1. Lumera Corporation has announced that it has been awarded an extension to a US government contract to continue developing technologically advanced wideband optical modulators. The 12-month contract is valued at approximately $1.15 mn, and the overall contract value has now reached approximately $6.9 mn. Lumera is a leader in nanotechnology and the company designs proprietary molecular structures and polymer compounds for the bioscience and communications/computing industries, both of which represent large market opportunities.
2. Industrial Nanotech Inc, an emerging global leader in nanotechnology, has announced that Petrobras, the Brazilian oil and gas giant, has requested production of 50 000 gallons of Nansulate High Heat, the company's thermally insulating and corrosion-protection coating, valued at more than $3.7 mn dollars. This order is currently scheduled for delivery in June 2007 and is the beginning of an anticipated strong revenue stream for the company.
3. Nanometrics Incorporated, a leading supplier of advanced integrated and stand-alone metrology equipment to the semiconductor industry, has announced that it has established Nanometrics' South Korea facility as its global manufacturing centre for overlay metrology – the measurement of the registration of sequential layers during the semiconductor manufacturing process, important for next-generation lithography. This represents one of four core market segments for Nanometrics, which include optical critical dimension scatterometry, film-thickness measurement and integrated metrology. The company is consolidating worldwide overlay manufacturing into one location in Asia as part of its growth strategy.
4. Nanotube manufacturer Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc (CNI), co-founded by late Nobel laureate and nanotube pioneer Richard Smalley, will merge with nanotube patent aggregator and product developer Unidym of Menlo Park, California. Unidym has exclusive licenses to carbon-nanotube patents from eight universities, including the California Institute of Technology, the University of California at Los Angeles, Duke University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Unidym will also have exclusive licenses to all the intellectual property in CNI's portfolio and plans to begin selling transparent nanotube-based films in 2008 as replacements for indium tin oxide in products such as touch screens and solar cells.