Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Substrate selectivity in the low temperature ALD of cobalt metal films

Cobalt metal films have increasing importance as magnetic materials, precursors to CoSi2 contacts, liners and encapsulation of copper vias an lines in interconetc, and possibly even as copper replacement conductors know as Cobalt fill. Here Wayne State, UT Dallas and former SAFC HiTech now EMD Performance Materials of MERCK publish an important paper on selective Co ALD at low temperature using bis(1,4-di-tert-butyl-1,3-diazadienyl)cobalt and formic.

Substrate selectivity in the low temperature atomic layer deposition of cobalt metal films from bis(1,4-di-tert-butyl-1,3-diazadienyl)cobalt and formic acid

The Journal of Chemical Physics 146, 052813 (2017); doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4968848



Saturday, February 25, 2017

Picosun and Hitachi MECRALD Process

Here are more details on the Picosun and Hitachi MECRALD Process in a recent article in Solid State Technology:  A new microwave electron cyclotron resonance (MECR) atomic layer deposition (ALD) process technology has been co-developed by Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation and Picosun Oy to provide commercial semiconductor IC fabs with the ability to form dielectric films at lower temperatures. Silicon oxide and silicon nitride, aluminum oxide and aluminum nitride films have been deposited in the temperature range of 150-200 degrees C in the new 300-mm single-wafer plasma-enhanced ALD (PEALD) processing chamber.
 
 
 
Cross-sectional schematic of a new Microwave Electron Cyclotron Resonance (MECR) plasma source from Hitachi High-Technologies connected to a single-wafer Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) processing chamber from Picosun. (Source: Picosun)
 
 
By Ed Korczynski, Sr. Technical Editor
Full article: LINK 
 
 MECRALD online video (https://youtu.be/SBmZxph-EE0)  
 
 

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Atomic Layer Printing for silicon solar cell rear-passivation layers

Here is a new exciting technology from French start-up EnHelios NanoTech called Atomic Layer Printing. They are first targeting silicon solar cell rear-passivation layers, with caping and contact opening in on single wafer pass. The technology was presented at French annual ALD conference RAFALD in December last year.

Please take this survey to learn more and to get in touch with EnHelios NanoTech : SURVEY



Rear-passivated solar cells (PERC) is a widely adopted improvement for solar cells based on p-type solar wafers. However this improvement is expensive to implement as it requires two to three additional equipments for passivation layer deposition ; capping layer deposition and contact opening.



Atomic Layer Printing allows the direct deposition of patterned layers which means only one equipment to perform :

  - Passivation layer deposition (Typically AlOx)
  - Capping layer deposition (SiNx, SiOx, TiOx)
  - Contact opening (already open in printed layers)

Based on Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition, the technology offers the following benefits :

  - Atmospheric pressure process (no load-lock systems)
  - High throughput (up to 1 nm/s)
  - Low temperature (< 300 °C)
  - High material quality (no particle, no pinhole)
  - Low maintenance (no coating on the machine walls)

Atomic Layer Printers are modular equipments processing one wafer per printing head. R&D equipments have one printing head while production equipments combine multiple printing heads.

Beneq release productivity data for their new 200 mm ALD Batch tool T2S

Today Beneq released productivity data for their new 200 mm ALD Batch tool T2S.

Beneq Blog: Better ROI with automated high-capacity ALD tools

Beneq T2S capacity with various different materials and thicknesses. (beneq.com)

Automated batch wafer equipment for high volume manufacturing

Beneq T2S™ is the newest member in Beneq’s wafer-based production equipment portfolio. It offers a unique combination of high capacity batch processing and standard cassette-to-cassette automation. The Beneq T2S is specifically engineered to match the semiconductor requirements, including the SEMI S2 safety requirements and low particle counts. 

Beneq T2S is perfectly suited for high volume manufacturing in various wafer-based applications, including MEMS, LED, OLED, ink-jet print heads and more. The thermal batch ALD process of Beneq T2S is ideal for oxide and nitride processes used for dielectric, conductor, barrier and passivation purposes.

Process details:
  • Up to 200mm wafers in diameter
  • Max 50 wafers per hour
  • Face-down and face-up processing options

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Join the Critical Materials Council (CMC) Conference 2017, May 11-12 in Richardson, Texas.

Join the Critical Materials Council (CMC) Conference 2017, May 11-12 in Richardson, Texas. Get actionable information on materials and supply-chains for current and future semiconductor manufacturing. 

Keynote by Dr. Hans Stork, SVP & CTO of ON Semiconductor, as well as presentations from IDMs, OEMs, materials suppliers, and analysts.  
  • Hear from industry experts on critical materials issues relating to manufacturing, business development, and R&D
  • Learn about the latest critical materials supply chain issues
  • Join the conversation and network with leading semiconductor fabricators, materials companies, and market research firms


Friday, February 17, 2017

Vital Control in Fab Materials Supply-Chains – Part 2

As detailed in Part 1 of this article published last month by SemiMD, the inaugural Critical Materials Council (CMC) Conference happened May 5-6 in Hillsboro, Oregon. Held just after the yearly private CMC meeting, the public CMC Conference provides a forum for the pre-competitive exchange of information to control the supply-chain of critical materials needed to run high-volume manufacturing (HVM) in IC fabs. The next CMC Conference will happen May 11-12 in Dallas, Texas.

At the end of the 2016 conference, a panel discussion moderated by Ed Korczynski was recorded and transcribed. The following is Part 2 of the conversation between the following industry experts:


  • Jean-Marc Girard, CTO and Director of R&D, Air Liquide Advanced Materials,
  • Jeff Hemphill, Staff Materials R&D Engineer, Intel Corporation,
  • Jonas Sundqvist, Sr. Scientist, Fraunhofer IKTS; and co-chair of ALD Conference, and
  • John Smythe, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Micron Technology.

Full article by Ed Korczynski, Sr. Technical Editor Vital Control in Fab Materials Supply-Chains – Part 2

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Harvard showcases non-toxic flow battery that could run for more than a decade with minimum upkeep

Harvard reports: Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new flow battery that stores energy in organic molecules dissolved in neutral pH water. This new chemistry allows for a non-toxic, non-corrosive battery with an exceptionally long lifetime and offers the potential to significantly decrease the costs of production. 
Prof. Roy Gordon: “Because we were able to dissolve the electrolytes in neutral water, this is a long-lasting battery that you could put in your basement. If it spilled on the floor, it wouldn’t eat the concrete and since the medium is noncorrosive, you can use cheaper materials to build the components of the batteries, like the tanks and pumps.”
The research, published in ACS Energy Letters, was led by Michael Aziz, the Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies and Roy Gordon, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science.
Full story: LINK

Fraunhofer IVV improves barrier technology using atomic layer deposition

The Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP and the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB will present new developments in films and the efficient control of coating processes at the upcoming International Converting Exhibition Europe ICE being held in Munich from 21 - 23 March 2017. Under the motto "Functional films – efficient coating processes", emphasis will be put on new film functionalities and accelerated test methods (Hall A5, Stand 1031). 



The Fraunhofer IVV has acquired a new coating plant which utilizes atomic layer deposition to further reduce the permeability of films. Minimizing the permeability to water vapor and oxygen is the key to successful further improvement of high barrier films. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is paving the way here. Coating via roll-to-roll processes allows high processing speeds and production efficiency to be achieved. Up until now, films with the highest barriers have been produced exclusively in vacuum processes. The new ALD plant at the Fraunhofer IVV enables the barrier properties of films to be significantly improved. This is a further step towards meeting the permeability requirements for OLED encapsulation in the medium term. The Fraunhofer IVV is using this technology for publicly funded R&D projects and to provide industry with customized solutions and research services for the development of processes and materials. 




Press release: LINK

Background: Fraunhofer IVV develops ultra barrier films using atomic layer deposition

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Osram Opto and Picosun improving the properties of LEDs in joint EU Project FLINGO

The FLINGO project: an international team of experts is improving the properties of LEDs

Osram Opto Semiconductors is coordinating the project with four partners from industry and research


In view of the growing demands placed on the electrical, optical and thermal functionality of LEDs, more and more attention is being paid to research into new material properties. The purpose of the FLINGO project is therefore to develop new materials (layers in particular) and processes to improve the characteristics of LEDs, such as efficiency and durability. The intention is to maintain and improve market leadership in innovative LED products. As the project coordinator, Osram Opto Semiconductors is working since February 2017 with renowned universities, research institutes and companies. The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research is sponsoring the FLINGO project (Functional Inorganic Layers for Next Generation Optical Devices) as part of the M-ERA.NET EU initiative. 
 

In the course of the FLINGO project different deposition methods for thin films such as atomic layer deposition, spray pyrolysis and the sol gel process for manufacturing high-quality LED light sources are to be investigated and combined. Under the leadership of Dr. David O’Brien from Osram Opto Semiconductors, the project partners will be working on the entire bandwidth of new component properties – including extended lifetime, smaller electrical layer resistance and improved light extraction. These require new materials and innovative or adapted deposition processes. “The project objectives can only be achieved with the assistance of a broad-based consortium because they call for improvements, new developments and especially expert know-how across the entire value added chain”, explained O’Brien. 

Interdisciplinary expertise from five project partners

The members of the FLINGO project in addition to Osram Opto Semiconductors as the coordinator are Uninova from the New University of Lisbon, the Finnish thin film technology company Picosun Oy, the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg and Vilnius University. Fraunhofer ISC provides support with its know-how in the development of new inorganic layer systems which are to be used as the matrix for sensitive converter materials. Uninova adds its expertise in the manufacture of highly transparent and highly conductive layers which are needed for the p-contact in the LEDs. Picosun Oy is developing atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes and new materials to ensure conformal coating of even heavily structured surfaces. The Institute for Applied Research at Vilnius University provides specialist knowledge in the development and characterization of non-destructive material properties and will analyze the new layers and layer systems developed in the FLINGO project. As an end user of the technologies developed in FLINGO, Osram Opto Semiconductors will ultimately transfer the new thin layers and layer systems to its LEDs to test them for their suitability for the mass market. “The results of the project should lead to highly efficient and durable white light LEDs with possible applications in general lighting for example”, added O’Brien. “Our intention here is to improve our competitiveness and that of European industry in this field.”

FLINGO will be sponsored throughout its intended duration until January 2020 by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the M-ERA.NET EU program. M.ERA.NET is an EU-financed network set up to support the coordination of European research projects. You can find more information on M.ERA.NET here.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Impact of ALD to nanophotonic structures and devices [OPEN ACCESS]

Impact of atomic layer deposition to nanophotonic structures and devices.


Thursday, February 9, 2017

One atomic layer has been deposited by ALD on graphene at UNIST

EUREKALERT! reports: ULSAN, South Korea--A new study, affiliated with UNIST has introduced a novel method for fabrication of world's thinnest oxide semiconductor that is just one atom thick. This may open up new possibilities for thin, transparent, and flexible electronic devices, such as ultra-small sensors.


Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Call for abstracts ALE2017 in Denver, USA on July 15-17

Message from the co-chairs of ALE2017: The 4th International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop (ALE2017) will be in Denver, Colorado on July 15-17, 2017. ALE2017 will be held in conjunction with ALD2017. The abstract submission deadline for ALE2017 is February 17, 2017. Details are posted on the conference website at: https://aldconference.avs.org/
 

Please submit your abstracts to ALE2017 on the focus topics including: plasma and/or energy-enhanced ALE; gas-phase and/or thermal ALE; solution-based including wet ALE; selective ALE; ALE hardware, diagnostics, & instrumentation; modeling of ALE; atomic layer cleaning (ALC); integration of ALD + ALE; and applications for ALE.

We will have an exciting ALE2017 workshop. We have 12 invited speakers that are given below.

  • Stacey Bent (Stanford Univ.)
  • Yves Chabal (Univ. of Texas, Dallas)
  • Jane Chang (UCLA)
  • Robert Clark (Tel)
  • Jesus del Alamo (MIT)
  • Masanobu Honda (Tel)
  • Nitin Ingle (AMAT)
  • Mark Kushner (Univ. Michigan)
  • Younghee Lee (Univ. Colorado)
  • Nathan Marchack (IBM)
  • Sumeet Pandey (Micron)
  • Chuck Winter (Wayne State Univ.)

We look forward to your contributed abstracts and seeing you in Denver at ALE2017. 

Regards,
Steve George and Keren Kanarik Co-Chairs of ALE2017

ALD NanoSolutions - The ALD Spinoff company

I think that many as me have followed the innovative ALD developments from CU Bolder and Prof. S. M. George´s group through the years with excitement. Many discoveries have over time led to actual deployment in industrial high volume manufacturing using the processes, precursors and technologies form his group. I would like to especially mention the work on Tungsten ALD and catalytic SiO2 ALD that were very hot in the DRAM industry when ALD was introduced in production 2004 and onward. Catalytic  SiO2 ALD was actually one of the early candidates as a conformal liner for the first versions of double pattering. Now S.M. George is leading the development in new groundbreaking work on Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) and I am sure that some of those discoveries are heading to high volume manufacturing of leading edge Logic and Memory devices as well. It will be very exciting to learn the latest in this field when ALE 2017 comes to Denver Colorado this summer, co-chaired by S.M. George and Keren Kanarik from Lam Research.

ALD NanoSolutions - The ALD Spinoff company

Early 2000 a new company was spun out from CU Boulder and here is the story about ALD NanoSolutions. ALD NanoSolutions was spun out in 2001 from premier atomic layer deposition (ALD) laboratories at the University of Colorado to industrialize ALD applications "In 1997, Professor Alan Weimer of chemical and biological engineering heard a campus talk by Professor Steven George of chemistry about a novel process of coating surfaces with the thinnest of materials possible, known as atomic layer deposition (ALD)."

Left to right: Professor Alan Weimer, CU Boulder alum Karen Buechler, CU Boulder alum Mike Masterson and Professor Steve George are at ALD NanoSolutions in Broomfield, Colorado. (photo provided by ALD NanoSolutions)

“One of the things Steve talked about was putting an extremely thin film coating on a flat piece of metal as part of a research project for the U.S. Navy looking for ways to better protect the hulls of ships,” explains Weimer, an expert in fine particle processing. “We talked afterward and eventually decided to team up on the research.”

Starting up a start-up


Within a few years Weimer and George had filed a number of patents on the technology, gaining exclusive rights to a wide range of intellectual property. When the CU Technology Transfer Office strongly hinted it would be a good move to start a spin-off company, Weimer and George sought out CU Boulder postdoctoral researcher Karen Buechler, who was working in Weimer’s lab at the time.

A picture from the ALD NanoSolutions ALD factory floor and laboratories in Broomfield, Colorado. (photo provided by ALD NanoSolutions). Some of you may recognize Daniel Higgs Product Development Manager at ALD NanoSolutions in the background.

“They told me they knew I was looking for a job, and they needed someone who has the energy to pursue this outside of the university,” she recalls. “So I said I would do it. But we still needed someone who had experience running a business, which none of us had.” No problem. Weimer called Mike Masterson, his former graduate school office mate at CU Boulder in chemical engineering. Masterson, who was embarking on a career in Boston as a venture capitalist, became the first and only CEO of ALD NanoSolutions (ALD Nano). “In a weak moment I said ‘Sure, I’ll do that,’” Masterson recalls with a laugh. ALD Nano was now officially rolling with its four CU Boulder co-founders. “When you start a company, there are a lot of things you can’t control, and there is a lot of luck involved,” says Masterson, who has started eight high-tech companies. “You really can’t control the markets and you can’t control the global economic environment. But one thing you can control is who you get into business with. With Al, Steve and Karen, I knew I was going to be working with honest, smart and very dedicated people.”


Since the the company has grown and is today well known in the ALD industry for their ALD on particle technologies and patent portfolio (LINK) as well as ALD on flexible polymer. Here is the story about how ALD NanoSolutions at CU Boulder, USA was formed as a spinoff 2001.

After talking to Joe Spencer (Director of Operations) some time ago he informed me that they have pilot units in the field and current version can handle 200 kg/day and this year they will scale up to 1000 kg/day - ALD NanoSolutions Particle ALD has broken the barriers for high volume manufacturing!
In 2016 the company has expanded its portfolio of high-value IP, deepened engagements with customers, doubled the manufacturing space, and added new reactors to increase production capacity at Colorado HQ. Please check this Press Release for the most recent business success of this exciting ALD Company steaming ahead especially in ALD deployment for Lithium-Ion Batteries and LED Lighting: LINK


This text has been adopted to fit the BALD blog format, The Original Article : Spinoff company is all in the CU Boulder family

http://www.colorado.edu/today/2017/02/07/spinoff-company-all-cu-boulder-family

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

ALD of Metals Week on Twitter

In between all those very important policy tweets for the world as we knew it there seems to be Metal ALD theme this week on Twitter. Many new interesting publications on both the practical and theoretical paths to successful ALD of Metals to solve those BEOL issues at 7 nm.







Monday, February 6, 2017

Copper ALD Molecular Dynamic simulation by SCIENOMICS

Copper ALD Molecular Dynamic simulation by SCIENOMICS.

ALD2017 & ALE 2017 Joint Tutorial, Denver, USA

The joint tutorials for AVS 17th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD 2017) featuring the 4th International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop (ALE 2017) has been released with a great line up. As in past years, the tutorials will be taking place the day before the actual conference (Saturday, July 15).



ALD & ALE 2017 Tutorial Speakers [LINK]

David Emslie (McMaster Univ.), “ALD Precursors, Precursor Design, Chemistry and Mechanisms”

Adrie Mackus (Eindhoven Univ. of Technology), “Approaches, Challenges, and Opportunities for Area-selective ALD”

Mato Knez (Nanogune), “Coating of Physically and Chemically Challenging Substrates”

Simon Elliott (Tyndall National Institute), “What Theory Can Tell us About ALD Mechanism”

Vincent Donnelly (University of Houston), “History of Plasma Etching”

Geun Young Yeom (Sungkyunkwan Univ.), “Atomic Layer Etching with Ion/Neutral Beams

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Abstract subnission deadline for ALD2017 Denver USA coming up FEB 17th

The AVS 17th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD 2017) featuring the 4th International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop (ALE 2017) (Download PDF Flyer) will be a three-day meeting dedicated to the science and technology of atomic layer controlled deposition of thin films and now topics related to atomic layer etching.  Since 2001, the ALD conference has been held alternately in the United States, Europe and Asia, allowing fruitful exchange of ideas, know-how and practices between scientists. 


This year, the ALD conference will again incorporate the Atomic Layer Etching 2017 Workshop (ALE 2017), so that attendees can interact freely. The conference will take place Saturday, July 15-Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at the Sheraton Downtown Denver in Denver, Colorado, USA.


As in past conferences, the meeting will be preceded (Saturday, July 15) by one day of tutorials and a welcome reception. Sessions will take place (Sunday-Tuesday, July 16-18) along with an industry tradeshow. All presentations will be audio-recorded and provided to attendees following the conference (posters will be included as PDFs). Anticipated attendance is 800+.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

New Japanese ALD Desktop machine for particle ALD

Here is a new cool japanese ALD machine fro coating on particles and powder. Please visit SUGA for more information here: http://www.suga.ne.jp/ [In Japanese]




 Rotating and vibrating ALD particle chamber from SUGA [Photo frpm SUGA www.suga.ne.jp]

Desktop type ALD device SAL 1000 B (for powder) Promotion Video 


Friday, February 3, 2017

Germanium outperforms silicon in energy efficient gate all around NW transistors

A team of scientists from the Nanoelectronic Materials Laboratory (NaMLab gGmbH) and the Cluster of Excellence Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) at the Dresden University of Technology have demonstrated the world-wide first transistor based on germanium that can be programmed between electron- (n) and hole- (p) conduction.

Full story: LINK

The publication can be found online under:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.6b07531
 

UCSD present near-perfect broadband absorption from hyperbolic metamaterial nanoparticles

San Diego, Calif., Feb. 1, 2017 - Transparent window coatings that keep buildings and cars cool on sunny days. Devices that could more than triple solar cell efficiencies. Thin, lightweight shields that block thermal detection. These are potential applications for a thin, flexible, light-absorbing material developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego.

Using 3D patterning and ALD UCSD researchers has developed a new flexible, light-absorbing material that can be used as a transparent, heat-blocking window coatings or infrared detection shields. The materials were fabricated using advanced nanofabrication technologies in the Nano3 cleanroom facility at the Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego. This facility has a Beneq TSF200 ALD reacor (LINK) possibly used for the ALD processing.

Full paper:Near-perfect broadband absorption from hyperbolic metamaterial nanoparticles.” Authors of the study are Conor T. Riley, Joseph S. T. Smalley, Jeffrey R. J. Brodie, Yeshaiahu Fainman, Donald J. Sirbuly and Zhaowei Liu.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Veeco Enters into Agreement to Acquire Ultratech


Ultratech, Inc.
Feb 2, 2017

PLAINVIEW, NY and SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/02/17 --
  • Creates a leading equipment supplier to the growing Advanced Packaging industry
  • Increases scale and revenue diversification to improve profitability through industry cycles
  • Transaction valued at approximately $815 million, expected to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP EPS
  • Conference Call at 5:00pm ET today
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO), a global leader of advanced thin film etch and deposition process equipment, and Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ: UTEK), a leading supplier of lithography, laser-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and LEDs, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Veeco Instruments Inc. ("Veeco") to acquire Ultratech, Inc. ("Ultratech"). The Boards of Directors of both Veeco and Ultratech have unanimously approved the transaction.

Ultratech shareholders will receive (i) $21.75 per share in cash and (ii) 0.2675 of a share of Veeco common stock for each Ultratech common share outstanding. Based on Veeco's closing stock price on February 1, 2017, the transaction consideration is valued at approximately $28.64 per Ultratech share. The implied total transaction value is approximately $815 million and the implied enterprise value is approximately $550 million, net of Ultratech's net cash balance as of December 31, 2016. Post transaction it is projected that Ultratech shareholders will own approximately 15 percent of the combined company.

Ultratech is a recognized leader of lithography products for Advanced Packaging applications and for LEDs and is a pioneer for laser spike anneal technology used for the production of semiconductor devices. In addition, the company offers wafer inspection solutions leveraging its proprietary coherent gradient sensing (CGS) technology which address a wide variety of semiconductor applications.

"The strategic combination will establish Veeco as a leading equipment supplier in the high growth Advanced Packaging industry. Ultratech's leadership in lithography together with Veeco's Precision Surface Processing (PSP) solutions form a strong technology portfolio to address the most critical Advanced Packaging applications. We believe our complementary end market exposure and customer relationships will create the ideal platform to accelerate growth," said John R. Peeler, Veeco's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Ultratech is a great fit with our strategy to profitably grow our business and diversify our revenue. We expect this transaction to be immediately accretive to adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP EPS."

Ultratech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Arthur W. Zafiropoulo said, "Both companies have a strong heritage of developing innovative and cutting-edge technologies. The combined company will create a formidable team to execute against growth opportunities and deliver significant value to customers and shareholders."

Veeco expects to realize approximately $15 million in annualized run rate synergies within 24 months after closing, to be achieved through increased efficiencies and leveraging the scale of the combined businesses. The combined company is expected to have an efficient balance sheet, benefiting from the deployment of excess cash.
0
The transaction is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2017, subject to approval by Ultratech shareholders, regulatory approvals in the U.S. and other customary closing conditions.

NovaldMedical is Improving processing of pharmaceutical powders by ALD

NovaldMedical ltd Oy demonstrates how its patented thin film coating solution improves the flow behavior of paracetamol powder compared to non- treated paracetamol.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

NASA is developing an origami-inspired design for a “smart” radiator that will regulate heat on small satellites

NASA is developing an origami-inspired design for a “smart” radiator that will regulate heat on small satellites: http://go.nasa.gov/2kOScnC



NASA Reports: Japan’s ancient art of paper folding has inspired the design of a potentially trailblazing “smart” radiator that a NASA technologist is now developing to remove or retain heat on small satellites.

Vivek Dwivedi, a technologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has teamed with a couple of researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah to advance an unconventional radiator that would fold and unfold, much like the V-groove paper structures created with origami, the art of transforming a flat piece of paper into a finished sculpture.

In collaboration with Raymond Adomaitis, a professor at the University of Maryland in College Park, Dwivedi plans to lower the transition temperature by applying very thin films of silver and titanium to the vanadium-oxide using sputtering and a technique called atomic layer deposition, or ALD. ALD is performed in a state-of-the-art reactor developed by both Dwivedi and Adomaitis. With ALD, engineers literally can apply atomic-sized layers of different materials onto intricately shaped structures — much like how a cook layers different ingredients to make a pan of lasagna.