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by James Montgomery, news editor

October 1, 2010 – Another key theme that wove throughout the "Destination Nano" conference at UMass-Lowell (Sept. 22-23) was finding ways to analyze health and safety impacts with nanotechnology, ultimately to inform companies and researchers to better protect themselves and better know what results from nanotech in various applications and products.

Destination Nano series:
Driving research into sensors, devices
Emphasizing EHS
Saluting nanotech’s defense apps

Chuck Geraci from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) summarized much of their work in nanotechnology research and ESH — currently he oversees around 50 projects with nearly $10M in funding. Key research results involving nanotoxicology show nanoparticles of various ilk linked to a host of nasty problems: cardiovascular, lung fibrosis, brain inflammation, interference with cell division (more on that later), and invasion of the "intrapleural space" — which is where mesothelioma is found.

While supporting research into nanotech’s possible harmful effects, NIOSH also seeks to lay out and help implement safer ways to go about nanotech research and manufacturing. And judging by some of Geraci’s slides and stories about NIOSH field investigations, there’s no lack of need for such services. The slides below, taken from inside a "boutique maker" of single-walled carbon nanotubes, show a gloved hand scraping the inside of a bowlful of SWNTs resembling sooty cobwebs with what appears to be a kitchen spatula. Another slide showed a pile of charcoal-like chunks of unrefined multiwalled nanotubes, sitting on a metal tray in open air — one of 200 such trays at the site, Geraci noted. sing NIOSH’s "Nanotechnology Emission Assessment Technique" (NEAT), suggested 1200-19,000 particles/cm3 — levels that would make "a Class 100 cleanroom manager fall over" but can be acceptable for some operations. One site adapted a welding fume collector for its furnaces and "significantly reduced" worker exposure, he noted. Geraci also acknowledged that HEPA filters are "very good at capturing nano-sized particles," thanks to diffusion patterns.

Risk characterization is a big deal at NIOSH as well. The group has a new draft about the limits of ultrafine TiO2 (0.2mg/m3), beyond which are elevated risks of inflammation and tumors. A soon-to-be-released report is coming on the current state of CNTs, he said.

(Source: Geraci/NIOSH)

Northeastern’s Jackie Isaacs listed various US government agencies and what they’re doing for nanotech, e.g. EPA, FDA, CDSA, and of course the CDC/NIOSH. Some had very little info at all, surprisingly. For this talk’s purpose, a question was, what is the end-of-life for a carbon nanotube switch (NAND flash replacement) in cell phones? Assume the phones either get reused, or end up in landfills or strategically incinerated — facilities for the latter almost certainly have no filters capable of capturing CNTs, she pointed out, so it’s feasible that 6-50g of CNTs would end up in landfills nationwide. (Note above, NIOSH’s determination that 0.2mg of TiO2 is the risk threshold.) Isaacs also discussed cost-modeling, e.g. for SWNT HiPco production, of ~$450/g up to $650/g.

A highlight of the Destination Nano sessions was former US house member and current UMass-Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan, announcing a partnership between the CHN and NIOSH to jointly address evaluate potential exposure to nanomaterials and recommend solutions for small- and medium-sized companies and research labs. NIOSH also will publish best practices from UMass Lowell prof. Michael Ellenbecker and CHN’s EHS manager Candace Tsai. Meehan also noted that UMass-Lowell will host the biennial International Symposium on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health, to be in Boston Aug. 9-12 2011. (They’re now accepting abstracts, if you want to get involved.)

"Without strong partnerships in academia and the private sector, it would be very difficult to achieve our primary mission of protecting worker and human health by providing good risk management guidance to the nanomaterials industry," according to NIOSH’s Geraci, in a prepared statement. "Our partnership with the CHN strengthens those links and our history of working with UMass Lowell offers distinct advantages."

(September 30, 2010 – PRNewswire) — A revolutionary new spherical nanostructure, fully derived from very simple organic elements, yet strong as steel, has been developed and characterized at the laboratories of Ehud Gazit of Tel Aviv University and Itay Rousso of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Lightweight and exceptionally strong, easy and inexpensive to produce, friendly to the environment and biologically compatible, these promising bio-inspired nano-spheres have innumerable potential uses – from durable composite materials to medical implants.

The researchers, Prof. Gazit, Dr. Lihi Adler-Abramovich and Inbal Yanai from TAU’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, working in collaboration with Dr. Itay Rousso and Nitzan Kol from the Weizmann Institute and David Barlam and Roni Shneck of Ben-Gurion University, used a simple dipeptide, consisting of only two amino acids, to form spherical nanostructures. Self-assembling under ambient conditions — without any heating or manipulation — this remarkable new material is the first bio-inspired nano-material known to date that is mechanically equal and even superior to many metallic substances. While demonstrating chemical properties similar to those of the ultra-rigid Kevlar(R) polymer, already used for bulletproof vests, the new substance is built from much simpler building blocks, enabling some important advantages: manipulation and deposition at the nano-scale, the fabrication of nano-materials of tubular, spherical and other geometries, and spontaneous formation by self-assembly. Here, indeed is a perfect building block for numerous applications.

Hard and strong as steel, this new nanostructure is an ideal element for the reinforcement of composite materials used in the space, aviation and transportation industries; biologically compatible yet extremely rigid and durable, it is an excellent candidate for replacing metallic implants; tough, light and impenetrable, it is an exceptional option for manufacturing bullet-proof vests.

The work was recently published in Angewandte Chemie.

The new nanotechnology development now emerging from Tel Aviv University is based on extensive research which began in Prof. Gazit’s laboratory in 2003. In an earlier achievement, the team was able to fabricate tubular nanostructures that assemble themselves into vast "forests" featuring exceptional mechanical and physical properties. This earlier work, based on the doctoral thesis of Dr. Lihi Adler-Abramovich, and published in 2009 in Nature Nanotechnology, may eventually generate self-cleaning windows and solar panels, as well as supreme energy storage devices with exceptionally high energy density.

The original paper can be found here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201002037 

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(September 29, 2010) — Aerotech is offering the ANT95-R and ANT130-R direct-drive rotary stages, which are part of the company’s nano Motion Technology product line. They offer in-position stability (0.005 arc sec) and incremental motion (0.01 arc sec) using the company’s direct-drive technology, and are good for demanding high-throughput manufacturing applications such as disk-drive andMEMS manufacture and test, fiber-optic device alignment, as well as for super-high-precision laboratory R&D applications.

 

The ANT95-R and ANT130-R rotary stages incorporate Aerotech’s direct-drive for extremely smooth motion, and both are available in 20°, 180°, or 360° continuous travel. Maximum speed is 200 rpm and maximum acceleration is 400 rad/s2. Axial load capacity is 2 kg for the ANT95-R and 3 kg for the ANT130-R. These rotary stages also offer an 11 mm clear aperture that can be used for product feed-through, laser beam delivery, cable clearance, or application-specific requirements.

The ANT95-R and ANT130-R series are designed for compatibility and easy integration with Aerotech’s ANT linear stages.

The ANT95-R and ANT130-R were designed to operate in a 24/7 manufacturing environment while providing laboratory-grade accuracy. Unlike other extremely precise rotary devices, they require no periodic maintenance.

For more information, visit www.aerotech.com

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(September 29, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — CVD Equipment Corporation (Nasdaq: CVV) First Nano Division has received orders during the month of September, 2010, for approximately $2.5 million from a number of institutions, including the University of Illinois and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, for products sold under the First Nano EasyTube, EasyGas, and EasyExhaust brand.

The First Nano product line addresses the need for technologically advanced tools to perform Research and Development in the production of thin film coatings and/or nano size materials requiring precise process parameter control. The applications for our research line products include Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, Nanowires, Semiconductor layers, and other processes used in the Nanotechnology, Solar, Energy and Semiconductor markets.

Using CVD’s Application Laboratory, the company expands where its research and production equipment can be applied to the next generation of advanced materials. The Nanotechnology, Solar, Energy and Semiconductor markets offer significant growth opportunities because they deliver advanced performance at an affordable price.

The First Nano product family of technologically advanced research equipment is being used to accelerate the commercialization of tomorrow’s technologies, said the company representative, adding that CVD Equipment’s equipment design and manufacturing skills and understanding of complex system integration and hardware/process interactions enable a lower risk, higher value process.

CVD Equipment Corporation (NASDAQ: CVV) is a designer and manufacturer of standard and custom state-of-the-art equipment used in the development, design and manufacture of advanced electronic components, materials and coatings for research and industrial applications.

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(September 30, 2010) — Military sensors specialists at the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego are looking to microelectronics experts at the Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center in Canandaigua, N.Y., to fabricate micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) for military sensor systems.

Officials of the SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific announced their plans Tuesday to negotiate a sole-source contract with the Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center (STC) to provide MEMS sensor fabrication and diagnostic support for sensors, including starting wafer material and masks necessary to fabricate the devices. STC will handle wafer sizes as large as 150 millimeters in diameter.

SPAWAR will ask STC to fabricate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors; inertial sensor components; acoustic sensor components; energy-harvesting components; opto-electro-mechanical systems; and-resistive heaters. Read more about MEMS sensors.

Located outside Rochester, NY, the 140,000-square-foot STC facility has more than 50,000 square feet of certified cleanroom space with 150-millimeter wafer production, plus a dedicated 8,000-square-foot MEMS and optoelectronic packaging facility. STC resulted from the 20 Sept. merger of the Infotonics Technology Center with the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology at the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering (CNSE) in Albany, N.Y.

More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6635cb032ee99195cfbb8bd961a326c9&tab=core&_cview=0. For additional information contact the SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific online at www.public.navy.mil/spawar, or the Smart System Technology & Commercialization Center at www.itcmems.com.

Posted by John Keller, Military and Aerospace Electronics, and reprinted with permission.

(September 28, 2010) — FEI Company (NASDAQ: FEIC), an instrumentation company providing electron microscope systems, entered into an agreement to collaborate with Nanonics Imaging Ltd. to explore the feasibility of adding an atomic force microscope (AFM) to an FEI DualBeam focused ion beam (FIB)/scanning electron microscope (SEM) analytical system. 

The AFM is used for imaging, measuring and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. It uses a mechanical probe to measure the surface topography of a sample. The DualBeam is a FIB/SEM system that provides three dimensional (3D) imaging and analysis down to the nanoscale. The DualBeam uses an SEM to image FIB-milled cross sections, which reveal subsurface features.

Nanonics Imaging Ltd. provides combined near-field optical microscopes (commonly referred to as either NSOM or SNOM systems) and atomic force microscopes (AFM). More information can be found at: www.nanonics.co.il  

FEI (Nasdaq: FEIC) is a diversified scientific instruments company. It provides electron- and ion-beam microscopes and tools for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data storage, natural resources and more. More information can be found at: www.fei.com.

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(September 27, 2010) — Rice University physicist Dmitri Lapotko has demonstrated that plasmonic nanobubbles, generated around gold nanoparticles with a laser pulse, can detect and destroy cancer cells in vivo by creating tiny, shiny vapor bubbles that reveal the cells and selectively explode them. The nanobubbles have been tested in theranostics with live human prostate cancer cells, without harming the animal host.

A paper in the October print edition of the journal Biomaterials details the effect of plasmonic nanobubble theranostics on zebra fish implanted with live human prostate cancer cells, demonstrating the guided ablation of cancer cells in a living organism without damaging the host. This is not the first time Rice U has used nanotechnology to advance cancer detection and destruction.

Lapotko and his colleagues developed the concept of cell theranostics to unite three important treatment stages — diagnosis, therapy and confirmation of the therapeutic action — into one connected procedure. The unique tunability of plasmonic nanobubbles makes the procedure possible. Their animal model, the zebra fish, is nearly transparent, suiting in-vivo research.

The National Institutes of Health has recognized the potential of Lapotko’s technique by funding further research that holds tremendous potential for the theranostics of cancer and other diseases at the cellular level. Lapotko’s Plasmonic Nanobubble Lab, a joint American-Belarussian laboratory for fundamental and biomedical nanophotonics, has received a grant worth more than $1 million over the next four years to continue developing the technique.

In earlier research in Lapotko’s lab in the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, plasmonic nanobubbles demonstrated their theranostic potential. In another study on cardiovascular applications, nanobubbles were filmed blasting their way through arterial plaque. The stronger the laser pulse, the more damaging the explosion when the bubbles burst, making the technique highly tunable. The bubbles range in size from 50nm to more than 10um.

In the zebra-fish study, Lapotko and his collaborators at Rice directed antibody-tagged gold nanoparticles into the implanted cancer cells. A short laser pulse overheated the surface of the nanoparticles and evaporated a very thin volume of the surrounding medium to create small vapor bubbles that expanded and collapsed within nanoseconds; this left cells undamaged but generated a strong optical scattering signal that was bright enough to detect a single cancer cell.

A second, stronger pulse generated larger nanobubbles that exploded (mechanically ablated) the target cell without damaging surrounding tissue in the zebra fish. Scattering of the laser light by the second “killer” bubble confirmed the cellular destruction. That the process is mechanical in nature is key, Lapotko said. The nanobubbles avoid the pitfalls of chemo- or radiative therapy that can damage healthy tissue as well as tumors. "It’s not a particle that kills the cancer cell, but a transient and short event," he said. "We’re converting light energy into mechanical energy."

The new grant will allow Lapotko and his collaborators to study the biological effects of plasmonic nanobubbles and then combine their functions into a single sequence that would take a mere microsecond to detect and destroy a cancer cell and confirm the results. "By tuning their size dynamically, we will tune their biological action from noninvasive sensing to localized intracellular drug delivery to selective elimination of specific cells," he said.

"Being a stealth, on-demand probe with tunable function, the plasmonic nanobubble can be applied to all areas of medicine, since the nanobubble mechanism is universal and can be employed for detecting and manipulating specific molecules, or for precise microsurgery."

Lapotko’s co-authors on the Biomaterials paper are Daniel Wagner, assistant professor of biochemistry and cell biology; Mary “Cindy” Farach-Carson, associate vice provost for research and professor of biochemistry and cell biology; Jason Hafner, associate professor of physics and astronomy and of chemistry; Nikki Delk, postdoctoral research associate; and Ekaterina Lukianova-Hleb, researcher in the Plasmonic Nanobubble Lab.

Read the abstract

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(September 27, 2010) — Thermoelectric devices convert heat to electricity and vice versa, harnessing otherwise wasted energy. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a new type of material made out of silicon, that could lead to more efficient thermoelectric devices. The material — a type of nanomesh — is composed of a thin film with a grid-like arrangement of tiny holes.

Thermoelectric devices are touted for use in new and efficient refrigerators, and other cooling or heating machines. But present-day designs are not efficient enough for widespread commercial use or are made from rare materials that are expensive and harmful to the environment.

James Heath, the Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech, led the work. A paper about the research will be published in the October issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

A major strategy for making thermoelectric materials energy efficient is to lower the thermal conductivity without affecting the electrical conductivity, which is how well electricity can travel through the substance. Heath and his colleagues had previously accomplished this using silicon nanowires, which work by impeding heat while allowing electrons to flow freely. This nanomesh design makes it difficult for heat to travel through the material, lowering its thermal conductivity to near silicon’s theoretical limit. At the same time, the design allows electricity to flow as well as it does in unmodified silicon.

In any material, heat travels via phonons, which deliver heat from one point to another. Nanowires, because of their tiny sizes, have a lot of surface area relative to their volume. And since phonons scatter off surfaces and interfaces, it is harder for them to make it through a nanowire without bouncing astray. As a result, a nanowire resists heat flow but remains electrically conductive.

Creating narrower and narrower nanowires is effective only up to a point. If the nanowire is too small, it will have so much relative surface area that even electrons will scatter, causing the electrical conductivity to plummet and negating the thermoelectric benefits of phonon scattering.

To get around this problem, the Caltech team built a nanomesh material from a 22nm-thick sheet of silicon. The silicon sheet is converted into a mesh with a highly regular array of 11- or 16nm-wide holes that are spaced just 34 nanometers apart. Instead of scattering the phonons traveling through it, the nanomesh changes the way those phonons behave, essentially slowing them down.

The properties of a particular material determine how fast phonons can go. In silicon, the mesh structure lowers this speed limit. As far as the phonons are concerned, the nanomesh is no longer silicon at all. "The nanomesh no longer behaves in ways typical of silicon," says Slobodan Mitrovic, a postdoctoral scholar in chemistry at Caltech. Mitrovic and Caltech graduate student Jen-Kan Yu are the first authors on the Nature Nanotechnology paper.

When the researchers compared the nanomesh to the nanowires, they found that — despite having a much higher surface-area-to-volume ratio — the nanowires were still twice as thermally conductive as the nanomesh. The researchers suggest that the decrease in thermal conductivity seen in the nanomesh is indeed caused by the slowing down of phonons, and not by phonons scattering off the mesh’s surface. The team also compared the nanomesh to a thin film and to a grid-like sheet of silicon with features roughly 100 times larger than the nanomesh; both the film and the grid had thermal conductivities about 10 times higher than that of the nanomesh.

Although the electrical conductivity of the nanomesh remained comparable to regular, bulk silicon, its thermal conductivity was reduced to near the theoretical lower limit for silicon. And the researchers say they can lower it even further. The researchers are now experimenting with different materials and arrangements of holes in order to optimize their design. "One day, we might be able to engineer a material where you not only can slow the phonons down, but you can exclude the phonons that carry heat altogether," Mitrovic says.

The other authors on the paper, "Reduction of thermal conductivity in phononic nanomesh structures," are Caltech graduate students Douglas Tham and Joseph Varghese. The research was funded by the Department of Energy, the Intel Foundation, a Scholar Award from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and the National Science Foundation.

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(September 24, 2010) — SEMICON Europa will take place October 19-21 in Dresden, Germany. The SEMI Europe team is closely working with their supporting committees and the manufacturing and R&D organizations to tailor the SEMICON Europa programs. Program development is matched to the specific needs of the European semiconductor industry in the current environment.

  • 12 Technology conferences
  • 13 Free technology and standardization session
  • 4 Executive and networking events
  • 12 Courses

 

The MEMS/MST track will focus on MEMS in end-market applications, manufacturing and design techniques, and keynotes from industry leaders such as Analog Devices, STMicroelectronics, and Bosch.

The International MEMS/MST Industry Forum theme for 2010 is "MEMS Goes Everywhere!" The forum presenters ask (and answer) these questions: How do you successfully manage an environment with distributed operations, while best system know-how and short time-to-revenue cycles are essential? Which control systems and methodologies for low-cost test, steep learning curves, and quality assurance need to be in place? How do you develop, manufacture, and cost-efficiently integrate complex heterogeneous systems? What are the most recent developments in MEMS-enabled products: where lay the challenges and opportunities? What are most interesting new applications and use-cases, driving new technologies and providing for technology line utilization?

The MEMS exhibitor presentations will cover photoresist for MEMS and wafer-level package (WLP) manufacture, as well as chip/package co-design in changing IDM times.

MEMS keynotes include "Monolithic to Multi Chip: Smart Partitioning Adds Customer Value," presented by Rob O’Reilly, Senior Technical Staff, MEMS Sensor and Technology Group, Analog Devices; "Trends for Automotive Micromechanical Sensors," a talk by Jiri Marek, Senior Vice President Engineering Sensors, Bosch; "Revolution and Evolution of Consumer MEMS Applications," from Leopold Beer, Director Marketing, Bosch Sensortec; and a presentation from Benedetto Vigna, General Manager MEMS Business Unit, STMicroelectronics.

To view speaker times and agenda for any of the MEMS sessions, visit http://www.semiconeuropa.org/ProgramsandEvents/MEMSMST/index.htm

Program tracks (Click on the links to view a track overview): 

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(September 23, 2010) — JEOL introduced the InTouchScope, an analytical, low-vacuum scanning electron microscope (SEM) featuring integrated energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) with the latest silicon drift detector (SDD) technology. 

The new InTouchScope has the familiar feel of today’s personal electronic media.  The intuitive multi-touch screen interface puts all SEM Apps at the operator’s fingertips. The user can expand windows and images with the sweep of two fingers, dial in magnification and focus with a swipe, and select operating parameters, analytical functions, or measure distances just by tapping the PC or notebook touch screen. 

Ease of use functions include automatic SEM condition set up based on sample type, simultaneous multiple live image and movie capture, easy sample navigation at 5 to 300,000x magnifications, quantitative and qualitative elemental analysis, low and high vacuum operation, and wireless capability.

Other SEM product debuts

FEI eyes 3D structures with integrated SEM/FIB platform

Carl Zeiss debuts SEM with enhanced resolution in the low kv region

Improving statistical validity with Macro CD-SEM imaging

The InTouchScope features all the capabilities of a full-size tungsten SEM with integrated EDS analysis in a small, ergonomic and intuitive design.  An onboard turbo pump make this a self-contained, portable SEM that can be set up anywhere in the lab.

JEOL supplies electron optical equipment and instrumentation for high-end scientific and industrial research and development. Core product groups include electron microscopes (SEMs and TEMs), instruments for the semiconductor industry (electron beam lithography and a series of defect review and inspection tools), and analytical instruments including mass spectrometers, NMRs and ESRs. JEOL USA Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of JEOL, Ltd., Japan. For more information, visit http://www.jeolusa.com/PRODUCTS/ElectronOptics/ScanningElectronMicroscopesSEM/HighVacuumLowVacuum/JSM6010LAInTouchScope/tabid/778/Default.aspx

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