1. Polymer Vision today has announced its cooperation with Innos in the UK to establish the world's first production facility for organic semiconductor-based rollable displays. Following 10 years of research, Polymer Vision has spent the past three years processing displays in its own pilot facility in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to develop the technology to maturity. Polymer Vision and Innos will transfer the process technology and finalize qualifications in Southampton, UK, where Innos has already started installing equipment in its newly built clean room. In line with its strategy to use mainstream thin film transistors, Polymer Vision is confident that it will rapidly scale up manufacturing to commercial volumes in 2007.
2. Luna Innovations Inc. has been awarded $4.0 million in US Air Force contracts for continued research and development into nanotechnology-enabled products, including a $2.3 million subcontract from General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. (GDIT), formerly Anteon Corporation. It has also been awarded a $1.7 million contract from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The GDIT contract builds upon $3.3 million of nanotechnology research funding previously provided to Luna Innovations by GDIT. In 2004, Luna opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing, research and development facility in Danville, VA, to produce, modify, characterize and purify nanomaterials for applications such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, electromagnetic interference coatings and next-generation solar cells.
3. NovaCentrix, a leading nanotechnology products company that focuses on printable electronics, energetics and life sciences, has announced its second coalition with Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, TX. The two organizations seek to develop nanotechnology-based systems for chemical and biological agent detection, identification and neutralization. Through previous funding and sponsorship by the Air Force Research Laboratory, NovaCentrix and Brooks City-Base jointly managed a program to develop a novel set of technologies to combat the threat of bio-terrorist agents, including anthrax and other pathogens.
4. SiTime, a privately held Silicon Valley start-up bringing the first MEMS-based, all silicon timing solutions to market, has announced that it has received Electronic Products' Product of the Year award for its SiT8002 programmable oscillator. The editors of Electronic Products – a leading trade publication for electronic design engineers – evaluated thousands of products launched in 2006 based on innovative design, significant advances in technology or application and substantial achievement in price and performance. SiTime quartz-based oscillators address more than 80% of the market served today with key target applications in digital cameras, portable media players, notebook computers, and high reliability applications.
5. Innolume GmbH, a world leader in commercializing quantum-dot-based optoelectronic devices, has announced significant advances in making gallium arsenide-based semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) for the 1.3 cm spectral range. Using its extensive quantum-dot expertise, Innolume has significantly improved quantum dot-based SOAs with a fibre-to-fibre small signal gain as high as 25 dB and a saturation output power in excess of 10 dBm at −3 dB. The device uses Innloume's proprietary quantum-dot technology platform, which has been previously been used to develop advanced mode-locked lasers, broadband lasers and high-power lasers.