internal cooling system with heat recovery. Safety was also a consideration, with automatic fire suppression systems, smoke extraction units, and autonomous fire compartments.

Sensirion constructed the production space to "avoid capacity bottlenecks" in organic growth.

The Swiss sensor manufacturer Sensirion AG supplies CMOS-based sensor components and systems. CMOSens technology uses intelligent system integration, including calibration and digital interfaces.

Contact: www.sensirion.com.

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August 1, 2011 — Dongbu HiTek began volume production of high dynamic range (HDR) CMOS image sensor (CIS) chips for BYD Microelectronics, a subsidiary of BYD Company Limited, a leading Chinese manufacturer of diverse products (rechargeable batteries to electric automobiles). BYD’s CMOS image sensors will be used for security surveillance applications, with the potential to serve other markets.

Specifying a broad dynamic luminance range between brightest and darkest areas, BYD’s image sensors accurately sample and process intensity levels from direct sunlight to dim moonlight.

Dongbu HiTek’s foundry has been offering specialized CMOS image sensor manufacturing to fabless companies since 2009, including HDR and advanced BCDMOS chips. BYD’s CIS chips will be processed at the 130nm node.

Dongbu HiTek will soon be expanding its common image processing portfolio for VGA and 1.3-to-3.0 Megapixel chips with a 5.0 Megapixel entry.

BYD Microelectronics, a fables subsidiary of BYD Company Ltd., develops ICs and power devices. For more information, visit http://www.bydit.com/doce/products/Microelectronics.

Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd., is a specialty foundry offering analog and mixed-signal processing technologies. Dongbu HiTek publicly trades its stock under 000990 on the Korea Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.dongbuhitek.com.

Other recent HDR announcements:

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August 1, 2011 – PR Newswire — The state of Colorado named Synkera (HQ: Longmont, CO) among 50 Colorado Companies to Watch, honoring the second-stage, growing company. CO’s "Companies to Watch" develop valuable products and services, create quality jobs, enrich communities, and create new industries, according to state representatives.

Synkera, founded in 2003, develops, manufactures, and markets nanotechnology-based devices. Its main products include ceramic micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), chemical sensors, and ceramic membranes. Primary markets include bio/life sciences; gas separation; and environment, health, and safety (EHS). The company is led by president and CTO Stephen Williams.

Colorado Companies to Watch surveys the entire state, not specific industries. Applicants are evaluated on growth as well as other factors to recognize companies having critical effects on their industry, community, region, and the state. Stephanie Steffens is the Colorado Companies to Watch program director.

Synkera Technologies makes chemical sensors, ceramic membrane and ceramic MEMS devices. For more information, visit www.synkera.com.

Colorado Companies to Watch is a statewide awards program under the auspices of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade in conjunction with the Edward Lowe Foundation, and valuable community partners from across Colorado. It started in 2009. Learn more at www.Colorado.CompaniestoWatch.org.

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July 28, 2011 — ClassOne Equipment sold its 150th mask aligner, which will be installed in the Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center (STC), part of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.
 
CNSE will use the mask aligner on its expanding 200mm processing line, performing front-to-back alignment on 200mm and 150mm wafers. The Center cited price, quality and lead time as factors in their selection of a SUSS Microtec MA200 from ClassOne Equipment.
 
The SUSS system accurately patterns both sides of a single wafer with a high level of automation, noted Paul Tolley, Vice President for Disruptive Technologies at CNSE and Executive Director of CNSE’s STC. The tool will support a variety of critical applications, including radio frequency micro electro mechanical system (RF-MEMS) component, bio and chemical sensor, and microfluidic device manufacture.
 
ClassOne sells mask aligners from SUSS, EVG, OAI, ABM and HTG, and other high-quality refurbished equipment for the semiconductor manufacturing, MEMS and emerging technologies markets. For more information, please visit www.ClassOneEquipment.com.

The University of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) is dedicated to education, research, development, and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. For information, visit www.cnse.albany.edu.

The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center assists small and large companies in transitioning new technologies from concept to manufacturing. STC maintains a 140,000-square-foot facility with over 25,000 square feet of cleanrooms for MEMS fabrication and packaging. For more information, visit www.stcmems.com.

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July 28, 2011 — Purdue University researchers have created an ultrapure gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor crystals that capture new states of matter, with potential applications in future high-speed quantum computing.

In the ultrapure semiconductor GaAs, electrons do not follow single-particle physics laws, and are governed by mutual interactions. This provides insights into fundamental physics, said Michael Manfra, the William F. and Patty J. Miller Associate Professor of Physics who leads the group at Purdue, noting that the exotic states are "beyond" standard solid-state physics models, and are non-existant in standard materials.

Manfra and his research team designed and built a high-mobility gallium-arsenide molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system at Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center. The MBE tool makes ultrapure semiconductor materials with atomic-layer precision, creating a perfectly aligned lattice of gallium and arsenic atoms that can capture electrons on a two-dimensional plane, preventing vertical motion and limiting planar movement.

When the electrons are captured in these "microscopic wells," they can interact only with each other," he said. Purity is important; impurities scatter electrons.

Once the desired material is fabricated, electrons must be cooled to extremely low temperatures. Gabor Csathy, an assistant professor of physics, cooled the material and electrons to 5millikelvin (close to absolute zero). Cooled electrons become "aware" of neighboring electrons, enabling "collective motion," explained Csathy.A magnetic field is applied, creating conditions that lead to the "correlated state."

The work, which is in very early stages, could eventually lead to viable quantum computing materials, Manfra added. As the electrons interact, they rearrange to acheive minimum energy level and eventually form new ground states, he said.

Csathy, who specializes in quantum transport in semiconductors, takes the electron measurements. Semiconductor quality is measured in electron mobility (centimeters squared per volt-second). The group achieved an electron mobility measurement of 22 million centimeters squared per volt-second, among the top in the world, he said.

Manfra and Csathy presented their work at Microsoft’s Station Q summer meeting on June 17 at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara). This meeting, sponsored by Microsoft Research, brings together leading researchers to discuss novel approaches to quantum computing. They also received a $700,000 grant from the Department of Energy based on their preliminary results.

In addition to Manfra and Csathy, the research team includes associate professors of physics Leonid Rokhinson and Yuli Lyanda-Geller; professor of physics Gabriele Giuliani; graduate students John Watson, Nodar Samkharadze, Nianpei Deng and Sumit Mondal; and research engineer Geoff Gardner.

July 27, 2011 — Solvay provided EUR10 million (USD15 million) to printed electronics company Plextronics, in a financing round to accelerate Plextronics’ technology development and product delivery. Solvay is Plextronics’ largest minority shareholder.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Plextronics focuses on organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and organic solar photovoltaics (OPV) technology, specifically the conductive inks and process technologies that enable those and other similar applications. It was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in 2002, based on the research of Dr. Richard McCullough. The company is ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified.

Printed electronics enable new form factors and cost structures for electronic devices.

Plextronics has achieved milestones in the last two years as an advanced ink provider for solution-processed OLED and OPV manufacturers, noted Andy Hannah, President and Chief Executive Officer of Plextronics, who called attention to the company’s OLED development for flat panel displays and lighting applications.

Léopold Demiddeleer, Head of Future Businesses & Corporate Platforms, a section of Solvay’s newly created Innovation Center, noted that OLED adoption is a sign that printed electronics are headed for mass markets.

PLEXTRONICS Inc. an international technology company that specializes in printed lighting, display, solar and other organic electronics. For more information about Plextronics, visit www.plextronics.com.

SOLVAY is an international industrial Group active in chemistry. Solvay is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Brussels (NYSE Euronext: SOLB.BE – Bloomberg: SOLB.BB – Reuters: SOLBt.BR). Learn more at www.solvay.com.

Also read: Organic Electronics Workshop: OLEDs, OTFTs, OPV, and futile resistance by Michael A. Fury

July 27, 2011 – Marketwire — mPhase Technologies Inc. (OTC.BB: XDSL) completed its 2nd working prototype of a new automotive and marine product, reducing size by 20% and increasing the product’s functionality.

While the project is veiled from the public until mPhase implements intellectual property (IP) protections, the company did release that it is being developed with a European automobile manufacturer, targeting OEM and aftermarket automotive and marine sectors.

mPhase Technologies develops Smart Surface technology enabled by breakthroughs in nanotechnology, micro electromechanical system (MEMS) processing, and microfluidics.

mPhase has announced that the prototype will provide advanced battery capability. mPhase’s already-existant Smart NanoBattery uses a smart coating to prevent short circuits and provide electrical isolation on conductive surfaces of the battery’s porous membrane. mPhase worked with a MEMS foundry partner to make the production process commercially viable.

Learn more at http://www.mPhaseTech.com.

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July 27, 2011 – ACN Newswire — The Industrial Consortium On Nanoimprint (ICON), led by A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), will roll out 2 commercial-volume roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing process for creating nano-scale textures on films and other surfaces. The fab method should enable viable scale-up of nanoimprinted structures in flat panel displays, biomedical devices, plastic electronics and flexible solar cells.

R2R nano imprinting can form optical films for flat panel displays, anti-reflective coatings for solar cells, and other textured products in mass quantities on large-area pieces, and at a high speed. "With this method we can merge nanoimprint technologies into real-world applications and on an industrial scale," explained Dr Low Hong Yee, an IMRE senior scientist who heads the team developing the roll-to-roll nanoimprint technology. Nanoimprint technology produces nanometer-sized structures of greater complexity using fewer processing steps, while minimizing wasted materials. It has evolved from the semiconductor industry’s lithography technology to a platform process technology that can be adapted to a wide range of applications.

ICON’s thermal roll-to-roll method makes patterns on the substrate directly, can accommodate a variety of plastics for different applications, and suits fabrication of micro- and nano-fluidic devices, biochemical assays, and other biomedical devices. ICON’s UV technique allows quicker processing because it takes place at room temperature, and offers the advantage of fabricating the nanostructures on cross-linkable resins, thus imparting higher thermal and mechanical stability to the imprinted products.

The roll-to-roll imprinting project includes local and international partners from materials and equipment suppliers to end users: Solves Innovative Technology Pte Ltd (Singapore), Advanced Technologies and Regenerative Medicine, LLC (ATRM) (USA), Young Chang Chemical Co. Ltd (South Korea), EV Group (Austria), Micro Resist Technology GmbH (Germany) and NTT Advanced Technology Corporation (Japan).

EV Group (EVG) worked on the roll-to-roll thermal nanoimprinter under ICON’s project. Hermann Waltl, Executive Sales and Customer Support Director, EVG, said the value of collaboration was to not just design equipment, but see "how this equipment can be applied." Koh Teng Hwee, Managing Director of Solves, a small and medium enterprise that had worked with IMRE to develop the roll-to-roll UV nanoimprinting tool, agreed that the project put developers in contact directly with the industry using the tools.

The transition from lab to high-volume manufacturing of nano-structured films will enable enhanced solar cells and displays, noted Kim Woo Yong, Global Marketing Director of Young Chang Chemical Co. Ltd, South Korea. Gabi Gruetzner, Managing Director of Micro Resist Technology GmbH sees the potential for photoresists and polymers for micro and nanolithography.

The Industrial Consortium On Nanoimprint (ICON) is led by the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), a research institute of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). ICON is a nanotechnology consortium in Singapore that encourages companies to adopt versatile, industry-ready nanoimprinting technology that can bring products to the market through sustainable manufacturing. For more information about IMRE, please visit www.imre.a-star.edu.sg.

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is the lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation-driven Singapore. For more information about A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg.