Picosun launches new PicoMEDICAL™ solutions specially targeted for healthcare industries

ESPOO, Finland, 9th October 2018 – Picosun Group, a leading, global provider of ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating technology, strengthens its position in the healthcare market with new PicoMEDICAL™ solutions specially developed for the needs of medical device manufacturers. 

ALD technology has the potential to disrupt the whole field of healthcare industries. Ultra-thin, biocompatible and bioactive ALD films manufactured with Picosun’s production ALD equipment already encapsulate surgical implants and improve their adhesion to bone. This speeds up the healing process and protects the patient from possible metal ion leakage from the implant into the body. In pharmaceutical industries, Picosun’s powder ALD technology is used to functionalize the surface of drug particles for controlled drug delivery.

Veeco present ALD coating that reduces failure in orthopedic implants

At the EFDS ALD For Industry Workshop in Dresden this spring Ganesh Sundaram Veeco presented on their recent developments employing ALD in Life Sciences [LINK]. One of the topics presented in hos presentation was how an ALD coating can reduce failure in orthopedic implants. Here is a recent article describing these studies in details that is well worth reading along with the scientific publications.

Typical titanium implant (Wikipedia) in Osteosynthesis, which is the operative treatment of bone fractures, mainly with metal nails, plates and screws.

Atomic Layer Deposition Coating Reduces Failure in Orthopedic Implants

Written by Luting Liu, Ritwik Bhatia, Thomas J. Webster 4 September 2018

Novus Light Technologies Today

LINK: https://www.novuslight.com/atomic-layer-deposition-coating-reduces-failure-in-orthopedic-implants_N8392.html

Introduction:

Titanium (Ti) and its alloys have been extensively used as implant materials in orthopedic applications. However, implants may fail due to a lack of osseointegration and/or infection. Researchers endowed an implant surface with favorable biological properties by the dual modification of surface chemistry and nanostructured topography. The application of a nanostructured titanium dioxide (TiO2) coating on Ti-based implants is proposed to enhance tissue-implant interactions while inhibiting bacterial colonization simultaneously due to its chemical stability, biocompatibility, and antimicrobial properties.

Temperature-controlled atomic layer deposition (ALD) was found to provide an effective strategy to produce TiO2 coatings with delicate control of surface nano-topography and surface energy to enhance the interfacial biocompatibility and mitigate bacterial infection.

 

Ganesh Sundaram Veeco presenting recent developments employing ALD in Life Sciences at EFDS ALD For Industry in Dresden 2018 (Photo Dr. Martin Knaut).

Original publication [Open access]: Atomic layer deposition of nano-TiO2 thin films with enhanced biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity for orthopedic implants, Liu L, Bhatia R, Webster TJ, International journal of nanomedicine 8 December 2017 Volume 2017:12 Pages 8711—8723 DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S148065

Stress-free ALD High-k from Picosun

ESPOO, Finland, 28th August, 2018 – Picosun Group, a leading supplier of advanced Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) thin film coating solutions, reports a method to control and eliminate stress in ALD films.

Various stresses are easily formed in ALD films during the deposition process, either inside the film or between the film and the underlying substrate. As all modern microelectronic devices are basically built by stacking ultra-thin layers of various materials on top of each other, these stresses can be detrimental not only to the film itself but to the other functional layers and structures beneath. Especially in MEMS devices, where cavities and free-standing membranes are often employed, stress-free ALD films, or films where the stress is exactly controlled, are very much sought after. Same applies for IC components, where film strains and tensions can lead to material layers detaching from each other, or bending and buckling of the whole structure. 

 

 

Picosun has now developed a method with which zero stress and controlled stress ALD films can be produced. This sophisticated method is based on intricate tuning of process chemistry and deposition conditions. The desired effect is obtained with right selection of precursor chemicals and process temperature, so no additional process steps such as heat or plasma treatments (which might cause structural damage to the film) are required. Replacing a single material film with carefully designed nanolaminate of materials with opposite stress properties is another way to achieve zero stress layers. These methods have been validated with e.g. HfO2, which is one of the key materials in microelectronics industry. Other ALD materials tested include SiO2, Ta2O5, and TiO2 (*). 

“We are very pleased that we can now offer stress-free ALD HfO2 process to our customers in MEMS and IC industries. Especially medical MEMS is an important market for us, and a prime example of an application area where controlled stress ALD films are needed to enable a whole platform of novel products. Thanks to our unmatched ALD expertise, we have now developed a solution to one of the fundamental challenges in ALD. This will facilitate the implementation of ALD to yet new, exciting applications in health technology and future IC manufacturing,” summarizes Dr. Jani Kivioja, CTO of Picosun Group.

Groundbreaking micromedicine with Picosun’s ALD solutions

ESPOO, Finland, 24th April, 2018 – Picosun Group, a leading industrial supplier of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) thin film coating technology, reports of groundbreaking results in ALD biobarriers for novel medical applications.

Picosun’s ALD biobarriers are developed specifically for hermetic encapsulation and passivation of critical electronics in implantable micromedical devices for e.g. cardiological and neurological treatments. The purpose of the biocompatible ALD barrier layers is to protect the microelectronic components of the devices without interfering with the device functionality. The results are excellent: Devices with the ALD biobarriers lasted for several months in accelerated aging tests, equaling at least ten years inside a human body, whereas non-protected devices started to deteriorate already in a matter of hours. (*)

Picosun’s ALD biobarriers are developed specifically for hermetic encapsulation and passivation of critical medical tools and electronics in implantable micromedical devices for e.g. cardiological and neurological treatments (left and center). Newly appointed CTO of Picosun Group, Dr. Jani Kivioja, (right), previously at NOKIA Digital Health lab (Espoo, Finland) and NOKIA Nanomaterials (Cambridge, UK).

Medical technology is one of the key industries that reaps the benefits of the on-going digitalization and miniaturization of electronics. Instead of heavy surgeries and clumsy, expensive machines that require frequent hospital visits of the patients, diagnostics and treatments can be performed remotely and with minimally invasive methods utilizing various minuscule devices that can be either implanted inside the body or attached to skin. Lab-on-a-chip devices which combine microfluidics and microelectronics allow fast and cost-efficient in-situ analysis of body fluid and tissue samples. Implantable sensors can monitor blood glucose, blood pressure, intraocular and intracranial pressure, and heart functions. Parkinson’s and potentially many other brain diseases can be treated with implanted probes that provide electrical stimulation to the critical regions of the brain. In cardiology, catheter ablation, the common treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, can be made safer and more precise with the help of state-of-the-art microelectronics and sensor technology. Especially the elderly population benefits from these solutions when remote monitoring of various physiological markers allows them to live longer at home and severe conditions can be detected before they require long and costly hospital treatments.

ALD coated Minitablets help medicate picky cats

#ALDep Minitablets help medicate picky cats https://t.co/HFrdbEfXOp via @helsinkiuni @EurekAlert

— BALD Engineering AB (@jv3sund) March 22, 2017

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.

Improving processing of pharmaceutical powders by @novaldmedical #pharmaceuticals #ALDep https://t.co/FCyxNsVXqG

— Tommi Kääriäinen (@tommikaariainen) February 1, 2017

Bill Gates grants CU Boulder $1.1 million for next-generation vaccines by ALD

The University of Colorado Boulder has received a $1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop next-generation vaccines that require no refrigeration and defend against infectious diseases with just one shot. 

 

 

The Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (JSCBB) at CU Boulder. Photo: Patrick Campbell / University of Colorado Boulder

If successful, those advancements could radically transform the difficult task of dispensing life-saving immunizations in developing countries—and improve convenience in every part of the world.

Professor Bob Garcea of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and the BioFrontiers Institute has teamed up with Professors Ted Randolph and Al Weimer of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in a unique collaboration that applies a wide range of skillsets and ideas to the pressing challenge of delivering vaccines to patients in developing countries. All three investigators work in the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (JSCBB) at CU Boulder, but their research areas have very different emphases.

“It’s really merging three different people with three different sets of expertise into one project,” Garcea said.

In Garcea’s lab, located in the Jean L. and Jack C. Thompson Vaccine Development Laboratory of the JSCBB, investigators work on new vaccines such as those for human papillomavirus, a leading cause of cervical cancer that is particularly devastating to women in developing countries.

One corridor away, Randolph’s team, which focuses on creating stable dosage forms for therapeutic proteins and vaccines, developed a process for making vaccines thermostable, or resistant to damage from heat or cold. In this glassy powder state, the vaccine can be stored at temperatures as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit for three to four months without losing efficacy, Randolph said.

The two began collaborating about two years ago and even formed a spinoff company, Vitravax Inc., which is seeing successful results in vaccine studies conducted in mice.

The Gates Foundation grant will take these innovations a step further by combining the thermostable vaccine powders with techniques developed in the Weimer lab that allow uniform nanoscopic protective layers of aluminum oxide to be applied to vaccine microparticles. This coating process, called atomic layer deposition, not only provides a nanometer-thick protective barrier for the vaccine particles but also helps trigger the body’s immune response.

The trio are now forming extended release, multilayer microparticulate vaccine dosage forms, composed of an inner core of stabilized vaccine coated with aluminum oxide layers and an outer layer of vaccine, all embedded in a glassy powder. When the formulation is injected, the outer layer provides an initial vaccine dose. Next, the aluminum oxide layer slowly dissolves, eventually releasing the inner core which acts as a second dose of vaccine. Patients receive their second or third “dose” without ever knowing it and without a return trip to the doctor.

Although each step of the process has worked independently, researchers cautioned that moving from small test batches in the lab to manufacturing millions of vaccines for public use is a challenging process that may not succeed quickly—or at all.

“We’ve done many of the individual parts of this project,” Randolph said. “Now we’ve got to put those pieces together and have it work.”

Still, investigators say they are optimistic about the collaboration, which might never have happened if not for their proximity on CU Boulder’s East Campus and the interdisciplinary mission of the BioFrontiers Institute, which seeks to drive innovation by combining researchers from different fields.

“One of the hopes [of the BioFrontiers Institute] is that investigators will, by their proximity, do new and interesting things,” said Garcea, who is a member of the institute. “In a sense, we’ve fulfilled the mission. If the technology works, we’ve really fulfilled the mission.”

Nanostraw microdevices fabricated using ALD to deliver drugs

 (From Nanotechweb) Researchers in California have designed microdevices that can adhere to the lining of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and release therapeutic drugs slowly. The devices are sealed with nanostraws that also protect the loaded drug from enzymes in the GI.

 

(A) SEM images show that microdevices have intact nanostraw membranes. (B) Confocal fluorescence microscopy of nanostraw devices. Courtesy: ACS Nano : ACS Nano DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b00809

Increasing drug uptake

The researchers made their nanostraw membranes using track etch and atomic layer deposition. They then incorporated the membranes into the microdevices using polymer deposition, photolithography and reactive ion etching steps.

“We load drugs into the device reservoirs by diffusion,” explains team member Cade Fox. “The devices could then be administered orally, and we would expect them to adhere to the lining of the GI tract and release drug towards GI tissue at high concentrations for prolonged durations, thereby increasing drug uptake.” 

Fabrication of Sealed Nanostraw Microdevices for Oral Drug Delivery

Cade B. Fox, Yuhong Cao, Cameron L. Nemeth, Hariharasudhan D. Chirra, Rachel W. Chevalier, Alexander M. Xu, Nicholas A. Melosh, and Tejal A. Desai

 

ACS Nano, Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b00809

 

The oral route is preferred for systemic drug administration and provides direct access to diseased tissue of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. However, many drugs have poor absorption upon oral administration due to damaging enzymatic and pH conditions, mucus and cellular permeation barriers, and limited time for drug dissolution. To overcome these limitations and enhance oral drug absorption, micron-scale devices with planar, asymmetric geometries, termed microdevices, have been designed to adhere to the lining of the GI tract and release drug at high concentrations directly toward GI epithelium. Here we seal microdevices with nanostraw membranes—porous nanostructured biomolecule delivery substrates—to enhance the properties of these devices. We demonstrate that the nanostraws facilitate facile drug loading and tunable drug release, limit the influx of external molecules into the sealed drug reservoir, and increase the adhesion of devices to epithelial tissue. These findings highlight the potential of nanostraw microdevices to enhance the oral absorption of a wide range of therapeutics by binding to the lining of the GI tract, providing prolonged and proximal drug release, and reducing the exposure of their payload to drug-degrading biomolecules.

Ultratech Cambridge Nanotech Forms Research Collaboration With Northeastern University

Ultratech-CNT and Professor Thomas Webster at Northeastern University to Research the Use of ALD-Produced Nano-Materials in Medical Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultratech, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTEK), a leading supplier of lithography, laser­ processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high­brightness LEDs (HB­ LEDs), as well as atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, announced the formation of a research collaboration with Professor Thomas J. Webster, Ph.D. at Northeastern University, to study the use of nano-materials produced via ALD for medical applications. The initial research has focused on inhibiting bacterial growth and inflammation and promoting cell and tissue growth. 

 

 

Dr. Thomas Webster, Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern, said, "We are very excited to embark on this collaboration with Ultratech-CNT. While we are in the early stages of this study, the initial results of our work suggest that the materials and processes we are developing could have long-range impact in this field."

 

Ultratech-CNT Senior Research Scientist Ritwik Bhatia, Ph.D., who has been working closely with Professor Webster, explained, "This type of work is a marked departure from the traditional applications and uses for ALD and dramatically opens up a new field where material science and life sciences intersect. I am extremely pleased to be part of this research program and excited by the potential benefits for healthy surgical outcomes that this research represents."

Arthur W. Zafiropoulo, Ultratech's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "At Ultratech, we have long maintained and understood that material science would play a key role in moving many emerging technological fields forward. We also feel that it can serve a much larger role, namely in improving the quality of life. In linking the expertise of Prof. Webster and his research group with Ultratech-CNT's ALD group, we believe we are taking steps to solidly and efficiently pursue our scientific and commercial goals."

New Book - Nanocoatings by Atomic Layer Deposition for Medical Applications

Here is a new ALD book on ALD for medical applications as coatings for on different implantable orthopedic alloys:

This book deals with synthesize high quality nanocoatings thin films of alumina, titania, and alumina/titania multilayers with 25 nm and 50 nm thickness by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) method on different implantable orthopedic alloys ( Co-28Cr-6Mo ASTM F75 and Stainless steel 316L), and then characterization the structure of thin films by advanced nanotechnology methods and facilities, study the localized corrosion resistance in SBF, determine the biocompatibility, and demonstrate the bioactivity.

Book Details:
ISBN-13:	978-3-639-86267-6
ISBN-10:	3639862678
EAN:	9783639862676
Book language:	English
By (author) :	Haitham Mohammed Wadullah Muna Khethier Abbass Sami Abualnoun Ajeel
Number of pages:	192
Published on:	2016-01-15
Category:	Technology

New method using ALD enables storage and controlled release of pharmaceutical substances in the body

Maria Asplund from Sweden, since April 2013 appointed a Junior Group Leader for the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools at the University of Freiburg and her doctoral candidate Christian Böhler has provided the foundations for a new molecular storage method using ALD. The method could find its way into clinical practice in the foreseeable future. 

The team have succeeded in creating a compound of organic and inorganic materials that is particularly well suited for the compact storage of pharmacologically active substances. The method involves an ALD ZnO layer that was deposited in a hot wall reactor OpAL - manufactured by Oxford Instruments. 

The full story is available here in PhysOrg and in the open access publication below. 

Please also check out earlier stories here on the ALD Blog on using ALD for controlled drug delivery from Nanexa of Sweden:

Swedish Nanexa demonstrate ALD controlled drug delivery

Picosun and Nanexa collaborate in ALD for Medical technology in ECSEL InForMed led by Philips

A Simple Approach for Molecular Controlled Release based on Atomic Layer Deposition Hybridized Organic-Inorganic Layers

Christian Boehler, Firat Güder, Umut M. Kücükbayrak, Margit Zacharias & Maria Asplund

Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 19574 (2016), doi:10.1038/srep19574 

The storage layer (marked green) can be used to store drugs; the surface layer (marked blue) enables their release in controlled dosages. Credit: Christian Böhler/University of Freiburg (Picture from PhysOrg: http://phys.org/news/2016-02-method-enables-storage-pharmaceutical-substances.html#jCp)

On-demand release of bioactive substances with high spatial and temporal control offers ground-breaking possibilities in the field of life sciences. However, available strategies for developing such release systems lack the possibility of combining efficient control over release with adequate storage capability in a reasonably compact system. In this study we present a new approach to target this deficiency by the introduction of a hybrid material. This organic-inorganic material was fabricated by atomic layer deposition of ZnO into thin films of polyethylene glycol, forming the carrier matrix for the substance to be released. Sub-surface growth mechanisms during this process converted the liquid polymer into a solid, yet water-soluble, phase. This layer permits extended storage for various substances within a single film of only a few micrometers in thickness, and hence demands minimal space and complexity. Improved control over release of the model substance Fluorescein was achieved by coating the hybrid material with a conducting polymer film. Single dosage and repetitive dispensing from this system was demonstrated. Release was controlled by applying a bias potential of ±0.5 V to the polymer film enabling or respectively suppressing the expulsion of the model drug. In vitro tests showed excellent biocompatibility of the presented system.

NovaldMedical - an ALD Life Science Company from Finland

NovaldMedical - Here is a new interesting ALD applications company from Finland for Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) application development to serve enhanced drug delivery, formulation engineering and industrial pharmaceutical manufacturing. [Thanks Riikka for tweeting this one!] Below is an overview of NovaldMedicals offering

Low temperature coatings

Cost-efficiency is one of the most frequent keywords in the health-care sector. In daily life, products such as instruments for diagnostics sample collection and analysis as well as for therapies,... read more →

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)

ALD is an industrial, surface controlled, self-limiting layer-by-layer technique for depositing thin films from gaseous phase of the precursors. The two most important advantages of ALD are excellent conformality and... read more → 

Pharmaceutical Development

The costs and risk of failure in drug discovery and development are increasing and development is becoming more challenging. Drug discovery creates new candidates for drug development. Drug development is... read more →

Medical Devices

The medical device category of products enables an extremely large variety of technical and biological needs to be fulfilled depending on the component or system involved. Proven biocompatibility and biofunctionality... read more →  

 

 

TAU researcher harnesses gold nanoparticles to engineer novel biocompatible cardiac patch

After recent success by Barry Lab realizing precursors for gold ALD I see gold application appearing all the time. Here is a lifesaving recent application of gold nano particles from Tel Aviv University, Israel. 

Because heart cells cannot multiply and cardiac muscles contain few stem cells, heart tissue is unable to repair itself after a heart attack. Now Tel Aviv University researchers are literally setting a new gold standard in cardiac tissue engineering.

Picture from TUA press release 

Dr. Tal Dvir and his graduate student Michal Shevachof TAU's Department of Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, have been developing sophisticated micro- and nanotechnological tools — ranging in size from one millionth to one billionth of a meter — to develop functional substitutes for damaged heart tissues. Searching for innovative methods to restore heart function, especially cardiac "patches" that could be transplanted into the body to replace damaged heart tissue, Dr. Dvir literally struck gold. He and his team discovered that gold particles are able to increase the conductivity of biomaterials.

In a study published by Nano Letters, Dr. Dvir's team presented their model for a superior hybrid cardiac patch, which incorporates biomaterial harvested from patients and gold nanoparticles. "Our goal was twofold," said Dr. Dvir. "To engineer tissue that would not trigger an immune response in the patient, and to fabricate a functional patch not beset by signalling or conductivity problems."

Full story: http://www.aftau.org/weblog-medicine--health?=&storyid4704=2110&ncs4704=3

Atomic layer deposition technology finds path to medical market via drug-delivery systems

I know I covered this before but it is just so cool technology. Just take a moment and think about all the possibilities and how big this market is. Here is another angle on the story - Republished form : Plastics Today

Atomic layer deposition technology finds path to medical market via drug-delivery systems

Finland-based supplier of atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology Picosun Oy (Espoo) recently announced that it has entered the medical market via drug-delivery systems developed by Nanexa AB (Uppsala, Sweden).

ALD enables the deposition of hermetic, ultra-thin layers of metals, polymers and other materials on a range of products. The technology's capability to cover very small parts with complex geometries gives it an attractive profile for medical device applications. The coating increases operational life, reliability and safety of medical equipment and enables advanced synthesis, delivery and dosing of medical substances, says the company. Several biocompatible coating materials are available, and because it is a gas-phase, low-temperature method, the ALD process can be used to coat sensitive plastic substrates in medical products. Picosun did not disclose the specific material used in the Nanexa application.

Nanexa is specialized in the development of nanotechnology-enabled drug-delivery systems that, it says, "create new possibilities for drug formulations and drug release." Its signature PharmaShell technology encapsulates solid drug particles in the nano- to micrometer range within an extremely thin shell made from a soluble, mineral compound. The thickness of the shell determines the time-release properties and allows precise therapeutic tailoring. The shell, which is created by ALD technology, completely dissolves and exits the body.

Picosun ALD process tools are used primarily in the semiconductor industry as well as in microelectromechanical and light-emitting diode production. The technology also has applications in the deposition of protective, decorative and biocompatible coatings, and is widely used in high-level research institutes across the world.

Picosun would like to see its technology make further inroads into medical applications. To this point, it is involved in the InForMed project, a European Union (EU) initiative to develop an integrated micro-fabrication pilot line for medical device production that incorporates the full innovation chain from concept to system qualification. The project, which is funded by the EU ECSEL JU public-private partnership, began in June 2015 and runs until May 2018.

Picosun and Nanexa collaborate in ALD for Medical technology in ECSEL InForMed led by Philips

Picosun Oy provides the advanced ALD coating solutions to enable the next generation of cutting-edge medical technology.

ALD’s unique ability to form perfectly hermetic but still ultra-thin encapsulation layers to cover even the smallest, most complex surface details and particles is an invaluable asset to the medical equipment and medicine manufacturers. It increases the operational life, reliability, and safety of the equipment and enables advanced synthesis, delivery, and dosing of medical substances. Several ALDmaterials are naturally biocompatible and, as a gas-phase, low temperature method, ALD allows coating of sensitive substrates such as plastics and polymers – key materials in various medical devices.

“Incorporation of our ALD solutions into the field of medical technology opens up an interesting new market for us. ALD-enabled medical innovations already create growth and success for our customers – an example being recently stock listed Nanexa AB in Sweden, which utilizes our ALD technology in production of nanofabricated drug delivery Systems. In InForMed, one of our new, inter-European ECSEL projects we cooperate with the leading industries in the field. We are excited to see our ALDexpertise realize the most advanced, better, safer, and patient-friendly diagnostics and treatment equipment,” states Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun.

Source: PrNewsWire
Picosun ALD Breaks Through in Medical Technology

The InForMed project - ECSEL Joint Undertaking

The project InForMed (An integrated pilot line for micro-fabricated medical devices), running from 1st June 2015 to 31st May 2018 is financed by ECSEL Joint Undertaking.

The InForMed project will establish an industrial integrated micro-fabrication pilot line for medical devices, covering the complete innovation chain from technology concept to system qualification.

The heart of the pilot line is the industrial facility of Philips Innovation Services (PInS), which will serve as a small/medium-scale production and assembly facility, qualified for medical devices. Connected to this infrastructure are European partners who provide complementary capabilities that enable the heterogeneous integration required for these devices.

The pilot line is fed by new concepts, generated by academic and industrial research. For high volume production the pilot line is connected to well established foundries. Protocols have been defined to ensure an efficient transfer of technologies from the concept creation phase (TRL 4/5) to the pilot line, and from the pilot line to high volumes production (TRL 7/8).

The pilot line is demonstrated by six demonstrator products that cover innovations in existing markets, enable emerging markets and pioneer new markets, respectively. The pilot line will help consolidating Europe’s strong position in diagnostic equipment, and it will create innovative value chains in emerging and new markets in medical equipment and even pharmacology.

Nanopipettes for DNA detection fine tuned by ALD

Joshua Edel and his group at Imperial College London has been developing Nano pipettes [On-Demand Delivery of Single DNA Molecules Using Nanopipets]. Now they have gone a step further to fine tune the pipette for DNA dellivery and detection among other interesting things by using ALD.

Background on the group of Joshua Edel 

(http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/joshua.edel):

Analytical Sensors plays a crucial role in today’s highly demanding exploration and development of new detection strategies. Whether it be medicine, biochemistry, bioengineering, or analytical chemistry the goals are essentially the same: 

1) improve sensitivity

2) maximize throughput

3) and reduce the instrumental footprint. 

In order to address these key challenges, the analytical community has borrowed technologies and design philosophies which has been used by the semiconductor industry over the past 20 years. By doing so, key technological advances have been made which include the miniaturization of sensors and signal processing components which allows for the efficient detection of nanoscale object. One can imagine that by decreasing the dimensions of a sensor to a scale similar to that of a nanoscale object, the ultimate in sensitivity can potentially be achieved - the detection of single molecules.

Research activities within the Edel group runs at the interface between chemistry, chemical biology, physics, and medicine in order to improve and develop new classes of sensors based on these principles. As such expertise within our group includes an array of techniques and methods which includes micro and nanofabrication, material processing, surface modification chemistries, semiconductor processing and characterization techniques, confocal microscopy, plasmonics, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and single molecule techniques using both optical and electrical methods.

Fine Tuning of Nanopipettes Using Atomic Layer Deposition for Single Molecule Sensing 

Jasmine Sze, Shailabh Kumar, Aleksandar P Ivanov, SAng-Hyun Oh and Joshua Edel 

Analyst, 2015,

DOI: 10.1039/C5AN01001B 

Published online 03 Jun 2015 

 Nanopipettes are an attractive single-molecule tool for identification and characterisation of nucleic acids and proteins in solutions. They enable label-free analysis and reveal individual molecular properties, which are generally masked by ensemble averaging. Having control over the pore dimensions is vital to ensure that the dimensions of the molecules being probed match that of the pore for optimization of the signal to noise. Although nanopipettes are simple and easy to fabricate, challenges exist, especially when compared to more conventional solid-state analogues. For example, a sub-20 nm pore diameter can be difficult to fabricate and the batch-to-batch reproducibility is often poor. To improve on this limitation, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is used to deposit ultrathin layers of alumina (Al2O3) on the surface of the quartz nanopipettes enabling sub-nm tuning of the pore dimensions. Here, Al2O3 with a thickness of 8, 14 and 17 nm was deposited onto pipettes with a starting pore diameter of 75 ± 5 nm whilst a second batch had 5 and 8 nm Al2O3 deposited with a starting pore diameter of 25 ± 3 nm respectively. This highly conformal process coats both the inner and outer surfaces of pipettes and resulted in the fabrication of pore diameters as low as 7.5 nm. We show that Al2O3 modified pores do not interfere with the sensing ability of the nanopipettes and can be used for high signal-to-noise DNA detection. ALD provides a quick and efficient (batch processing) for fine-tuning nanopipettes for a broad range of applications including the detection of small biomolecules or DNA-protein interactions at the single molecule level.

Picosun Summer ALD News

Well in time for the AVS ALD 2015 International Confernce in Portland USA, Picosun releases Summer News 2015. The magazine is available online with some great stories and news and can be downloaded here and the main headlines you can see below: 

Picosun’s leading vacuum batch options win more market in MEMS, LED, and III-V
manufacturing

MEMS, LEDs, and other III-V compound semiconductor devices are central market segments for Picosun’s production ALD technology. In order to maintain the spearheading position as the solutions provider to these manufacturers, Picosun has built an extensive range of automatic vacuum batch sample handling systems optimized for the requirements of the above mentioned industries. Two examples are shown below, the PICOPLATFORM™ vacuum cluster system and the PICOSUN™ P-300 Pro reactor equipped with the batch flipping mechanism

Versatile, multifunctional, high throughput PICOPLATFORM™ vacuum cluster systems have been a solid success since their launch. The substrate handling system of the PICOPLATFORM™ tool is based on Brooks MX™- or Marathon™ -series vacuum robot clustering units.

The PICOSUN™ P-300 Pro reactor equipped with the batch flipping mechanism is optimal for e.g. MEMS manufacturing line, where the most part of the processing happens in horizontal geometry, in contrast to the vertical position required for the wafers in the ALD reactor. The flipping system picks the wafers from the loading cassette one by one and flips them into vertical position in the wafer holder for the ALD process step. During the unloading step, the wafers are again flipped back to horizontal position in the receiving cassette. Currently, the flipping system is optimized for handling a cassette of 25 pcs of 200 mm wafers.

Picosun’s Asian expansion continues in Taiwan

Picosun and National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) have established a Joint Industrial ALD Research Laboratory at the premises of NCTU’s X-Photonics Interdisciplinary Center in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.

 

The signing ceremony of the Joint Industrial ALD Research Laboratory. From left to right: ATOM SEMICON Vice President Mr. Bob Lin; CEO of Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd. and Applications Director of Picosun Oy, Dr. Wei-Min Li; Vice President for Research and Development of NCTU, Prof. Edward-Yi Chang; Chairman of the Board and CEO of Picosun Oy, Mr. Kustaa Poutiainen; Secretary General of NCTU, Prof. Hsin-Tien Chiu; and Associate Vice President, Office of International Affairs and Distinguished Professor, Department of Photonics and Institute of Electro-optical Engineering, Prof. Hao-Chung Kuo.

Large scale powder ALD enabled with POCA™ 300 and Picovibe™ technologies from Picosun

Following the recent news of Swedish Nanexa using ALD to coat medically active particles for precise drug delivery (PharmaShell® is a completely new drug delivery system) it is interesting to see that Picosun also offers a full scale production unit through the POCA™ and Picovibe™ technologies.

Picosun’s POCA™ 300 powder coating system allows ALD processing of large powder batches utilizing the company’s industry-standard PICOSUN™ P-300 reactor design.

Picosun extends ALD solutions portfolio for mechanical 3D part protection 

The unmatched quality of the ALD films and the ALD method’s ability to cover reliably and uniformly even the tiniest surface details make it an ideal technique for protective surface treatments for macroscopic 3D objects. Picosun’s production-proven ALD technology already enables anti-tarnish and decorative coatings on coins, watches, and jewelry parts, offering totally new, improved, environmentally friendly, and cost-efficient alternative to traditional surface protection methods. Now, the solutions portfolio has been extended to yet new product categories such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), medical implants, and, as an example of heavier machinery, engine, pump, and compressor parts.

Picosun’s production-proven ALD coating solutions are already in use in medical implant manufacturing. ALD is an ideal method for bioactive surface functionalization of titanium alloy dental implants, metal parts of artificial hips, and other implantable surgical devices, for improved patient safety and longer lifetime of the devic

Customer interviews:

• Prof. Hao-Chung Kuo, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
• Dr. Giuliana Impellizzeri, National Research Council, Catania, Italy
• Dr. Jonas Sundqvist, Lund University, Sweden

Swedish Nanexa demonstrate ALD controlled drug delivery

PharmaShell® is a completely new drug delivery system from Nanexa and has demonstrated great potential to revolutionize drug formulation in the future. PharmaShell® is based on containment of microscopic drug particles, which allow for new possibilities for targeting and dosing of drugs with higher precision.

Many drugs today are used as small particles and they can be administered in several ways, e.g. intravenous, orally or by inhalation. PharmaShell® provides a technique where solid drug particles in the size range of nanometers to micrometers are completely contained. The containment is provided by creating a shell, with a thickness of a few nanometers, on the surface of the drug particles. The shell is made from a mineral compound which has low solubility. This allows the shell to completely dissolve and exit the human body. The release of the contained drug is rigorously controlled by the predetermined thickness of the shell, a thicker shell takes longer time to dissolve and vice versa. In this way the extent of therapeutic time can be tailored.

Powder sample loaded into a Picosun ALD reactor.

PharmaShell® is synthesized directly on the surface of drug particles, which gives a drug load that is extremely high. The “drug load” is defined as weight of active drug in a formulation by the total weight. A high drug load in competing drug delivery systems is around 20%, with PharmaShell® the drug load is rarely below 70%.

In order to create the shell on drug particles we use a chemical deposition technique called Atomic Layer Deposition, ALD. ALD enable growth of well-controlled shells on nanoparticles in a way that no other techniques can.

A further advantage with PharmaShell® is that we provide a well-defined outer surface of the coated particles. The surface provided by PharmaShell® is covered by chemically bonded hydroxyl groups, which are most suitable for further binding of other molecules, such as targeting molecules that can otherwise be difficult to bind to surfaces of drug particles.

PharmaShell® also contributes to longer shelf life of the coated drugs. Extremely small amounts of oxygen and water can react with solid drug particles and destroy their function or merge them into larger particles. PharmaShell® is proven to be completely dense which effectively prevents oxygen, water or other gaseous compounds from penetrating and ruining the drug.

ALD Nano företaget Nanexa genomför nyemission inför listning

Nanexa genomför en nyemission inför noteringen på AktieTorget. Nyemissionen ska främst finansiera det fortsatta arbetet för att utveckla Bolagets innovativa drug delivery-system PharmaShell® genom att förstärka befintliga samarbeten samt utveckla nya samarbeten med ledande läkemedelsbolag.

(Information in English on PharmaShell: http://baldengineering.blogspot.fi/2015/05/swedish-nanexa-demonstrate-ald.html)

Teckningskursen är 9,00 kronor per aktie och teckningstiden löper från den 21 maj till den 5 juni 2015. Emissionen kommer vid full teckning tillföra Nanexa AB 10,4 miljoner kronor före emissionskostnader och antalet nyemitterade aktier vid full teckning uppgår till 1 150 000 stycken. Nanexa har i samband med erbjudandet erhållit teckningsförbindelser från Bolagets aktieägare Rutger Arnhult via M2 Capital Management AB och Patrik Tillman via Kattvik Financial Services AB om 1,8 mkr, motsvarande cirka 18 procent av emissionsbeloppet. Därtill har Bolaget ingått avtal om emissionsgarantier om 5,4 mkr motsvarande cirka 52 procent av emissionsbeloppet. Således är emissionen säkerställd till 70 procent. 

Bakgrund och motiv 

Nanexa utvecklar och marknadsför produkter inom nanoteknologi. Bolagets fokus ligger på PharmaShell® som är ett nytt drug delivery-system med potentialen att ge nya läkemedel specifika och avgörande egenskaper. Tekniken som använts, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), har av Nanexa anpassats till och utvecklats för att belägga nanometerstora läkemedelspartiklar. ALD-tekniken innebär att läkemedelspartiklar kan förses med önskat antal atomlager av en given kemisk substans, vilket skapar helt nya förutsättningar för läkemedelsformuleringar och läkemedelsutveckling. 

PharmaShell adresserar stora medicinska behov. Marknaden för nanobaserade drug delivery-system är under stark expansion och prognosticeras att växa från 30 miljarder USD 2015 till 136 miljarder USD år 2021. En viktig trend inom läkemedelsindustrin sätt att arbeta med drug delivery handlar om att styra läkemedlet till vävnad som skall behandlas och minska mängden läkemedel i övriga kroppen. På så sätt uppnås en ökad behandlingseffekt och minskade biverkningar. PharmaShell® bidrar till ökad cirkulationstid i blodbanan och ökar möjligheten att koppla målstyrningsmolekyler till skalet som binder mot endast en typ av vävnad, exempelvis en tumör eller specifika platser i hjärtat eller andra organ. I maj 2013 ingicks ett samarbete med AstraZeneca kring utvecklingen av PharmaShell®. Avtalet med AstraZeneca är ett så kallat ”Material Transfer and Feasibility Study Agreement”. 

Emissionskapitalet ska användas till att ta produkten PharmaShell® från så kallat proof of concept till validerad produkt, samt till investeringar i övrig produktportfölj, immateriella rättigheter, marknadsföring samt rörelsekapital. 

Kolla in här för mer information:

http://www.nanexa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pressmeddelande-2015-05-20.pdf

Pacemaker powered by piezoelectric energy harvesting technology

University of Arizona reports on "Tiny power generators developed by the University of Arizona and the University of Illinois could eliminate the need for batteries in medical devices.

The miniature devices consist of piezoelectric nanoribbons sandwiched between two thin layers that serve as electrodes, one made of titanium and platinum and the other made of chromium and gold. Piezoelectric elements are crystals that generate an electrical current when deformed under mechanical pressure and are used in many applications, such as disposable lighters and mini speakers."

 

The mechanical energy harvester, which is flexible enough to conform to the surface of an organ such as the heart, converts the organ's motion into electricity. (Photo: Univ. of Illinois/UA)An energy harverster for an implanted medical device could still though need an energy storage, e.g., for comunicating with the outside world thru wireless communication were more power is need under short period of time.

Check out our extremely thin (2 to 10 µm) on chip 3D capacitor technology at Fraunhofer CNT that has exactly this type application in mind!

 

SEM a) cross section of a trench array with AR 13:1 filled with MIM stack and b) top down micrograph of Si trench array after silicon etch. Current technology is 1:20 and gives 220nF/mm2 with a goal for 1000nF/mm2 in the near future.