Nanometrics Raising $20 Million in Public Share Offering

On December 17^th, Nanometrics Incorporated (Milpitas, CA) (NASDAQ: NANO), a leading supplier of advanced process control metrology systems used primarily in the manufacturing and packaging of semiconductors, solar photovoltaics and high-brightness LEDs, announced the pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 2,025,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share.

Vincent J. Coates, the Company’s founder, is also selling 675,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share as part of the same offering. In connection with the offering, the Company and Mr. Coates have also granted the underwriters a 30-day over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 303,750 and 101,250 shares of common stock from the Nanometrics and Mr. Coates, respectively. The closing of the offering is expected to take place on or about December 22, 2009, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Piper Jaffray & Co. is acting as the sole book running manager of the offering. Oppenheimer & Co. and RBC Capital Markets are the co-managers of the offering.

Net proceeds from the sale of the shares of common stock to be sold by the Company, after underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, are expected to be about $20.6 million. Nanometrics plans to use approximately $2 million of the net proceeds from the offering to repay certain obligations related to Nanometrics’ acquisition of certain assets of Zygo Corporation in June 2009, with the remainder to be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital.
 
Nanometrics is a leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of high-performance process control metrology systems used primarily in the manufacturing of semiconductors, advanced wafer-scale packaging, solar photovoltaics and high-brightness LEDs, as well as by customers in the silicon wafer and data storage industries.

Nanometrics standalone and integrated metrology systems measure various thin film properties, critical dimensions, overlay control, topography, and optical, electrical and material properties, including the structural composition of silicon, compound semiconductor and photovoltaic devices, during various steps of the manufacturing process, from front end of line substrate manufacturing through die preparation for advanced packaging. These systems enable device manufacturers to improve yields, increase productivity and lower their manufacturing costs.

The company maintains its headquarters in Milpitas, California, with sales and service offices worldwide. Nanometrics is traded on NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol NANO. Nanometrics’ website is www.nanometrics.com.

Nanometrics Contact:
Jim Moniz, CFO
408-545-6145 tel; 408.521.9370 fax
jmoniz@nanometrics.com

Investor Relations:
Claire McAdams
Headgate Partners LLC

IMRE Develops Precise and Fast Nanoparticle Diagnostic Technique, DNA Difference Detection Now Possible with the Naked Eye

A sensitive yet uncomplicated method to detect differences in DNA strands using metal nanoparticle solutions has been developed by Roejarek Kanjanawarut and Xiaodi Su at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) at A*STAR, Singapore¹. The method requires no modification of the surfaces of the nanoparticles, making it particularly fast and versatile to implement.

The researchers worked on the principle that aggregated and dispersed nanoparticles have different optical properties that make the solutions take on different colors. This means that the results of their tests can be displayed in minutes, and recorded qualitatively by the naked eye and quantitatively by a standard spectrometer.

The tendency of nanoparticles to aggregate in solution has been considered a drawback, and in previous approaches to use them for sensing, DNA strands were directly attached to the particles’ surfaces to prevent them clumping together. Kanjanawarut and Su turned the tables to take advantage of the natural propensity to aggregate as inspiration for their assays. Compared with the earlier nanoparticle- and chip-based DNA assays, the new method is cost-effective as it involves no time-consuming surface modifications, particle bioconjugation, biohazardous labeling or tedious assay procedures, explains Su.

The researchers used gold and silver nanoparticles that have a coating of negatively charged molecules. These charges repel one another, preventing the nanoparticles from aggregating in solution. They then added peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes to the solution, which bound to the negative surfaces, shielding the charge and allowing the nanoparticles to agglomerate. The solution with gold nanoparticles changed from bright red to dark purple.

The PNA can be tailored to bind selectively to whichever DNA strand is the target for detection. After adding the target DNA strand to the solution, it bound to the PNA, making a PNA–DNA complex. The solution remained bright red, clearly different from the aggregated dark purple solution (Fig. 1). Even one mismatched DNA base compared to the target strand could be detected.

Fig. 1: Schematic diagram showing the conversion of PNA to a PNA–DNA complex (top) and photographs (bottom) of gold nanoparticle solutions with the addition of a PNA–DNA complex (left) and PNA (right).

Image Credit: © 2009 A*STAR

The color difference results from the formation of the PNA–DNA complex on the nanoparticle surface, which is negatively charged due to the negative charge born by the DNA chains; this makes the nanoparticles repel one another and thus take longer to aggregate.

Su hopes that their approach can be used to measure specific DNA sequences for diagnosis or fundamental research. “The sequence involved in this study, for example, is from a human gene. Single-base-mismatch detection in this gene is associated with, and thus markers for, autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis,” she says.

The A*STAR affiliated authors on this highlight are from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)

Reference: Kanjanawarut, R. & Su, X. Colorimetric detection of DNA using unmodified metallic nanoparticles and peptide nucleic acid probes. Analytical Chemistry 81, 6122–6129 (2009). article