Status Quo of Nanotechnology in Germany Reveals $48 Billion Market in 2007, $6.8 Billion Spent on R&D

 Germany claims the #1 position in nanotechnology in Europe.  The turnover generated by 750 nano-companies active in Germany amounted to about $48 billion (33 billion Euro) in the year 2007.

The total number of employees currently working in the field of nanotechnology in Germany is  estimated at 63,000.  The global nanotechnology R&D-expenditures of nanotechnology companies active in Germany were about $6.8 billion (4.7 billion Euros) in 2007. About 97%, the major part of the total research expenditure, is attributed to large enterprises with research budgets of more than $1.4 million (1 million Euro). The R&D-expenditures represent  German investments worldwide and is in part also comprised of foreign groups with activities in Germany. That’s all according to “ nano.DE-Report 2009, Status Quo of Nanotechnology in Germany”  published by Federal Ministry of Education and Research Department (BMU) “Nanomaterials; New Materials“ (D-53170).

About 750 companies in Germany are dealing with the development and marketing of nanotechnological product s, methods and services on different steps of the value-added chain. About 80 % of German nano-technology companies are small and medium-sized enterprises.

About 370 companies in Germany are to be regarded as nanotechnology core firms in which nanotechnology accounts for an essential part (more than 30 %) of the business activities. For the rest of the companies – first and foremost big and medium-sized enterprises from traditional branches of industry – nanotechnology is rather a complementary side activity or represents only a relatively small part of the value added.

Present forecasts do not yet consider the effects of the global economic crisis to the full extent. Nevertheless, analyses show that the nanotechnology sector continues to develop dynamically. Current market forecasts for nano-optimized products expect an economic leverage effect of nanotechnology to a world market volume of up to $3 trillion by 2015. This corresponds to approx. 15 % of the global production of goods. In the medium term, nanotechnological know-how will have an immense influence on the value added, for example in the fields of health, information and communication technology as well as in energy and environmental engineering.

On the value added step of nanomaterials and devices for the manufacturing or analysis of nanostructures, world market volumes of approximately $50 billion are forecasted by 2010. In nanoanalytics, an increase is forecasted from $2.5 billion in 2008 to $3 billion in 2010. In the same period, a world market growth from $35 billion to $43 billion is assumed for the field of nanotools and from $1.3 billion to $ 2.1 billion for the nanomaterials sector. These assessments provide a realistic but also incomplete picture of the market potentials of nanotechnology, since in each case only a fraction of the multitude of different methods and material classes is considered. A more de -tailed assessment requires the breakdown to individual material classes and methods, which are exemplified in the present report.

Regarding both thematic orientation and positioning within the value-added chain, the German nano-technology corporate landscape is widely diversified and comprises manufacturers in the field of nanomaterials, nanotools, nanoanalytics and equipment for the operation of nanotools (e.g. vacuum and clean-room  technology, plasma sources etc.) manufacturers and users of nano-optimized components and systems as well as service providers in the field of consulting, contract coating, technology transfer, contract analysis and research.

Nanotechnology is a relatively young field of technology. Approximately 70 % of the nanotechnology companies were set up after 1985. For about a quarter of the companies the subsidies of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and funding on federal-state and EU-level played an important role in the start-up of their businesses. Other decisive factors were the know-how transfer from research institutions as well as financing through venture capital.

Nanotechnology companies are relatively highly export-oriented. Only one fifth of the companies regard Germany as the dominant business market with a share of > 75 %. For approx. half of the companies, the German domestic market accounts for less than a quarter. The most important market behind Germany is Europe, followed by North America and Asia with equally high shares. Other regions play a rather minor role regarding sales markets.

The large majority of the nanotechnology companies expect an increase in sales figures and numbers of employees as well as in research investments by 2010. More than half of the companies reckon with increases in sales of over 10 % compared to 2007. Although the extent of the global financial and economic crisis has not been foreseeable at the time of the survey, a significantly positive industry trend for the coming years is beginning to show.

Nanotechnology is such a key technology. With its,  "Nano-Initiative – Action Plan 2010", the Federal Government has established an interdepartmental framework for action in the area of nanotechnology.

$85 Billion Nanofabrication Equipment and Materials Market Supports $6.3 Trillion in Economic Activity

The figure portrays how $85 billion in equipment and materials purchased by semiconductor and microelectronic manufacturers in 2007 supported more than $6.3 trillion dollars in worldwide economic activity made possible through the production of semiconductor computer chips with transistors manufactured at nanoscales since 2001. Equipment for fabricating millions of nanosized transistors in silicon chips which enable modern computers, communications and are found in all modern automobiles, aviation and aerospace equipment.  Source: Draft ENIAC Multi-Annual Strategic Plan and Research Agenda 2010 (MASP) proposed by the Aeneas (Association of European Nanoelectronics Activities).   

Micro/Nanoelectronics have become integral to life and work – and the trend is ever upward.  One "Grand Challenge" identified in the Strategic Plan is  the development of  extreme ultraviolate (EUV) lithography  and complementary 1Xnm patterning as a chip mass manufacturing technology of the next decade. 

Technology: Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) lithography is anticipated to become the key enabler for More Moore chip mass manufacturing beginning at 22nm feature sizes (half-pitch). Major technology solutions need to be developed: a high throughput EUV machine including e.g. high-power EUV sources and optics for high quality imaging at 13.5nm wavelength; EUV infrastructure and metrology including mask fabrication processes, cleaning, inspection and review tools, sensitive resists, defect engineering and process control. Furthermore, the development of complementary 1Xnm patterning technologies as e.g. e-beam lithography is required for mask making, fast prototyping and low-volume manufacturing.  

Commercial Market: EUV lithography addresses a large market with an estimated annual market of $4.5 billion (€3 billion) in 2015. European upfront investments in EUV lithography exceeds $1.5 (€1) billion . The substantial markets for the EUV infrastructure and complementary 1Xnm patterning technologies are additional. It is important to note that Europe’s leading role achieved in the 193nm immersion lithography can only be sustained by a successful introduction of EUV lithography, states the Strategic Plan.  

EU Funding Rationale: The high risk in the huge upfront investment and the long-term vision of re-establishing EUV lithography and infrastructure require public funding to realize the multi-billion dollar market potential over the next decade. Furthermore,ENIAC funding will allow Europe to gain in-depth knowledge of leading edge semiconductor manufacturing all over the world and to create and sustained employment of highly qualified individuals in Europe. 

ENIAC: The development of EUV lithography and infrastructure, as well as, the complementary 1Xnm patterning technologies are highly involved tasks that require competencies and focused collaboration of large firms, SMEs and institutes from several European countries. ENIAC brings all these entities together in a collaborative $4.5 billion research project that will function through the 2009-2013 time period. 

The market for EUV technology, lithography and nanofabrication equipment for the semiconductor, photonic, sensor and MEMS industries is the subject of upcoming report "NANOFABRICATION EQUIPMENT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ELECTRONICS, A GLOBAL INDUSTRY AND MARKET ANALYSIS"" from Innovative Research and Products Inc.

 

EU Commission Commits $4.5 Billion for Nanoelectronics Research from 2009-2013

On 29 October 2009, the European Commission adopted the Communication "Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies: an Action Plan for Europe 2005-2009.”  The report outlines the key developments during 2007-2009 in each policy area of the Action Plan, identifies current challenges, and draws conclusions relevant to the future European nanotechnology policy. Where appropriate, for the sake of completeness and continuity, developments in preceding years are included. Detailed supporting information can be found in the accompanying Staff Working Document.

The plan commits $4.5 billion from 2009 to 2013 for nanoelectronics research and development under ENIAC. ENIAC was established in 2004 as the Technology Platform for Nanoelectronics. Its main goal was to define common research and innovation priorities to ensure a truly competitive nanoelectronics industry in Europe. To attain such an objective, ENIAC invested intensive efforts to bring together the key players in nanoelectronics research by gathering within the Platform the main European industrial groups and research organizations, setting up the ENIAC Scientific Community Council to ensure representation of Universities, and encouraging the participation inENIAC of Small and Medium enterprises through national platforms.

Nanoelectronics refer to the application of nanotechnology to semiconductor components and highly miniaturized electronic sub-systems, and their integration in larger products and systems. Semiconductors have enabled the digital revolution that has brought huge productivity gains to our economy and improvements in our quality of life. Constant innovation in the area, together with a strong industrial competition, have given rise to affordable, ever more powerful and energy-efficient computers and other digital devices, for the everyday use of all businesses and virtually all types of consumer. The pace of this digital revolution is still accelerating, enabling new applications in nearly every segment of the world economy, such as medical devices, photovoltaic energy generation, traffic management, and so on.

Current devices are manufactured using 65 nm or 45 nm processes (this dimension being the average half-pitch of a memory cell). In this sense, nanoelectronics is merely the consequence of the evolutionary path of microelectronics into the nanoscale domain. Current transistors still do not fall under the category of nanomaterials, which are produced by manipulating matter at the atomic scale. On the other hand, the properties of future devices may well be defined by interatomic interactions and quantum mechanical properties.

Use of Radio Frequencies Improves Nano Transdermal Drug Delivery

Image Credit: University of South Florida (USF)

Current technology is limited to delivering relatively small drug molecules transdermally. The outermost layer of the skin made up of dead skin cells (stratum corneum) is the main obstacle to transdermal drug delivery. To address the skin barrier University of South Florida’s new technology uses radio frequency (RF) signals to disrupt the stratum corneum in effect creating temporary microchannels in the skin, up to 100 micron in size, through which the drug molecules can more freely pass. The skin returns to normal within a few minutes.

The USF RF device also improves dosing of transdermal drugs. Current transdermal drug delivery technologies release the drug over a timeframe of hours to days at a nearly steady rate. But effective dosages vary among patients because stratum corneum thickness vastly varies from person to person.

This varying thickness causes absorption rates to also vary from person to person. Our RF delivery system avoids this absorption problem because the stratum corneum is bypassed completely. The drug is applied directly to the normal living cells which more readily absorb the drug, concurrently allowing absorption of a much wider range of drug molecule variants (size, pH, and solubility) at a consistent rate.

Modulating the RF signal, and thus modulating the rate of drug application, allows for much more flexibility in dosage scheduling. The technology is available for licensing.

University of South Florida, Division of Patents and Licensing
3802 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 100, Tampa, Florida 33612-9220
Tel: 813.974.0994 (office) Fax:  813.974.8490
Email: patents@research.usf.edu
Website: http://www.research.usf.edu/pl/

US Technology Corp's Nanoclay Blast Media Faster, Cheaper, Gentler and More Durable

US Technology Corporation (Canton, OH) provides comprehensive surface preparation and coatings removal to the aerospace, aircraft, electronics, automotive, shipping, petroleum and structural industries. Raymond F. Williams and Daniel L. Kinsinger detail a method for making  polymeric blast media products with nanoclays in U.S. Patent 7,622,518. The first step involves blending a melamine compound with a cellulosic material and compression molding the first blend. This first blend is then cooled and then ground. In the next step of this method, a urea compound is blended with a nano-clay material to produce a second blend and compression molded. This compression molded second blend is then ground to produce a particulate second blend. The particulate first blend is then blended with the particulate second blend to yield a blast media product. It can cost effectively removes organic coatings from substrates without substantial risk of damage to sensitive metal or composite substrates according to inventors Williams and Kinsinger.

The blast media with nanoclay may be used for removal of standard aerospace coatings such as epoxy primers and polyurethane topcoats from very sensitive metal or composite substrates with better efficiency than was previously available. This media coating can be removed at accelerated speeds as compared to prior art blast media. The safety factor of this media on thin skin aluminum or composite surfaces is high. Coatings can be removed with virtually no damage to such substrates, leaving protective coatings such as cladding and anodizing intact. Also, the durability of this media helps to maintain economic feasibility in large-scale aerospace applications.

Various different embodiments of this media address specific applications related to the aerospace industry and industry in general. All of these embodiments make use of nanometer-sized montmorillonite clay particles, which improve surface integrity and provide advantages in the mechanical and thermal properties of the polymer. These results are achieved with no increase in specific gravity due to the very low amounts of nano-particle needed, i.e. between 1/2% and 5% by weight. These results demonstrate that the overall increase in efficiency of this media is three to four times faster than unfilled polymer while the durability has more than doubled.

The patent also encompasses an abrasive media for the removal of coating or for the preparation of surfaces prior to coating or cleaning comprising a thermosetting polymer with an additive, wherein the additive has a major dimension and a minor dimension. The minor dimension is from about 1 nm to about 20 nm. The additive may be the nano-clay material, or alternatively may be a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane material.

The patent also encompasses a method of making a sanding pad for removing an organic coating from a substrate comprising the steps of blending a liquid polymeric material with a nano-clay material to produce a first blend, blending a cellulosic material with said first blend to produce a second blend. This second blend is then extruded to form a continuous sheet of abrasive material into individual pads.

Figure 1 shows a brief flow chart of the manufacturing process for nanoclay blast media.

New Filamentary Nanodiamond Dubbed "Marimo (Cladophora sauteri) Carbon"

Japanese researchers have created a new nanoparticle dubbed Marimo (Cladophora sauteri) carbon" by National Institute for Materials Science (Ibaraki, JP) researchers Toshihiro Ando, Kiyoharu Nakagawa, Mika Gamo, and Hirokazu Oda because the fine spherical diamond particle exhibits the appearance of a cladophora-form.

The above image is scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrograph by National Institute for Materials Science showing  a cladophora-form carbon particle and  below a tunneling electron microscope (TEM) image of a carbon nanomaterial portion of a cladophora-form carbon particle.

The cladophora-form carbon when used as strength reinforcing, electronic, electromagnetic absorbent, catalyst or optical materials, can exhibit properties for their individual purposes that are very uniform in contrast to those with the conventional carbon nano-materials which are not spherical in shape. The cladophora-form carbon fine spherical particle has fibrous or filamentary carbon nano-materials radially grown from a fine diamond catalytic particle as a core can be used as strength reinforcing, electronic, electromagnetic absorbent, catalyst and optical materials to exhibit properties for their individual purposes, which are uniform.

The fine particle has no anisotropy in shape. Thus, if the fine particle is utilized as a catalyst carrier, there is no anisotropy in the amount in which catalyst active species is carried, and the catalytic reaction is uniform. Alternatively, if such particles are utilized to form a strength reinforcing material, it has no anisotropy brought above in mechanical strength since each such particle has no anisotropy in shape. 

U.S. Patent 7,608,331 reveals the method of and the apparatus for manufacturing a cladophora-form at a reduced cost and in a large quantity. If the transition metal catalyst used in the manufacturing process is Ni or Co then carbon nanotubes will form. Alternatively, if the transition metal catalyst is Pd, then resulting carbon nanomaterials are coin stacked carbon nano-graphite materials.  The catalytic reaction temperature at which the carbon nano-materials are synthesized is preferably a temperature ranging between 400.degree. C. and 600.degree. C.