wind tunnel scale and plasma for nano materials

4

Markets & Business

Wind tunnel scale and plasma for nano materials

A bulk scale nanomater ia l s pro-

duc t ion facility has been com-

miss ioned by QinetiQ, w h i c h

last year set up its subs idiary

Qinet iQ Nanomater ia l s to

develop bulk n a n o m e t r i c mate-

rials capabili t ies at

Farnborough.

Believed to be the the UK's

first v o l u m e p roduc t i on facility

dedica ted to specialist nano

materials, the facility, formeHy a

r e d u n d a n t w i n d tunnel , com-

pr ises the two p roduc t ion rigs

each capable o f achieving up to

several kilos of mater ia l an

hour, office space and ample

r o o m for p roduc t ion expans i on

and storage.

Much of the p roduc t ion

p roces s and plant has b e e n

deve loped and built u n d e r

exclusive l icence and in consul-

tat ion wi th Oxfordsh i re based

Tetronics Ltd.This p lasma to rch

t echno logy expe r t c o m p a n y

has played a pivotal roll in

def in ing and refining the nano-

met r ic p roduc t i on process ,

essent ia l dur ing the plants com-

miss ioning.

A variety o f ox ides and metal

p o w d e r s can be can p roduced ,

each w i t h ' engineered ' charac-

teristics, w h i c h can have a com-

mercial value b e t w e e n tens and

several t h o u s a n d s o f p o u n d s

pe r kilo.

"Bulk nano p roduc t ion for

m a n y coun t r i e s is cur ren t ly in

the region of 100-200gms/day"

says Dr Paul Reip, MD of

Qine t iQ Nanomater ia ls . "Here

we have the capaci ty to pro-

duce at kg / h r or a coup le of

tons a year."

Dr Reip, expla ins that the com-

pany is cur ren t ly looking at

over 25 nano mater ia l pro jec ts

( none in the c o m p o u n d sec tor

as yet) w i t h the dual aim of

foundry mater ia l sales, bu t

equally the all impor t an t cre-

a t ion of n e w IP for l icense.

Qinet iQ Nano is a p ionee r of

the p lasma vapor isa t ion

p rocess w h e r e feed-stock

materiaI is fed into a h igh tem-

pera tu re p l a sma (typically in

the t empe ra tu r e range 4,000°C

and 9,000°C) w h i c h acts as a

c lean hea t source. Feed-stock

mater ia l is vapor i sed on con-

tact w i th the p lasma and car-

r ied away f rom the ho t zone

on a gas s t ream. Rapidly

quenched ; the material con-

dense s and solidifies to fo rm

n a n o m e t e r s ized p o w d e r parti-

cles, w h i c h are carr ied t h r o u g h

to a col lect ion sys tem. By con-

trolling the p roces s pa ramete rs ,

a range o f materials can be pro-

duced in a variety of particle

sizes. Pure metals , pass iva ted

meta ls (wi th a th in oxide

layer), oxides , ni t r ides and

o the r alloys and c o m p o u n d s

can be p roduced .

Dr Reip added tha t Qine t iQ

Nanomater ia l s has o p e n e d a

representa t ive office in Tokyo,

seen as crucial to main ta in ing

local con tac t s and deve lop ing

s t rong re la t ionships in this

g rowing market .

Unequitable league Wide dispar i t ies b e t w e e n t he

var ious EU coun t r i e s e m e r g e

over the a c c e p t a n c e o f pr iva te

equity. On a scale o f 1 (very

favourable) to 3 (very

unfavourab le ) Britain is at t he

top, rank ing 1.20 wh i l e

Austria, r ank ing 2.53, is at the

b o t t o m . T h e Eu ropean Private

Equity and Venture Capital

Assoc ia t ion has p u b l i s h e d this

l eague table. Its rank ing is

based on t en cri teria w h i c h

inc lude m e r g e r regula t ion, tax,

fiscal incen t ives forR&D, pen-

s ion funds ' i n v e s t m e n t free-

d o m and o thers .

Contact: char lot te .amir i@evca.com

Rank : C o u n t r y : Score:

1 Britain 1.20 2 Ireland 1.58 3 Luxembourg 1.67 4 Netherlands 1.79 5 Italy 1.96 6 Greece 1.96 7 France 2.09 8 Sweden 2.09 9 Belgium 2.14 10 Spain 2.17 11 Finland 2.25 12 Portugal 2.32 13 Germany 2.41 14 Denmark 2.48 15 Austria 2.53 Source: European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association

Funding for Kamelian

UK Kamel ian Ltd, the fo rmer

Scott ish s tar tup, n o w Oxford

based, has w o n a $6 .7m r o u n d

of n e w fund ing involving its

e ~ s t i n g inves tors 3i, Go ld m an

Sachs and Lightspeed, as well as

f rom n e w strategic inves tor

Hoya .The $6 .7m f inancing pro-

vides the c o m p a n y w i th suffici-

en t capital to break-even in

2OO5.

Paul May, Kamel ian ' s CEO, says

the latest fund ing was condi-

tional on a n e w strategic

investor. (See feature page 40).

This sizeable Japanese compa-

ny is p robab ly be t t e r k n o w n for

the opt ics u sed in c o m p a c t disc

drives, eye care, and medica l

equ ipmen t . It has b e e n quietly

invest ing in InP and c o m p a n i e s

w i th exper t i se in integrat ing

active and pass ive c o m p o n e n t s

on a single optical chip.

Back in January, it led a $3m

round for LA based Opt imetr ics

w h i c h uses innovative glass

p la t form t echno logy to facilitate

the integrat ion of active and

passive c o m p o n e n t s on a single

optical chip wi th advanced

funct ional i t ies .This reduces the

complex i ty to manufac tu re opti-

cal c o m p o n e n t s by el iminat ing

the costly depos i t ion and etch-

ing m e t h o d s delivering a signifi-

cant shift in the cos t /perform-

ance characteris t ics of p lanar

l ightwave circuits.

N o w Hoya wi th an in teres t in

InP has pu t m o n e y into

Kamelian, w h i c h offers InP

foundry services and specialis-

es in "hybrid integration" - mak-

ing s e m i c o n d u c t o r optical

amplif iers (SOAs) in InP bond-

ing those to the wavegu ides on

e i ther side in silica to create a

single ch ip .This uses technolo-

gy that au toma te s the align-

men t , Kamel ian ' s key to reduc-

ing p roduc t i on costs. Kamel ian

is already r epo r t ed to be inves-

t igating non - t e l eco m applica-

t ions for fu r the r deve lopmen t s .

III-Vs REVIEW THE ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR MAGAZINE VOL 16 - NO 4 - MAY 2003