Aug 17, 2010 / Labels:

TCT Live 2010 Additive Manufacturing Conference Programme Announced

The organiser of TCT Live — the leading event for Software and Technology for Product Development and Manufacturing — is delighted to announce that the 2010 Additive Manufacturing Conference Programme has now been finalised. Taking place at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, 19th-20th October, the conference has once again attracted the industry’s most prominent and influential experts to present.

The Additive Manufacturing Conference constantly evolves to keep pace with this fast-moving industry and as such this year the sessions have been focused on specific industry sectors looking at how the boundaries of additive manufacture are being pushed ever further.

The sessions include: The ALM Landscape — looking at the industry as a whole and how companies are embracing the potential offered; Breakthroughs in ALM Technology, which will address the key groundbreaking developments in the last 12 months; Jewellery Session — an overview of how the jewellery industry is benefiting from the advantages of additive manufacturing; Medical/Dental — a selection of cutting-edge case studies reflecting true applications of the technology; and finally Transport — as one of the first industries to embrace additive manufacture the transport session will take a close look at a wide range of applications in automotive and aerospace.

TCT Live is particularly pleased to welcome from the United States Todd Grimm, from T.A. Grimm Associates, who will present the Keynote address on Day one of the show. Todd is one of industry’s most influential figures with a background of over 17 years in rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing technologies.

Day two of the conference will kick off with an exciting keynote presentation from Mark Chapman, Chief Engineer of the Bloodhound Project, the team behind the fastest-ever land-speed challenge car. His presentation will give an overview of the project so far, identifying the challenges faced and the part that additive manufacturing is playing in helping to resolve these issues.

An impressive array of speakers have been lined up to follow over the course of the two days including presentation from Rolls Royce, EADS, Astrium Space Transportation, Honda R&D, DUT Racing, Cranfield University, Future Factories, Econolyst, Marianne Forrest Ltd and more.

The organiser, Rapid News Publications, is fully confident of attracting a record number of industry experts to this years’ show who are looking to network with like-minded professionals, develop their knowledge and keep their company one step ahead of the competition. Attendance to the TCT Live exhibition and conference is completely free of charge.

For the full conference programme and to pre-register, please visit www.tctshow.com.

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Mar 6, 2010 / Labels:

Elsevier and NanoInk webinar

Elsevier and NanoInk organize the "Nanoscale Biomaterials Deposition: Learning to speak the language of biology" webinar, on 16 March 2010, 1700 GMT, 12 EST (duration: 1 hour).

The webinar will cover the following topics:
Phospholipids as a biocompatible ink for dip-pen nanolithography (Steven Lenhart)
Being a major structural and functional component of biological membranes, phospholipids are compatible with the vast array of molecular resources provided by nature.  Incorporation of biofunctional lipids into the ink allows the subcellular patterning of multiple proteins under the area of a single cell.  Furthermore, the capability of fabricating arbitrary nanopatterns with innately biofunctional lipids opens new possibilities in the fabrication of nanostructured biosensor elements.
Parallel Deposition and Orthogonal Tagging of Functionalized Hydrogels using DPN (Paul Stiles)
A method for the parallel deposition of functionalized nanoscale hydrogels is discussed.  The method is completely general and can be used to simultaneously pattern multiple arrays of proteins, peptides, nanoparticles or any combination of the three.  Utilizing existing proteomics chemistry, we see how we can orthogonally react multiple molecules/nanoparticles to their predetermined nanoscale hydrogel array in a single step.                     
Micro and Nanoscale Approaches for Interfacing with the Nervous System (Justin Williams)
In this presentation a variety of approaches is reviewed for controlling the adhesion, growth and interconnectivity of neurons in culture.  A number of new and very promising approaches for studying neuronal cells, which integrate microfluidic systems with microelectronics and micro/nano protein patterning is also discussed.  Finally, the development of various microfluidic and micropatterning approaches for controlling the local microenvironment of neural cells in micro-culture devices is described.

This webinar will be of value to material and life scientists, biologists, physicists and all researchers with an interest in nanotechnology.

More information and registration.

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World MEMS Players report from Yole

Yole Développement recently released its annual ranking of Top 30 MEMS Companies based on Yole’s market research and industry expertise. Key facts from the 2009 ranking highlighted by Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO of Yole Développement include: Overall combined sales of the 2009 Top 30 MEMS Companies saw a first ever drop with a 5% decrease; Open MEMS Foundries get confirmation of a winning business model; Texas Instruments climbs back into the top position; Expanding new markets InvenSense is the Top 30 leader in growth with 500% increase in sales.

“After 2 years at number 2 in the ranking, Texas Instruments (TI) comes back as the leader of the TOP 30 MEMS Companies with sales reaching $648 Million in 2009” according to JC Eloy. Despite a decrease in sales in its DLP product portfolio, TI surpassed Hewlett Packard (HP) that now sits in second place. HP was hit by the slowdown in printer demand and a decrease of print head average selling price over the 2 past years. HP had a 14% decrease for MEMS device sales value in 2009.

Robert Bosch is back to 3rd in the ranking. Robert Bosch’s MEMS revenues take into account Bosch MEMS automotive revenues, and Bosch Sensortec sales. Yole Développement’s estimations highlight a 125% growth for Bosch Sensortec and overall Bosch sales of $426 million in 2009.

“The combined sales of the 2009 TOP 30 MEMS Companies reached just over $5B, which is a 5% decrease compared to the TOP 30 in 2008. This is the first time the combined sales figure of the Top 30 Companies has decreased. The first half of 2009 was one of the worst for the MEMS industry especially for companies addressing consumer and automotive markets. TPMS and airbag sensor manufacturers were impacted by both price pressure and lower demand from automotive companies reducing their stocks. Denso experienced a 30% decrease in 2009 and Infineon was down 33% from 2008.” - Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO of Yole Développement

Infineon also decreased because of the separation of Norwegian company Sensonor and the BAW business unit sale to Avago.

Who benefited in 2009, key changes in the 2009 TOP 30 MEMS ranking, the outlook for 2010 and many more information can be found in recently released Yole's report.

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Feb 24, 2010 / Labels: ,

Shell and HP to develop Seismic Sensing Solution

HP and Shell announced a collaboration to develop a wireless sensing system to acquire extremely high-resolution seismic data on land, at International Petroleum Week 2010.

The oil and gas industry requires high-quality seismic data to accurately assess exploration prospects for commercial viability and to effectively monitor producing reservoirs. By delivering a much higher channel count and a broader sensor frequency range than are currently available, the new system promises to vastly improve the quality of seismic data.

HP and Shell will use their complementary knowledge and experience to produce a groundbreaking solution to sense, collect and store geophysical data. The system is designed to integrate seamlessly with Shell’s high-performance computing and seismic imaging environment and to be deployed safely and more cost-effectively than current systems.

“We think this will represent a leap forward in seismic data quality that will provide Shell with a competitive advantage in exploring difficult oil and gas reservoirs, such as sub-salt plays in the Middle East or unconventional gas in North America.  As a result of this exciting collaboration, we expect to fully realize the potential of Shell’s processing and imaging technology on land.” - Gerald Schotman, executive vice president, Innovation/Research and Development, Shell.

“These advances in technology to discover energy resources could transform the ability to pinpoint abundant new oil and gas reserves. HP is uniquely positioned to offer Shell a complete sensor system that delivers innovation to address key technical seismic challenges.” - Joe Eazor, senior vice president and general manager, HP Enterprise Services.

Additional information about the sensing system from HP and Shell is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/sensingsolutions.

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New milimeter scale, almost perpetual wireless sensor

A 9-cubic millimeter solar-powered sensor system developed at the University of Michigan is the smallest that can harvest energy from its surroundings to operate nearly perpetually.

The U-M system’s processor, solar cells, and battery are all contained in its tiny frame, which measures 2.5 by 3.5 by 1 millimeters. It is 1,000 times smaller than comparable commercial counterparts.



A low-power, sensor system developed at the University of Michigan 1,000 times smaller than comparable commercial counterparts. It could enable new biomedical implants. Photo by: Daeyeon Kim










The system could enable new biomedical implants as well as home-, building- and bridge-monitoring devices. It could vastly improve the efficiency and cost of current environmental sensor networks designed to detect movement or track air and water quality.

With an industry-standard ARM Cortex-M3 processor, the system contains the lowest-powered commercial-class microcontroller. It uses about 2,000 times less power in sleep mode than its most energy-efficient counterpart on the market today.

Greg Chen, a computer science and engineering doctoral student, presented the research Feb. 9 at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco.

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Feb 4, 2010 / Labels:

Advanced Diamond Technologies Published Etch Recipe for Diamond MEMS and Sensors

Advanced Diamond Technologies (ADT) is making broadly available an etch recipe which enables engineers and product developers to reliably and affordably design micro devices and sensors out of diamond. Based on research published in the November/December 2009 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B (JVST B), the etch recipe is available for download from ADT’s website. Using standard processes available in most foundries, this dry etch recipe enables designers to develop cutting-edge diamond micro devices and sensors while eliminating the complexity traditionally associated with diamond.
“The process to make diamond available, accessible, and affordable is complete. We have published this recipe so diamond can be incorporated into process flows using the same equipment and materials used to process silicon. We’ve eliminated the risk—and mystery—of how to make diamond devices and we hope to stimulate the creativity and ingenuity of designers to make diamond devices without having them worry about processing steps.” - Neil Kane, ADT’s president.
The article, “Nanofabrication of Sharp Diamond Tips by E-beam Lithography and Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching,” describes the etch recipe developed while creating sharp diamond tips for atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes. The dry etch recipe was optimized to achieve a maximum etch rate of 650 nm/min using ADT’s UNCD® Wafers. Parameters to achieve slower etch rates are also outlined which are applicable for developing delicate nano-structures. Process steps for creating and patterning the hard mask, a 350 nm thick plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited SiOx layer, are also detailed.

The development of an optimized dry etch capability is part of ADT’s ongoing research to advance its 2009 R&D100 Award winning NaDiaProbes®, the world’s first all-diamond AFM probes, which are created using UNCD Wafers as a starting material. NaDiaProbes are not diamond-coated probes or pieces of diamond mounted on cantilevers; rather the entire cantilever and tip assembly is made of UNCD, a thinfilm form of nanocrystalline diamond.

Research was done in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory.

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Feb 3, 2010 / Labels:

DuPont Opens Photovoltaic Application Facility in Geneva

To address the needs for the fast-growing photovoltaic market, DuPont opened the Meyrin Photovoltaic Application Laboratory at its European Technical Center – adding new capabilities to this leading R&D hub by developing next-generation products.
The Meyrin Photovoltaic Application Lab will operate as an open center, enabling technological exchanges and research collaborations between DuPont and customers, industrial partners, institutes and academia. According to DuPont, the lab is designed to advance state-of-the-art solar module design, accelerate time to market in photovoltaic innovation and deliver cost-effective, high-performance solutions for the photovoltaic industry.

The Meyrin Photovoltaic Application Laboratory at the DuPont European Technical Center


For more information on DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, visit http://photovoltaics.dupont.com.

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