Novel methods for manipulating clusters of atoms - and forming them into electrically conducting wire - are being taken into the American market by scientist Simon Brown, of Canterbury University's physics and astronomy department.
Brown is executive director of Christchurch technology company Nanocluster Devices (NCD), which has just signed a joint venture with a leading American nanotechnology manufacturer to commercialise his research.
Work by Brown and a team of researchers led to the discovery that, under certain conditions, clusters of atoms form naturally into very thin electrically conducting wires. Potential applications of the technology include the printed circuit board market, the hydrogen fuel cell market and the computer hard-drive market.
NCD's technology for self-assembly of nanowires in production of semiconductors and electronic components will be taken to the market by NanoDynamics.
The American company will be responsible for sales and application development, and will target semiconductor companies, consumer applications, aerospace, biotech and industrial manufacturers. NCD will be responsible for the advancement of the technology platform.
It produces electrically conducting nanowires through depositing atomic clusters on to templates produced like lithographs, which can produce small, well-controlled linear structures on a range of foundation materials - with the key feature that it is essentially a self-assembly process. It avoids the slow manipulation of nano-sized building blocks, which is often unavoidable in many other nanotechnologies.
The method can be used for creating sensors for hydrogen and other chemicals for power distribution, and creating smaller, faster magnetic read heads for computer drives.
Brown said the partnership with NanoDynamics was a major step forward in his company's strategic plan to offer its technology to a range of industrial partners.
Director of business development for the product line is Peter Hauser, who the company said had extensive experience in photolithography and other semiconductor-related technologies.
* Nanotech work is done on the scale of a nanometre or a billionth of a metre. Work in the specialised field has accelerated in the past few years as developments in nanoscale magnets offer the scope for tiny, fast computers, medical devices that can be implanted in the body to deliver nutrients or medicine, and nanoscale sensors.
- NZPA
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