wind tunnel scale and plasma for nano materials
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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 [email protected]
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