Newsletter 2008

News and Newsmakers

Materials, devices and products

• Project to develop micro, nano tech for diamond device fabrication concludes with launch
  The Micromachined Diamond Device Initiative (MIDDI), led by UK researchers at Element Six Ltd in collaboration with the Institute of Photonics at The University of Strathclyde has concluded, and its “successful outcomes have already underpinned the formation of a new subsidiary by Element Six. Diamond Microwave Devices Ltd is aiming to develop the world’s first commercial high frequency, high power diamond transistors,” the partners say.
• Catalyx begins low-cost commercial nanomaterials production; plans new nanomanufacturing facility
  Catalyx Nanotech says it has begun manufacturing Platelet Graphite Nanofibers (PGNF) at a fraction of competitors’ costs on a small commercial scale. “A myriad of environmentally friendly applications for PGNF have not previously been economically viable due to their high cost,” the company says. Further, Catalyx plans to open a 35 ton/year capacity plant in late 2008 to produce nanoparticulate polymers, ceramics, and precious/transition metals.
• Nanosensors intros AFM probes for precise positioning, hi-res imaging
  Switzerland-based Nanosensors has introduced gold- and platinum-coated variations its AdvancedTEC SPM probe for atomic force microscopes (AFMs). The highly doped monolithic silicon probes are designed for precise positioning and high-resolution imaging.
• Qualcomm MEMS demos IMOD color display
  Qualcomm MEMS Technologies has demonstrated the first reflective Interferometric Modulation (IMOD) color mirasol display. Freestyle Audio will feature the first 0.9-inch low-power, MEMS-based display, which is viewable even in direct sunlight, in its next-gen MP3 players, designed for rugged sports use.
• EoPlex builds factory for nanomanufacture of cell phone antennas
  EoPlex Technologies is building its first full-scale plant for production of cell phone antennas enabled by nanomanufacturing. The company uses nanodeposition techniques and proprietary “inks” that carry ceramic, metallic, or polymer materials.
• UniPixel unveils polymer MEMS-based TMOS flat-panel displays
  May 19, 2008 — Uni-Pixel Inc. is making its first public demonstration of Time Multiplexed Optical Shutter (TMOS) flat panel color display prototypes this week. TMOS technology leverages polymer MEMS, and also uses Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) to transmit light to the display viewer.
• Nanotube production leaps from sooty mess in test tube to ready formed chemical microsensors
  Carbon nanotubes’ potential as a super material is blighted by the fact that when first made they often take the form of an unprepossessing pile of sooty black mess in the bottom of a test tube. Now researchers in the University of Warwick’s department of chemistry have found a way of producing carbon nanotubes in which they instantly form a highly sensitive ready made electric circuit.
• Spiraling nanotrees offer new twist on growth of nanowires
  When University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Song Jin and graduate student Matthew Bierman accidentally made some nanowire pine tree shapes one day — complete with tall trunks and branches that tapered in length as they spiraled upward — they knew they’d stumbled upon something peculiar.
• Graphene-based gadgets may be just years away
  Researchers at The University of Manchester have produced tiny liquid crystal devices with electrodes made from graphene — an exciting development that could lead to computer and TV displays based on this technology.

Processing and manufacturing methods

• Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing’s “revolutionary” technology for nanoscale assembly
  Researchers at the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN) at Northeastern University say they have discovered “an innovative technology that will have a tremendous impact on the nanotechnology industry.” And they plan to demonstrate a prototype next month.
• By adding graphene, researchers create superior polymer
  Researchers at Northwestern University and Princeton University have created a new kind of polymer that, because of its extraordinary thermal and mechanical properties, could be used in everything from airplanes to solar cells. The polymer, a nanocomposite that incorporates functionalized, exfoliated graphene sheets, even conducts electricity, and researchers hope to use that property to eventually create thermally stable, optically transparent conducting polymers.
• Engineers demonstrate first room-temperature semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz radiation
  Engineers and applied physicists from Harvard University have demonstrated the first room-temperature electrically-pumped semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz radiation, also known as T-rays. The breakthrough in laser technology, based upon commercially available nanotechnology, has the potential to become a standard Terahertz source to support applications ranging from security screening to chemical sensing.
• Spin control: New technique sorts nanotubes by length
  Researchers at NIST have reported a new technique to sort batches of carbon nanotubes by length using high-speed centrifuges. The technique should be easy to scale to industrial quantities for a variety of nanotube applications where length is an important factor.
• Nanotechnology in reverse uses cell to calibrate tools
  Nanotechnology researchers at UC Davis have shown that they can use a red blood cell to calibrate a sensitive instrument, an atomic force microscope.
• Commencement 2008: Student innovation could improve data storage, magnetic sensors
  Paul Morrow, who will graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 17, has come a long way from his days as an elementary school student, pulling apart his mother’s cassette player. The talented young physicist has developed two innovations that could vastly improve magnetic data storage and sense extremely low level magnetic fields in everything from ink on counterfeit currency to tissue in the human brain and heart.
• Golden nanocrown
  Researchers led by Shu-Yan Yu have recently made a “golden crown” with a diameter of only a few nanometers, a large ring-shaped molecule containing 36 gold atoms.
• Scientists demonstrate method for integrating nanowire devices directly onto silicon
  Applied scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production.
• New technique measures ultrashort laser pulses at focus
  Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are used for numerous applications, but the quality of the results is limited by distortions caused by lenses and other optical components that are part of the experimental instrumentation. Researchers have developed a system that tells researchers what types of aberrations are present, which allows them to create the desired pulse at the focus that’s free of distortions.
• Melting defects could lead to smaller, more powerful microchips
  As microchips shrink, even tiny defects in the lines, dots and other shapes etched on them become major barriers to performance. Princeton engineers have now found a way to literally melt away such defects, using a process that could dramatically improve chip quality without increasing fabrication cost.

Energy

• MIT creates new material for fuel cells
  MIT engineers have improved the power output of one type of fuel cell by more than 50 percent through technology that could help these environmentally friendly energy storage devices find a much broader market, particularly in portable electronics.
• New efficiency record for solar cells
  Physicist Bram Hoex and colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology, together with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, have improved the efficiency of an important type of solar cell from 21.9 to 23.2 percent (a relative improvement of 6 percent). This new world record is being presented on Wednesday May 14 at a major solar energy conference in San Diego.
• Nanowires may boost solar cell efficiency, UC San Diego engineers say
  University of California-San Diego electrical engineers have created experimental solar cells spiked with nanowires that could lead to highly efficient thin-film solar cells of the future.
• Go Speed Racer! Revving up the world’s fastest nanomotors
  In a “major step” toward a practical energy source for powering tomorrow’s nanomachines, researchers in Arizona report development of a new generation of sub-microscopic nanomotors that are up to 10 times more powerful than existing motors. The tiny motors, made of platinum and gold nanowires, are supercharged with carbon nanotubes. Go Speed Racer, go!

Biotechnology

• IBN’s new lab-on-a-chip achieves speed with nanotech
  The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore has developed an “extreme,” nanotechnology-enabled lab-on-a-chip capable of sample prep and PCR in just 17 minutes. The microsystem uses magnetic nanoparticles to speed and simplify DNA testing.
• Failed HIV drug gets second chance with addition of gold nanoparticles
  Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that adding tiny bits of gold to a failed HIV drug rekindle the drug’s ability to stop the virus from invading the body’s immune system.
• Real-time observation of the DNA-repair mechanism
  For the first time, researchers at Delft University of Technology have witnessed the spontaneous repair of damage to DNA molecules in real time. They observed this at the level of a single DNA molecule. Insight into this type of repair mechanism is essential as errors in this process can lead to the development of cancerous cells. Researchers from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft publish this in the leading scientific journal Molecular Cell.
• Fluorescent nano-barcodes could revolutionize diagnostics
  A new technology with research and clinical application including the early detection of disease has been invented and developed by University of Queensland researchers.
• Carbon nanotubes that look like asbestos, behave like asbestos
  A major study published today in Nature Nanotechnology suggests some forms of carbon nanotubes — a poster child for the “nanotechnology revolution” — could be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled in sufficient quantities.
• New cancer gene found
  Researchers at the OU Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The ground-breaking research appears in Nature’s cancer journal Oncogene.
• UC San Diego researchers target tumors with tiny ‘nanoworms’
  Scientists at USD, UCSB and MIT have developed nanometer-sized “nanoworms.”
• Scientists make chemical cousin of DNA for use as new nanotechnology building block
  While scientists are fully exploring the promise of DNA nanotechnology, Biodesign Institute researcher John Chaput is working to give scientists brand new materials to aid their designs. Chaput and his research team have made the first self-assembled nanostructures composed entirely of glycerol nucleic acid — a synthetic analog of DNA.

Newsmakers

UCLA professor wins international award for pioneering nanotechnology research

UCLA professor and California nanosystems Institute member, Dr. Robin Garrell, has been selected by an independent panel of scientists to receive an international award and special recognition for her pioneering research work in nanotechnology.

Nanomedicine company elects former Aventis vice chairman/CFO as its chairman
Nanobiotix, an emerging nanomedicine company focused on combining advances in nanotechnology and molecular biology for cancer therapy, says it has elected Patrick Langlois as chairman of its board of directors. Because it targets cancer cells for destruction — leaving healthy cells untouched — Nanobiotix’s nano-enabled NanoXray platform has the potential to dramatically impact cancer therapy, says Langlois.

Jobs

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