 This section contains news item collected from various web sources in the preceding week. This presents an opportunity to understand the technology trends and opportunities in a particular field.
General
IT options growing for Indian SMEs You could call it toys-for-boys, but it's also turning into something more serious. Computer hardware is turning into a vital tool for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across India to get that competitive edge. "What's needed by the small and medium business segment...is education, education, education. Folks in this segment need lots of hand-holding when it comes to selection and deployment (of computer hardware) and beyond," says Prashant Rao, editor of the Mumbai-based Express Computer weekly. In a special buyer's guide edition of the journal, Express Computer highlighted the range of IT products available in India. "Desktops are still the most economical choice," says the Express Computer. It points to innovation taking place there, as with the Zenith SmartStylePC, with a CPU built into the monitor without making it look bulky. Cost: around Rs. 20,000. It notes: "If desktop sales growth is tapering off as notebook sales skyrocket, it is because of the fact that today you can get a notebook for Rs. 35,000 that can handle pretty much anything that a regular user would want to do." Yet, desktop computers are still cheaper, with options starting at Rs.15,000 onwards. But budget computers might not be suited for those wanting to do more complex computing. Networks are expected to offer more functionality - and the 'buyers guide' looks at switches, cabling, routers, wireless routers, and other products available in the market. Tatanet Readynet even offers a broadband internet over VSAT, costing between Rs. 7,200-17,000. Diverse devices too are growing on the 'want list' of SMEs. Needs keep multiplying: tiny scanners big enough to scan and electronically store your A8-sized visiting cards, secure computing firewalls costing a hundred thousand rupees or more, anti-virus, anti-spam email security software, and more. Higher end devices also offer options. Network-attached storage (NAS) is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous network clients. Costs in India: Even as much as Rs. 1.19 million plus taxes for the Fujitsu ETERNUS 4000 Model 300, a storage array featuring 120 drives. Multi-function devices, which combine image scanning, document printing and fax into a single unit, are becoming popular, and so are LCD monitors, says Express Computer. The projector market is warming up in India, with some low-end projectors costing as little as Rs.34,000 plus tax. Editor Rao suggests that small and medium businesses no longer look to their "neighbourhood assembler" for purchases, since branded machines "cost just a bit more than their assembled counterparts". Assembled hardware offers more personalised service. But branded players have been "reaching out through a network of service centres and their machines have fewer problems to begin with," argues Rao. India & UK strengthen tech links with WMG & CII tie-up Moneycontrol.com (press release) - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India International research group WMG is to enhance its links with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in order to strengthen work on climate change, high-tech manufacturing and global healthcare. CII has been working closely with WMG on capacity development of industry workforce especially the manufacturing sector. Now this premier business association of the world’s newest superpower is to join forces with WMG, one of the UK's most influential and forward-looking organisations in research. This MoU would present an opportunity to extend the cooperation in technology transfer, technology commercialisation, industrial R&D, innovation and technology management covering areas like automotive, healthcare and advanced manufacturing technologies. http://www.moneycontrol.com Indian Army orders 28 indigenous Weapon Locating Radars Thaindian.com - Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand The Indian Army is acquiring 28 highly sophisticated India-made Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) to track and neutralize hostile artillery fire. The radars are being integrated by the state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), set up in 1954 to meet the specialised electronic needs of the Indian armed forces, but a large number of components will come from the private sector, including some Commercially-available Off the Shelf (COTS) from the international market. http://www.thaindian.com How will inflation hit India Inc's capex plans? 2008-06-24 15:47:26 Source : Markets Midday/CNBC-TV18 (Interview Transcript) Inflation in India has touched its 13-year high, coming in at 11.05%. The manufacturing inflation was at 0.3% week-on-week, and India Inc would need to concentrate on this number. Whatever the Finance Secretary has said in terms of a deseasonalized cooling of inflation, the 0.3% week-on-week figure implies 15.6% annual inflation. The manufacturing inflation and interest rates have not cooled off - what does all this mean for the manufacturing sector and for companies' capex plans? http://www.moneycontrol.com We are facing a digital doomsday The digital doomsday is round the corner. In exactly 1,273 days there will be a web chaos in the world as we run out of internet addresses. More than 85 percent of the available addresses have already been allocated and the rest will run out by 2011, according to a prediction by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). These are not the normal web addresses that you type into your browser's window. These are the numerical internet protocol (IP) addresses that denote individual devices connected to the internet. They form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail and web pages to voice chat and streaming video. IP addresses are so basic to the success of the internet that you really do not need to know a website's domain name if you know their IP. In fact, domain names are only a convenience for people who have better luck remembering to type, say, www.google.com, than they would have trying to remember Google's IP address of 216.239.39.99. Whenever you type http://www.google.com into your browser, the browser sends a query off to a big telephone book in the sky and asks "Hey, what's the IP address for google.com?". This big telephone book, more commonly called a "Domain Name Server" or DNS for short, returns 216.239.39.99 to your browser. Your browser then heads off to Google's website using the IP address as a map. When the current IP address scheme, called Internet Protocol Version 4 (Ipv4), was introduced in 1981, there were hardly 500 computers connected to the internet. The address makers at that time allowed for four billion addresses, thinking they would last for ever. They have been nearly gobbled up in just under 30 years! As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: internet speeds will drop and new connections and services (such as internet phone calling) will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain. The solution to the shortage is to upgrade to a new address protocol. The internet protocols are prepared by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. The IETF is an organised activity of the Internet Society (ISOC), a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in internet related standards, education and policy. The Society's south and southeast Asian Bureau was established this January. The India chapter is headquartered in Chennai. The IETF is already prepared for the doomsday. It has devised a replacement system, called IPv6, more than a decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of devices as well as improving internet phone and video calls, and possibly even helping to end e-mail spam. Then why the doomsday predictions? The problem is that the new system is not really compatible with the internet of today. If, for example, Google wants to support IPv6, it will need to build a whole new IPv6 web service, complete with new domain names, servers and bandwidth. The costs run into billions. The OECD notes that "immediate costs are associated with deployment of IPv6, whereas many benefits are long-term and depend on a critical mass adopting it", according to The Sunday Times. Until such time, start looking at the countdown clock for the doomsday at penrose.uk6x.com.
IPR & Innovation
Launch of First IPR Satellite Channel in Cairo Special to ag-IP-news Agency CAIRO - Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) in Egypt have signed an agreement of incorporation of "TAG-IPR-TV", the first independent Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) satellite channel. The agreement was signed by Deputy-Chair of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg) Samar Al-Labbad and NileSat's representative Salah Hamza. TAG-IPR-TV will be based at the Smart Village in Cairo with offices in most major cities of the world, and will begin to broadcast on NileSat this week. The channel will have exclusive programs that tackle IPRs issues regionally and globally. "The idea behind establishing a satellite channel dedicated to Intellectual Property Rights is to strengthen awareness in IP issues and give a clearer image on the IP situation in the Arab world," Chairman and CEO of TAGorg Talal Abu-Ghazaleh said. "The new satellite channel, reporting in both Arabic and English, will be a credible source of information that satisfies the growing interest in issues relating to IP. It will also contribute to the promotion of IP awareness in the region and around the world," he added. Abu-Ghazaleh highlighted the importance of IP in developing the worldwide economy saying "There is no doubt that IP plays a vital role in lifting the economy of any country and our position as leaders in this field is to continue developing the strategies and methods to protect IPRs." TAGorg's commitment to the protection of IP comes from its belief in the importance of IPRs and their role in creating a dynamic, innovative business environment that will contribute to sustainable economic progress and development. In 2004, Abu-Ghazaleh launched a one-of-a-kind project, the ag-IP-news Agency, the only specialized global IP news agency to move in parallel with the fast-growing and widespread interest in IP domains and to provide users worldwide with a credible source of news and reports in this field. Cipla gets patent for Nexium, Fosamax modified versions 1 Jul, 2008, 0144 hrs IST, Khomba Singh, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: Domestic pharma major Cipla has received product patents for new forms of two blockbuster drugs—Osemaprazole and Alendronate—from the Indian authorities. While the company's patent on Osemaprazole is a modified form of Astrazeneca's blockbuster drug marketed under the brand name Nexium, Alendronate is one of the best-selling drug of Merck sold under the brand name Fosamax. Nexium, the world's second-largest selling drug, has annual sales of around $5.2 billion while Fosamax recorded sales of $3 billion in 2007. Fosamax's patent expired in February this year while Nexium's patent expires in 2014. When contacted, Cipla joint MD Amar Lulla said, "These are novel formulations with a significant thereupatic advantages than though it uses the same chemical. We plan to launch the drug globally." The company has sought patents globally through an application with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filing. If a company files a patent application with the PCT, its application will automatically go to all TRIPS compliant countries. Cipla also got the patent in India through its PCT application. According to the Indian patent office website, the Mumbai patent office granted in April this year. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com India seeks Trips to bio-piracy NEW DELHI: India has insisted that the issue of amending the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights agreement (Trips) to check bio-piracy should be made part of the upcoming horizontal process at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The horizontal process is a jargon for negotiations among a few WTO members to discuss modalities in agriculture and industrial tariff together with other issues such as services and Trips alongside it. The process would start with senior officials and then extend to trade ministers of the select countries. The remaining countries would be included in the discussions later. A group of about 100 countries has submitted a non-paper to the trade negotiations committee on the WTO proposing that three intellectual property issues, including amendment of Trips agreement related to biodiversity, extension of the higher level of protection for geographical indications (Gis) currently only required for wines and spirits, and the issue of creating a multilateral register for GIs of wines and spirits, should be part of the horizontal process. The non-paper was produced by India, Brazil, EU and Switzerland. India and Brazil rooted for inclusion of the bio-piracy issue, while the EU and Switzerland supported the issue of GIs. The indicators identify a good as originating from a particular place with which its reputation gets associated. At present, the WTO extends enhanced GI protection to only wines and spirits. Some countries, including the EU and Switzerland, are pushing for enhancement of the list of GIs accorded protection by the WTO. According to sources, a group of countries including the US, Australia, Mexico, Canada and New Zealand, have spoken against the inclusion of the intellectual property issues. These countries argue that the controversy surrounding these would jeopardise the chances of success in the negotiations. India insists the issues are part of the Doha negotiations as the consultations on extending the enhanced protection for GIs and on proposals related to biodiversity are part of the `implementation-related’ issues in the Doha Development Agenda. The Trips amendment, discussed in relation to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), would require patent applicants to disclose the origin of genetic material and traditional knowledge used in the invention, to show that they have received permission to use the materials and knowledge and to show they are sharing the benefits with the original owners. India and other supporting countries are of the view that the amendment is of importance as it would check the blatant bio-piracy being carried out by developed countries where individuals attempt to patent properties of items known to the people in developing countries and least developed countries for generations. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com Kerala Cabinet nod for draft IPR policy Special Correspondent THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Cabinet on Saturday approved the draft intellectual property rights (IPR) policy aimed at protecting traditional knowledge and inventions. The policy states that the government will ensure protection of the rights of people possessing traditional knowledge and inventions. Prior permission from the State Biodiversity Board will be required for outsiders to make use of traditional knowledge and inventions. Permit from the Board will also be mandatory for trade in bio resources except those related to traditional uses. The Board will compile details of traditional knowledge and bio resources of the State. http://www.thehindu.com India, Singapore to form IPR pact, step up trade Identify science, entertainment as areas for cooperation Our Bureau New Delhi, June 23: A Bilateral Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cooperation between the Intellectual Property Offices of India and Singapore would be signed shortly, with both countries identifying science and technology and media and entertainment as areas for promoting bilateral trade and investment, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said here on Monday. In his bilateral meeting with Mr. Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, Mr Nath, also said that considerable progress was made during the last meeting in Bali on the free trade agreement talks between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). He said, "I am now hopeful that we would be able to achieve our target of announcing the conclusion of negotiations at the AEM-India Consultations in August". Exports up During the interaction, Mr Nath said that Singapore was India's fifth largest merchandise trading partner and fourth largest merchandise export market and added that India's exports to Singapore grew by 16 per cent in 2007-08 compared with a growth of 42 per cent in the imports from Singapore. He further stated that Singapore ranks fourth in terms of foreign direct investment in India during the period 1991-2008 with investments of $4.7 billion. The total bilateral trade during 2006-07 was $11.49 billion and has increased by 25.88 per cent to $13.42 billion in 2007-08 (up to February 2008) over the same period in 2006-07. He said that both the countries were targeting a bilateral trade of $25-$26 billion by 2012. Later talking to reporters, Mr Nath said, "We are looking at Singapore as a base for raising funds for various infrastructure projects. We may set up an infrastructure fund in Singapore through a special purpose vehicle". Stating that controlling inflation was on top of the agenda of the Indian government, Mr Nath maintained that "we have no intention to calibrate rupee for purposes of fighting inflation. Our exchange rate is transparent and credible". He also voiced concern over rising crude prices as the fallout in the form of rising trade deficit was a matter of serious concern. Item list Major items of Indian exports to Singapore were petroleum (crude & products), other commodities, transport equipments, electronic goods and non-ferrous metals. Major items of Indian imports from Singapore were electronic goods, petroleum (crude & products), organic chemicals, machinery (except electrical & electronic), and project goods. The top five sectors attracting FDI inflows from Singapore are petroleum & natural gas, mining, services sector, construction activities and power, whereas the top five sectors attracting technology transfer are electrical equipments (including computer software and electronics), hotel and tourism, food processing industry, chemicals (other than fertilizers) and miscellaneous mechanical and engineering industries. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com Global legal regime vital to tackle terrorism, IPR violations: CJI Ottawa, PTI: "Terrorism and breaches of intellectual property rights are no longer a problem of a particular nation but an issue involving a number of international aspects. Since these are global phenomenon, responses to terrorism and breaches of intellectual property rights must also be global," the Chief Justice said. Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan stressed on the need for a "global legal regime" to tackle the challenges posed by terrorism and breaches of intellectual property rights. "Terrorism and breaches of intellectual property rights are no longer a problem of a particular nation but an issue involving a number of international aspects. Since these are global phenomenon, responses to terrorism and breaches of intellectual property rights must also be global," the Chief Justice said yesterday. Balakrishnan, during his three day official visit to the country, watched proceedings of the Supreme Court of Canada in Rogers Holland case, and met Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverly McLachlan, judges of the Supreme Court; Chief Justice of Quebec Michel Robert, and discussed the matters of mutual interest. "The escalation of global terrorism and advances in digital technology has posed a new challenge to law makers and judiciary," he said while discussing the challenges posed advancements in digital technology to law makers, and how India and Canada could help each other in the field of legal education. Acting Dean of Law Faculty of University of Ottawa Daniel Gervais explained to the Chief Justice how Canadian experience in the field of intellectual property rights and legal education could be useful to India. He also attended a dinner hosted by the Speaker of Canadian Upper House where he met Canadian law makers and discussed National Security and Civil Liberties issues. The Chief Justice said that National Law School in Delhi would be set up soon, and added steps were being taken to overcome the shortage of law professors in India. He also said that the judge's strength of the Supreme Court would be increased to 31 from present 25. http://www.deccanherald.com Huawei India R&D centre files over 200 patents Accent on localisation; to expand operations The centre leverages local software development skills to develop telecom solutions for global markets.  Mr George Huang, COO, Huawei India R&D centre Hyderabad, June 30 Chinese technology major Huawei has filed for over 200 patents from its India R&D centre and continues to expand its operations with an accent on localisation. The India R&D centre, its largest outside China, is part of the $16-billion Huawei Technologies' 12 globally-dispersed research centres, seven of them located in China. The company has provided a guidance of $22 billion and expects to invest $2.2 billion globally on research during 2008. Forty-eight per cent of the company's staff of 83,000 are engaged in R&D. The Chief Operating Officer of Huawei India R&D centre, Mr George Huang, told Business Line that the India centre has emerged as one of the key intellectual property generators for the corporation which has filed for nearly 27,000 patents worldwide. Last year, it ranked fourth in overall patent filings. Excerpts: How is the research work complementing Huawei's business? Huawei embarked on its international expansion drive in 1996 and has been winning recognition from telcos. The company's success is built on high levels of localisation, adaptation and customised solutions to meet the diverse needs of operators globally. The focus is on reducing total cost of ownership. The India R&D centre was set up to leverage the local software development skills and develop telecom solutions for global markets. Employing over 1,600 Indian engineers, the Bangalore R&D centre is the largest overseas development centre and a key platform and component development delivery centre for Huawei. The software platforms and components developed here have been used by multiple product lines of Huawei encompassing wireless, core network, application and software and deployed for a large number of customers including BT, Vodafone, T-Com and China Mobile. How many innovations here have led to patents? More than 200 patent applications have been filed from India. Huawei's business is built on a strong IP base that ensures competitiveness in the global telecom equipment market. We continuously innovate for customers, investing about 10 per cent of our annual revenues. Last fiscal, we invested $1.6 billion globally in R&D. What are the areas the India centre is working on? The work covers architecture to software development, testing, and delivery to post-release support. The India centre is engaged in developing telecom solutions for next-generation networks, network management, platforms, mobile handsets and applications. What are your engagements with carriers such as Bharti, Reliance, Tata Teleservices and BSNL? Huawei India's marketing and engineering support arm employs over 1,100 professionals based out of Gurgaon. For Reliance Telecom, Huawei supplied technology to set up the GSM network across Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal, Assam and North East circles. It is the sole partner for Reliance's nationwide GSM expansion. It is also working on CDMA network for Reliance Communications. In the case of Bharti, Huawei has won a contract to deploy a network in Sri Lanka. We are also working on a CDMA network for Tata Teleservices. For MTNL, we have worked on core its network while for BSNL, the work is in the Delhi circle. Alongside Indian telcos, how are you engaged with Vodafone and BT? A lot of platforms and components including protocol, operating systems and tools have been developed and delivered from the India centre for customers such as BT, Vodafone, and China Mobile. What are your plans for the year? We are recruiting telecom software engineers and plan to ramp up to over 2,000 by the year end. We deployed $200 million in India R&D and are investing an additional $100 million for another development centre in Bangalore. The emphasis is on localisation of operations, people and practices. http://www.deccanherald.com
Design & Innovation
Harita sells design unit to KPIT Special Correspondent CHENNAI: Harita TVS Technologies, a TVS Group company, has sold a substantial part of its mechanical design services business to KPIT Cummins Infosystems for an undisclosed consideration. The deal, expected to be completed in a month or so, will see KPIT Commins take over around 100 specialised Harita TVS employees, who have core mechanical design competencies in product design and validation for automotive and industrial products and systems. The deal will also ensure that the 20-odd clients of Harita TVS in North America, Europe and India come under the fold of KPIT Cummins. According to P. Parthasarathy, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Harita TVS, the company had to sell the business due to scalability issue. He felt that if the business were to be taken to the next stage of growth, it required a partner. "We weighed all options and finally decided on selling it to KPIT Commins," he said. Hartia TVS, Mr. Parthasarathy said, would now focus on providing mechanical design solution to tech staffing services, which was also witnessing growth. Mr. Parthasarathy said the mechanical design services team was operating mainly from Bangalore. A small team of around 20 people were working from Chennai. While KPIT Cummins had decided to integrate the Bangalore team with its team there, it had decided to keep the Chennai operation going.
Energy
China takes cue from India on petro-products Hindu Business Line-Chennai, India S. Venkitaramanan The impact of China's recent petro-product price hike on its inflation will be of the same order as that in India. Nevertheless, the fact that China has done what India has shows that it is reasonable to restrain consumption of petro-products-more so than to be appealing to the sentiments of OPEC countries for restraint on price increases, says S. VENKITARAMANAN. Early in June 2008, the Indian public woke up to realise that the Government had hiked energy prices. The increase in prices of petrol and diesel was of the order of 10 per cent Kerosene was, however, spared, but LPG had a similar increase. Obviously, the reason was a rise in crude oil prices to a record level of more than $135 per barrel. There was no excuse for Government to continue the regime of low energy prices and asking oil marketing companies to bear the difference as before. This was leading to a serious situation in which the oil refiners were not keen on producing enough petro-products because every additional litre they sold resulted in a cash loss to them. The oil marketing companies prevailed on the Government to realise that its populist policies would lead to a ‘stock out’ at the petrol and diesel pumps all over the country. These were reviewed in these columns to the contrarian stand of one of the political parties, which had run the Government before the UPA came to power. In fact, it was their Government (NDA), which had introduced the economically sensible policy of dismantling the Administered Price Mechanism for petro-products. As a result of this, starting from 2002, that Government adopted a policy of transmitting increase in international crude prices to the consumers from time to time. It was the initial brave start of reform. Soon, that Government recognised the need for administrative intervention and prevailed on oil marketing companies not to continue the policy of transmitting the international price increases. We are familiar with the protests of various allies of UPA, particularly the Leftists led by CPI (M), to the petro-products price increases. They had argued that the difference in prices should be borne by tax concessions or, in effect, subsidies from the fisc. The Government has done this too to some extent. But there is a limit beyond which it is not possible.... http://www.deccanherald.com India moots a price band for petroleum Hindu - Chennai, India Under the proposed scheme, oil producers will increase output if prices go above the band ceiling  OIL TROUBLE: Delegates attending the opening session of a summit on the soaring international price of crude in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, recently The oil shock continues to engage governments and policy makers around the world. In India it remains at the centre of the political economy. With inflation climbing above 11 per cent in early June - and unlikely to come down over the next four or five months - the Reserve Bank of India intervened aggressively by hiking the CRR and repo rate by 0.50 percentage point each. The spurt in inflation numbers is due to the hike in retail prices of petrol and diesel, which were captured by the official statistics for the first week of this month. Earlier, the Government had conceded that there were very few supply side options. Although having a much wider connotation in the current context, this simply reflects our inability to influence the prices of key commodities, notably petroleum..... http://www.hindu.com India to restart Iran pipeline talks, but Left unimpressed Times of India - India They have been backing the IPI project as an essential measure that India must take to meet its energy needs. "Energy security lies in using indigenous..... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com ONGC Mittal Energy gets oil drill permit in Trinidad Port-of-Spain: ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) has become the first Indian energy company to be involved in oil exploration in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Energy, Senator Conrad Enill said this at a press conference. "Oil and energy exploration has been traditionally dominated by European and more recently Canadian companies," the minister said on Friday. http://www.headlinesindia.com G8 energy ministers look inward on oil, spare OPEC Reuters India - Mumbai, India The group of G8 ministers plus non-G8 guests China, India and South Korea, which together consume two-thirds of the world's energy, said they shared.... http://in.reuters.com G8 energy ministers agree partnership on energy efficiency By India eNews Energy ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) - the seven largest industrialised economies and Russia - agreed Sunday to cooperate on energy efficiency as a way to fight soaring world prices for oil and natural gas. http://www.indiaenews.com
Nanotechnology
Luna to continue work on nanotechnology for military applications Luna Innovations Inc. won a $3.9 million subcontract from General Dynamics Information Technology in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to continue work improving the performance of nanomaterials for military applications. In this program, Luna's product development team will evaluate prototypes using exclusive nanomaterials applied to real-world conditions. Demonstrations of the commercial viability of proposed nanotechnologies will include diagnostics and therapeutics for military medicine and alternative energy solutions using organic solar cells. "By manipulating the properties of our proprietary nanomaterials, we can tune the materials to fit desired applications," says Charles Gause, vice president of corporate development at Luna Innovations. "To date, we have produced 27 different species of our Trimetasphere molecule and to maximize the potential of this carbon nanomaterial technology, proof-of-concept via application-specific testing and prototyping is necessary." Increasing efficiencies of light conversion to electrical energy of organic solar cells is required to make them commercially viable. The company has made advances on a key parameter, known as "open circuit voltage," or Voc, that is essential for improving organic solar cell efficiency. "Luna has already increased Voc by 35 percent over the standard reference devices," adds Gause. "In this final phase of the program we will continue working towards the achievement of even higher efficiencies in order to make organic solar cells commercially viable." http://mae.pennnet.com Trap and zap: Harnessing the power of light to pattern surfaces on the nanoscale 
A technique developed by Princeton engineers allows the easy creation of nano-scale patterns on uneven surfaces and without the normal requirements of a vibration and oxygen-free environment. The black bar next to the Princeton shield is 2 microns long. Credit: Nature Nanotechnology/Princeton University Princeton engineers have invented an affordable technique that uses lasers and plastic beads to create the ultrasmall features that are needed for new generations of microchips.The method, which creates lines and dots that are 1,000 times narrower than a human hair, may enable the creation of biological computers as well as micromachines with applications in medicine, optical communications, computing and sensor technologies. The technique, created by mechanical and aerospace engineering assistant professor Craig Arnold and graduate student Euan McLeod, is similar to poising a magnifying lens over a scrap of paper and angling the lens to focus sunlight and ignite the paper. In place of the lens, the researchers use a microscopic plastic bead floating in water to focus light from a powerful laser and burn designs onto a blank microchip. Their findings are reported online June 8 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. While others have passed laser light through various microscopic objects to pattern surfaces, they have struggled to maintain a consistent distance between the bead and the surface of the microchip. If this distance changes, the laser light is focused in different ways across the surface and the resulting pattern is inconsistent. Arnold and McLeod established an innovative way to ensure that the bead is always the same distance from the microchip, which allows them to draw on the surface with high levels of precision. "One of the biggest challenges in probe-based nanopatterning is regulating the distance between your probe and the surface of the microchip," said Arnold. "We used a special laser to trap the bead and keep it close to the surface without touching it."The key innovation is the use of a second, highly focused laser, which points directly down onto the bead. This intense light exerts a physical force on the bead, trapping it in the beam and pushing it down toward the surface. The surface pushes back with a constant force, and the bead settles at a height that balances the opposing forces. The original laser is then pulsed at the bead, which focuses the light to "zap" the surface directly below. By moving the bead along a computer controlled trajectory while repeating the laser pulse, a desired pattern is created. The technique offers particular advantages on curved or irregular surfaces because the bead tracks the surface, moving up when there is a bump and dropping when it moves over a dip. While other fabrication techniques, such as electron-beam lithography, can also be used to pattern uneven surfaces, they are extremely expensive and must be performed in a vibration-and oxygen-free environment. The new Princeton technique can be performed in a regular environment, making it accessible for use with biological materials and other systems that require the presence of oxygen. "The technique provides a very interesting new capability to expand laser-assisted nanofabrication without involving moving mechanical parts and related hardware complications," said Costas Grigoropoulos, mechanical engineering professor at University of California-Berkeley. "I do expect that this novel technique will advance nanopatterning since it offers an elegant and highly effective means for parallel, optically driven and controlled nanofabrication." In addition to burning away parts of a chip, Arnold and McLeod's method has the potential to deposit materials on surfaces, rather like gold-plating. This could provide a new means of creating three-dimensional structures, including miniscule guides that manipulate light and nanoscale electrical-mechanical devices. Such devices have many potential uses in ultrasmall sensor systems and low-power computer processors. "In the future, we imagine the use of multiple beads of different shapes and sizes - in essence a nanopatterning toolkit - for researchers to pick and choose during the course of fabrication," said Arnold. He and McLeod are currently working to pattern a surface using an array of many beads moving in parallel, each trapped and controlled by a different laser beam http://nanotechnology28.blogspot.com Nanotechnology Institute to undertake R&D The Board of Investment (BOI) has signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology to undertake research and development in nanotechnology for value addition and provide for export oriented manufacturing. On behalf of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, Ashroff Omar (Chief Executive Officer Brandix Lanka) and Mr. A. N. R. Amaratunga (Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology) signed the agreement. This project is an investment of US $ 4.2 million and is sponsored by National Science Foundation, MAS Holdings, Dialog Telekom, Hayleys PLC, Brandix Lanka and Loadstar. The venture will be located at the Biyagama Export Processing Zone. In a press release, the BOI said six new agreements have been signed at a total investment of US$ 15.5 million. They include the agreement with New Medicare Hospitals to establish a hospital with state of the art medical equipment. It will include two Operating Theatres with the latest technology for Cardiology and an Intensive Care/High Dependency Unit. The hospital will be located in Colombo 10. Resource Granite Lanka is a venture for mining Granite rough blocks for the export market. The project will export mined Granite in Rough Form – Stage 2 to China and Singapore. The investment is US $ 1.5 million and the venture will be located in Dodampapitiya, Mathugama. MAS Active Trading (Pvt) Ltd signed an agreement to set up an Export Trading House. The venture will work with all the manufactures of the MAS Active to increase the competitiveness of the company. It will be located in Colombo and create employment oppotunities for a workforce of 660. Watts Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is setting up a project to manufacture solid tyres for the export market for export to the US, Europe and Middle East D K W - Aqua International is setting up a venture to manufacture flexible packaging for export. It will manufacture flexible packing products such as Bags on Roll, Fashion Bags and Lamination Film. Raw materials used for the production will be imported from the Middle East while the products are expected to be exported to US, Europe and Japan. http://www.sundaytimes.lk Innovation showcase finalists named A device that removes arsenic from groundwater will compete against a nanotechnology-based drug delivery system and eight other novel technology innovations at the 2008 ASME Innovation Showcase (ASME IShow) to be held Oct. 31, in Boston. ASME is sponsor of ASME IShow, which recognizes inventive skill on the part of engineering students who will become tomorrow's technical innovators and entrepreneurs. More than a design contest, the Innovation Showcase - in its second year - will focus on the potential for new inventions to impact commercial markets. The ten contestants in the 2008 Innovation Showcase are Baylor University (a technology that develops particle board and other products from coconuts), Johns Hopkins University (a vestibular system for audiologists and other health providers), Johns Hopkins Institute (a gastroenterological device that eases abdominal surgery), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a robot that aids in medical biopsies), Pennsylvania State University (a communications system that links doctors and other medical providers to people suffering illness in developing countries), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (mine detection device), University of California at Berkeley (solar water heater and arsenic remediation device), University of California at San Francisco (nanotechnology-based drug delivery system), and Virginia Military Institute (low-frequency seismic detector). In addition to demonstrating technology capabilities, the contestants will be required to submit business plans including market analysis and other criteria. The judging panel at IShow will include successful innovators, venture capitalists, and intellectual property specialists. In the time leading up to the competition, the teams will be matched with entrepreneurs and mentors, who will assist the students in refining the products as well as developing a strategic business plan. Awards will be presented at the 2008 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress, which will be held Oct. 31 through Nov. 6 at the Sheraton Boston. ASME has developed ASME IShow in collaboration with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance and Idea to Product competitions. ASME IShow aims to nurture a new generation of innovators, while supporting inventive undergraduate projects, student programs, and faculty curriculum development. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences. ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community. http://www.nanowerk.com Using Nanotechnology to Kill Cancer Fighting cancer could someday involve "cooking" cancer cells. Biomedical scientists at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center and nanotechnology experts from UT Dallas are testing a new way to kill cancer cells. The procedure attaches cancer-seeking antibodies to tiny carbon tubes that heat up when they're exposed to near-infrared light. The researchers used monoclonal antibodies - biological molecules that bind to cancer cells - to target specific sites on lymphoma cells to coat tiny structures called carbon nanotubes. These are very small cylinders of graphite carbon that heat up when exposed to near-infrared light. The light is invisible to the human eye, and is used in TV remote controls to switch channels and is detected by night-vision goggles. In cultures of cancerous lymphoma cells, the study shows the antibody-coated nanotubes attached to the cells’ surfaces. When the targeted cells were exposed to near-infrared light, the nanotubes heated up, generating enough heat to basically "cook" the cells and kill them. "Demonstrating this specific killing was the objective of this study," senior author, Dr. Ellen Vitetta, UT Southwestern, was quoted as saying. "We have worked with targeted therapies for many years, and even when this degree of specificity can be demonstrated in a laboratory dish, there are many hurdles to translating these new therapies into clinical studies. We're just beginning to test this in mice, and although there is no guarantee it will work, we are optimistic." Biomedical applications of nanoparticles are getting more attention from scientists. However, there are still challenges to successfully developing nanomedical reagents, including the potential that a new nanomaterial may damage healthy cells and organisms. More research is needed to determine whether the reagents are inherently toxic. http://www.ivanhoe.com Understanding the Nature of Glass 
Imagine a plane that has wings made out of glass. Thanks to a major breakthrough in understanding the nature of glass by scientists at the University of Bristol, this has just become a possibility. Despite its solid appearance, glass is actually a 'jammed' state of matter that moves very slowly. Like cars in a traffic jam, atoms in a glass can't reach their destination because the route is blocked by their neighbours, so it never quite becomes a 'proper' solid. For more than 50 years most scientists have tried to understand just what glass is. Work so far has concentrated on trying to understand the traffic jam, but now Dr Paddy Royall from the University of Bristol, with colleagues in Canberra and Tokyo, has shown that the problem really lies with the destination, not with the traffic jam. Publishing today (22 June 2008) in Nature Materials, the team has revealed that glass 'fails' to be a solid due to the special atomic structures that form in a glass when it cools (ie, when the atoms arrive at their destination). Royall explained: "Some materials crystallize as they cool, arranging their atoms into a highly regular pattern called a lattice. But although glass 'wants' to be a crystal, as it cools the atoms become jammed in a nearly random arrangement, preventing it from forming a regular lattice."Back in the 1950s, Sir Charles Frank in the Physics Department at Bristol University suggested that the arrangement of the 'jam' should form what is known as an icosahedron, but at the time he was unable to provide experimental proof. We set out to see if he was right." The problem is you can't watch what happens to atoms as they cool because they are just too small. So using special particles called colloids that mimic atoms, but are just large enough to be visible using state-of-the-art microscopy, Royall cooled some down and watched what happened.What he found was that the gel these particles formed also 'wants' to be a crystal, but it fails to become one due to the formation of icosahedra-like structures-exactly as Frank had predicted 50 years ago. It is the formation of these structures that underlie jammed materials and explains why a glass is a glass and not a liquid - or a solid. Knowing the structure formed by atoms as a glass cools represents a major breakthrough in our understanding of meta-stable materials and will allow further development of new materials such as metallic glasses. Metals normally crystallize when they cool, unfortunately stress builds up along the boundaries between crystals, which leads to metal failure. For example, the world's first jetliner, the British built De Havilland Comet, fell out of the sky due to metal failure. If a metal could be made to cool with the same internal structure as a glass and without crystal grain boundaries, it would be less likely to fail. Metallic glasses could be suitable for a whole range of products that need to be flexible such as aircraft wings, golf clubs and engine parts. http://www.azonano.com State-of-the-Art Lecture: Aptomers Of Nanotechnology - Reported From The Annual Meeting Of The American Urological Association Dr. Omid Farokhzad from Harvard addressed nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is the assembly of particles < 100nm. In 2004 the NCI formed the Alliance for Nanotech, which was followed by large government investments in this field. Nanotechnology can be used across the spectrum of medicine to include prevention, diagnostics and therapeutics. Nano-drugs are in the form of liposomes, polymeric platforms and other platforms. Polymer nanoparticles or liposome-polymers have a core that encapsulates a drug to protect it from the immune system. On the surface are ligands to recognize the target tissue. For example, perhaps siRNA could be delivered to tissues using nanoparticles. Nanoparticles leave the vascular space to deliver drugs to the target. The drug can then be released in cells at higher concentrations than via system means. The complexity of designing, developing and manufacturing of nanoparticles is immense. There are 18 naked ligands that are presently approved, but no nanoparticle conjugates are presently approved. He showed examples of targeting approaches with aptamers. A PSMA aptamer was developed as a bioconjugate that could mark specific cells. They went on to alter the amount of ligand on the surface and found that increased targeting ligand results in greater recognition by the immune system. Thus ligand density is critical to nanoparticle formulation. Aptamers can be delivered to prostate cancer cells and they become internalized in 30 minutes time. He showed an example of combining therapeutic and imaging particles in one complex with quantum dot expression providing measurable information on drug delivery. He reports that a first test of therapy will be in HRPC patients in 2009. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com Nanotechnology breakthrough: a carbon nanotube so small that it has the highest curvature on earth A chemistry professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and his graduate students have published new results in Nature Nanotechnology showing how they isolated a particular type of carbon nanotube from a sample and manipulated it in a way that could have broad applicability in drug and gene delivery, electronic devices, and nanotechnology research. Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos and his graduate students found a way for a biological molecule, a form of vitamin B2, to wrap around a single-walled carbon nanotube - a tube so small that it has the highest curvature on earth. Wrapping a carbon nanotube was a difficult achievement and instrumental to their research, since it was a step that eventually enabled them to isolate a particular type of nanotube from a sample that contained 50 different kinds. Papadimitrakopoulos has spent seven years investigating how to efficiently separate the various nanotubes in a sample into like types. Nanotubes that are alike can be interlocked to create a material that is extremely strong, even if each nanotube is as small as one micron. Homogenous nanotubes also have the same electrical and optical properties, and they form a material that is extremely pure. The research opens the possibility of wrapping nanotubes with proteins or other molecules, which would be useful in a variety of applications. "We have learned how to manipulate this molecule," says Papadimitrakopoulos. The lead author of the Nature Nanotechnology paper is Sang-Young Ju, a polymer science Ph.D. candidate in his fifth year of study. Other authors are Jonathan Doll, a fourth-year polymer science Ph.D. student, and Ity Sharma, a second-year chemistry Ph.D. candidate. Two undergraduates, William Kopcha, CLAS'08, a chemistry major, and Christopher Badalucco, a junior majoring in physiology and neurobiology, also were involved in the research. The researchers worked with single-walled carbon nanotubes formed from graphene. If you drag a pencil across paper, Papadimitrakopoulos says, you leave thousands of graphene "seeds" behind, a deposit from the friction of the graphite pencil tip against the paper. At the molecular level, graphene seeds look like a honeycomb. If you form these graphene sheets into a tube, they can become the basis of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Getting another material to wrap around them was the next challenge. The researchers discovered that the vitamin B2 molecule stitches itself into a ribbon, using soft hydrogen bonds, and seamlessly wraps itself around the carbon nanotube. The ribbon, in a sense, acted as a detergent, dispersing the oil-loving nanotube in water. "Nobody has shown this before," says Papadimitrakopoulos. By introducing a second detergent, they managed to destabilize the ribbon, breaking its hydrogen bonds and leaving the second detergent in its place. Varying the concentration of the second detergent allowed them to separate nanotubes that had a given chirality, or pitch. Identifying carbon nanotubes of like chirality, or pitch, has important implications. If the chirality is the same, the nanotubes have the potential to interlock themselves in a hexagonal pattern and create an extremely strong material, even if the nanotubes are not very long. Papadimitrakopoulos says that this is an important step toward minimizing the potential negative health impact of carbon nanotubes, which recently were associated with asbestos-like contamination in the lung linings of laboratory animals. In that recent study, it was shown that carbon nanotubes larger than 20 microns behaved like asbestos, while those smaller than 20 microns could be cleared out of the lungs, much like pollen. The carbon nanotubes that his research group works on are far smaller, at approximately one-micron in length. Carbon nanotubes began to receive widespread attention in 1991, but it is only in the past 10 years or so that research on their applications has heated up. Nanotubes are small, strong, and special because of their potential for use in drug delivery and electronics applications. Some have described carbon nanotubes as the reigning celebrities of the advanced materials world. Papadimitrakopoulos describes them as the "Cinderella" molecules of nanotechnology. Hydrocarbons can be burned and still be used to make strong materials, he notes. Carbon is inexpensive, and carbon nanotubes can transform products, making stronger tennis rackets or bullet-proof vests, for example. The Air Force, which funds his research, is interested in advanced materials that are light, strong, and can withstand high temperatures, he says. In the future, he predicts, planes will be made from carbon nano-fibers. Papadimitrakopoulos is a chemistry professor in CLAS, but his work is interdisciplinary, involving physics as well. He also serves as the associate director of the Institute of Materials Science and is a member of the Polymer Program. Papadimitrakopoulos says his research could not have proceeded without the use of a high resolution transmission electron microscope, which allowed his research group to confirm and verify visually that the B2 molecule was wrapping around the carbon nanotube. http://nanotechnologyfan.com Tethered molecules act as light-driven reversible nanoswitches Our ability to see is based on molecules in the eye that flip from one conformation to another when exposed to visible light. Now, a new technique for attaching light-sensitive organic molecules to metal surfaces allows the molecules to be switched between two different configurations in response to exposure to different wavelengths of light. Because the configuration changes are reversible and can be controlled without direct contact, this technique could enable applications that can be controlled at the molecular scale. The technology has been suggested as a possible basis for molecular motors, artificial muscles, and molecular electronics. The research results, obtained by a team led by Paul S. Weiss, distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at Penn State University and James M. Tour, Chao professor of chemistry at Rice University, are reported in the June 2008 issue of the journal Nano Letters.  Illustration of the light-activated switch made by the Paul Weiss lab at Penn State. A bridge within the azobenzene molecule, made by two double-bonded nitrogen atoms, each also bound to a benzene ring, reconfigures when the molecule absorbs light. The two benzene rings move to the same side of the molecule (cis configuration) when exposed to ultraviolet light, and to opposite sides (trans configuration) when exposed to visible light. (Image: Paul Weiss lab, Penn State). Until now, progress was impeded because, when such molecules were attached to surfaces, they no longer could be switched back and forth, as they could be when they were in solution. The new technique uses a change in the shape of an azobenzene molecule in response to light to provide two different states. The azobenzene molecule consists of a bridge of two nitrogen atoms attached to one another by a double bond, with each nitrogen atom also bound to a benzene ring. The two benzene rings can be on the same side of the molecule (cis configuration) or on opposite sides (trans configuration). When the molecule absorbs energy, in the form of light, it can change between cis and trans configurations in a process called photoisomerization. "This mechanism is essentially the same that we use in our eyes for vision," said Weiss. "The molecule responds to light by making a change that can be harnessed. In the eye, the change causes a neural impulse." The photoisomerization of azobenzene is understood well in solution, but the molecule must be attached to a surface in order to provide a useful molecular switch or component of a motor. Previous attempts to accomplish the switching with attached molecules were unsuccessful, either due to interactions between the molecule and the surface to which it was attached or to interferences between adjacent molecules. "To overcome the difficulty of reversible photoisomerization of molecules on surfaces, we used a carefully designed 'tether' to isolate the functional molecules from one another and from the metal surface," said Weiss. "We isolated the tethered molecules in the surrounding matrix on a self-assembled monolayer and confirmed this isolation using molecular-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy." When the tethered molecules were exposed to ultraviolet light in a specially built scanning tunneling microscope, they switched from the trans to the more-compact cis state. This switch was confirmed by an apparent decrease in height of the molecule above the surrounding surface. The researchers further found that exposure to visible light caused a transition back to the more-extended trans state. Weiss points out that this research advance is just the first step in designing a device that can be driven or actuated by such molecular change. In order to perform useful work as a switch or nanoscale-drive motor, it will be necessary to coordinate the motion of multiple molecules and to build moving parts into some sort of assembly. According to Weiss, further research by the team already has found some surprises when the molecules are lined up to work in unison, like a chorus line http://www.nanowerk.com Joint nanotechnology forum to focus on electronics, photonics, renewable energy Applications of nanotechnology to electronics, photonics and renewable energy will be the focus of a joint forum to be held from August 10 to 14, 2009 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. An innovation workshop will also be presented in conjunction with the event. The 4th Nano and Giga Challenges Symposium and Summer School (NGC2009) and the 14th Canadian Semiconductor Technology Conference (CSTC2009) will bring together two well-established conference series to address grand challenges in nanotechnology. The forum is co-chaired by professors Peter Mascher and John Preston of the Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University, Stephen Goodnick, associate vice-president of Arizona State University, and Anatoli Korkin, president of Nano and Giga Solutions, Inc. More than 500 delegates from over 40 countries are expected to participate. Some 60 renowned technical leaders from top U.S., Canadian and international research centers have already accepted invitations to present their research. Among them are leading scientists from Corning, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, McGill University, McMaster University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Purdue University, Technical University Munich, University of Cambridge, University of Hong Kong, University of Manchester, University of Tokyo and many other leading national, academic and industrial research centers. "The natural synergy of scientific and technological problems of electronics, photonics and renewable energy based on commonly used materials, such as semiconductors, ceramics and organic polymers will stimulate cross-disciplinary exchanges of ideas and potential solutions," said Dr. Mascher. "Technology and business leaders will be able to accelerate the transfer of ideas from 'lab to fab' and to use the meeting as a convenient way to review new developments and innovations." The conferences will include tutorial lectures, plenary reviews, group sessions, exhibitions, and satellite workshops. A diversified social program will provide multiple opportunities for information exchange and networking at McMaster University, which borders on Lake Ontario, the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Niagara Escarpment. Innovation at the Edges, a summit workshop for investors and entrepreneurs looking to develop breakthrough technologies, will be led by Rafik Loutfy, director of the Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation at McMaster University and Raouf Loutfy, President of MERC Corporation in Arizona. The workshop will discuss opportunities to commercialize technology, emerging trends and future research directions, moving nanotechnology innovation from the research lab to market, and moving nanotechnology across borders. http://www.nanowerk.com/ Environmental TEM for Performing Chemical Research at the Atomic Level 
FEI Company, a leading provider of high-resolution imaging and analysis systems, today announced the release of the TitanTM 80-300 environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM). The Titan ETEM is the premier solution for chemical research at the atomic scale, and is a significant advance for studying materials and processes of importance in the fields of energy and environment. The ETEM is the newest member of FEI's Titan TEM family, the world's most powerful commercially-available microscopes for direct observation with sub-Angstrom resolution."The ETEM lets us look directly at the fundamental, atomic scale mechanisms of our catalytic processes," said Dr. Alfons M. Molenbroek, head of the Characterization Department, R&D Division, Haldor Topsoe, of Lyngby, Denmark, one of the world's leading suppliers of heterogeneous catalysts and catalytic processes, and an early adopter of ETEM technology for industrial research. "Heterogeneous catalysts are typically solid particles that catalyze reactions between gas or liquid phase reactants. Conventional TEM can give us high-resolution images of the particles in a vacuum, but only ETEM lets us look at the catalytic process itself, with the particle immersed in a gaseous environment. We expect to achieve dramatic advances in our fundamental understanding of our core catalyst technologies." The Titan ETEM's ability to image the sample in a controlled gaseous environment allows scientists to investigate the fundamental atomic mechanisms of gas-solid reactions, such as carbon nanotube growth, crystal nucleation and growth, heterogeneous catalysis and many other economically-significant processes. Catalysts, for instance, are important in production of fuels, reduction of environmentally-harmful combustion products, and generally throughout the chemical industry for applications concerning energy and the environment. FEI's Dominique Hubert, vice president and general manager, Research Division, adds, "The Titan is the first and only ETEM solution for studying nanoscale processes with atomic detail in a spherical aberration-corrected S/TEM. Users may be chemists, concerned with the reaction itself; materials scientists, interested in the effects of a gaseous environment; or they may be involved in a myriad other disciplines. The world looks to FEI as the technological leader across the board in electron microscope technologies that enable groundbreaking discoveries. The new Titan ETEM is just one example of FEI’s ongoing commitment to deliver on this promise, and to connect to societal problem-driven research: harnessing materials for energy and sustainability." At the core of Titan ETEM's capabilities is its ability to deliver high-resolution imaging with gas pressures in the sample chamber as high as a few percent of atmospheric pressure. Conventional TEMs require high-vacuum conditions with pressure levels a thousand to a million times lower. A gas controller permits precise control of composition as well as pressure. Heating and cooling holders provide control over a range of temperatures. The ability to select electron beam voltages anywhere between 80 and 300 kilovolts (kV) accommodates a wide range of material and imaging conditions. As a member of the Titan family, the Titan ETEM benefits from all of the extraordinary technological developments that have made it the world’s most powerful TEM, and the first choice of premier researchers and institutions. http://www.azonano.com |
