1. Nanometrics Incorporated, the leading supplier of both advanced integrated and stand-alone metrology equipment for the semiconductor and related industries, has announced that it has successfully installed its recently introduced VerteX photoluminescence mapping system at the Philips Electronics Microsystems Plaza (MiPlaza) R&D facilities in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The VerteX will be shared by all users of the MiPlaza facility, including the leading optoelectronics foundry company, Cedova.
2. Industrial Nanotech Inc, an emerging global leader in nanotechnology, has announced that its Nansulate LDX lead encapsulation coating has been chosen for a commercial office project by Southern Environmental Services of Marietta, Georgia. The application is for a building previously contaminated with lead paint. Southern Environmental will apply Nansulate LDX to the interior of the three-story building in Atlanta, to provide encapsulation of lead contaminates so that it can be renovated. The value of the lead abatement market is estimated to be $400 billion dollars and encapsulation is a form of lead abatement, defined as the application of any covering or coating that acts as a barrier between the lead-based paint and the environment.
3. Swiss nanotechnology venture capital firm NanoDimension has established a new investment vehicle, NanoDimension Limited Partnership, which will focus exclusively on investments in nanotechnology companies. European and North American investment opportunities include IT and electronics, life sciences, materials and energy sectors. Leveraging €45 million (about $60 million) in committed capital, NanoDimension is one of the world's leading nanotechnology specialists in the venture capital community. Limited partners include leading scientific and financial institutions.
4. Dongbu Electronics and Dongbu Hannong Chemicals of Seoul, South Korea, have announced the approval of their merger at a special shareholders meeting. The resultant bio-semiconductor enterprise, named Dongbu HiTek Co. Ltd., will formally launch on 1 May 2007 to provide wafer foundry services, and advanced chemicals and materials for agriculture, bioengineering, nanotechnology and semiconductor processing.
5. Arrowhead Research has formed a new subsidiary and agreed to acquire the assets and name of C Sixty Inc (C-60), a company pioneering the development of drugs based on buckministerfullerenes. "The future of medicine lies in targeted delivery of therapeutics through nanotechnology," said R Bruce Stewart, Arrowhead's chairman. "Our experience and expertise in this area makes C-60 a great strategic complement to our other majority owned subsidiaries."