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MRS Meeting Scene
Day 4 — Thursday, April 20, 2006
Daily dose from San Francisco. Bringing you the very best of MRS.
This penultimate day of the 2006 MRS Spring Meeting was another busy one. Highlights included the symposium X talks, the poster session and the poster awards, the final day of the exhibit and the announcement of the winners of the Science as Art competition.
Proceedings Papers Posted
A number of proceedings papers from the 2006 MRS Spring Meeting that have been accepted are now posted on the web. New papers are posted as they are accepted. During the duration of the meeting, access to these papers will be open to all.
Symposium X - Frontiers of Materials Research
The overall theme of entrepreneurship and industrial competitiveness in the meeting was reflected in the two symposium X talks of the day.
The Strenuous Path of True Commercialization of Advanced III/V Semiconductor Materials
Materials researchers can indeed become successful entrepreneurs and bring their inventions to the marketplace. However, this has to be done carefully, suggested Tom Brennan (Zircle LLC, Albuquerque, New Mexico) in the first symposium X talk. Brennan is a materials engineer and scientist who earlier in his career worked at Bell Labs and then subsequently at Sandia National Labs. In the mid-1990s, he started a company making micro-optical devices with an initial capital outlay of $3 million which was later bought by Emcore for a significantly higher value. This was a significant success for Brennan. He subsequently joined Zia Laser, another start-up. This time Brennan got out of the company for personal reasons but this venture was not as successful as the first one.
Brennan is currently a founder of Zircle LLC whose primary mission is to generate attractive investment returns by transferring technology from National Labs to private sector companies that place a high value on the technology. However, it was rejected for funding last september. With his background and experience as an entrepreneur, Brennan is in a position to impart advice to budding scientist-entrepreneurs regarding what to expect when one considers such a path. Brennan indicated that he has indeed learned a number of lessons along the way.
Brennan the described what it takes to build a business from scratch. Some factors are obvious, such as exquisite domain knowledge, an extremely competent team, ability to make difficult decisions, adequate and functional markets, and sufficient capital. Other factors may be less obvious. Investors and scientists value companies differently but in many cases the investors may be more on the mark. He recommended that money evaluations should be kept low, which is better for the longer term. He also suggested looking for investors with a longer term perspective. Overall, Brennan highly recommends going the entrepreneur route as a sure way to commercialize technologies developed in the lab, but based on his experiences, he suggests treading carefully. Bringing Innovation From Lab to Market
In the second Symposium X devoted to entrepreneurial issues, Gail K. Naughton, former founder and president of Advanced Tissue Sciences and currently at San Diego State University, detailed her experiences with bringing tissue engineering products to market. The history of tissue engineering started 20 years ago, she said; so far, there have been no profitable companies in the field. After some preliminary success in growing engineered skin grafts on laboratory animals, Advanced Tissue Science launched an IPO in 1988 based on “the irrational enthusiasm for biotech companies” that existed in the market at that time, according to Naughton. “We went public in 1988 based on two rats looking good,” she explained.
The company was a technical success, producing TranscyteTM, a temporary cover that aided in the treatment and healing of full- and partial-thickness burns, and DermagraftTM, a permanent skin implant that aided in chronic wound closure, such as foot ulcers in diabetic patients. The incredible success of TranscyteTM in easing the pain of burn victims and restoring their skin to near its original condition made it seem like a sure thing. The company spirit was embodied in their motto “Accomplishing the impossible ahead of schedule.”
However, overly optimistic estimates by business analysts placed the market for skin graft products for burn victims at $100 million per year, when in fact it proved to be only about $5 million per year. Naughton’s company had built huge manufacturing facilities based on the high estimates, and could not survive when the market proved to be much smaller. Also, Naughton says that choosing to market products in the area of wound care was a tactical mistake. Wound care doctors tend not to be first adapters of new technology, and the expense of TranscyteTM was not an easy sell. Had they chosen products related to cosmetic surgery or cardiac care, where expense is not seen as a problem, they might have succeeded.
Instead, faced with a small market and tightening regulatory requirements, Advanced Tissue Sciences filed for bankruptcy in 2002, accompanied by several other manufacturers in the same field. The rights to their products were sold, so TranscyteTM and DermagraftTM live on, continuing to help patients. And the knowledge gained about the biological processes accompanying the incorporation of an engineered skin product into the body will certainly be useful to others down the road. Naughton still remains passionate about tissue engineering, and is convinced that the field needs just one “home run” in the form of a cure for disease that currently has none to become an outstanding success. Poster Award Winners
P13.26
Fabrication and Photoluminescence Properties of Heteroepitaxial ZnO/Mg0.2Zn0.80 Coaxial Nanorod Heterostructures
Jinkyoung Yoo1, Won Il Park1, Dong-Wook Kim1, Gyu-Chul Yi1 and Miyoung Kim2; 1Materials Sci. & Eng., POSTECH, Pohang, South Korea; 2Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Z8.14
Parallel nano-Differential Scanning Calorimetry: A New Device for Combinatorial Analysis of Complex nano-Scale Material Systems
Patrick McCluskey and Joost J. Vlassak; Division of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
AA4.5
Biologically-Directed Nanoscale Materials Assembly
Erik David Spoerke, George D. Bachand, Bruce C. Bunker, Jun Liu, Christina E. Warrender, Ann M. Bouchard and Gordon C. Osbourn; Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Technical Talks
Superconductivity Awards Presented
Two superconductivity awards were presented within symposium HH on Wednesday. Superconductor Week newsletter presented the "Superconductor Industry Person of the Year," award to Dr. Yuh Shiohara, Director of the Superconducting Tapes and Wires Division of the Superconductivity Research Laboratory, International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC), in Japan. The "Superconductor Industry Lifetime Achievement Award" was presented to Seung Hong, Vice President of Engineering at Oxford Instruments, Superconducting Technology business (OST), for his outstanding career and ongoing contributions to the development of world class low-temperature superconducting (LTS) wire.
Special Symposium Honors the Contributions of John M. Poate
Symposium LL, held on Thursday, was a special symposium in recognition of the contributions of John M. Poate, focused on ion beams, defects, laser annealing, and thin films work done primarily during his time at Bell Labs. Rather than dwelling on the past, the symposium focused on fields stimulated by Poate, leading towards cutting-edge applications of the processes and underlying science spurred by those earlier times. Depicted by those who worked with Poate and themselves moved research forward as they funneled in or fanned out across the globe, the cascading effects of Poate-colleague interactions paralleled the cascading effects of ion beams themselves. Walter Brown, who originally recruited Poate to Bell Labs in 1971, started the session with a brief history of Poate’s move into ion-implantation and ion-beam channeling and then his journey through gettering, laser annealing, interfaces, amorphous silicon, GaAs, buried oxides, Er in silicon, luminescence, and other areas. Poate was a leader rather than a follower, perhaps best summed up by symposium organizer Jim Williams, quoting Poate as saying, “We write the literature. We don’t read the literature.”
Long-time colleague and associate at Bell Labs, Dale Jacobson (SemEquip, Inc.), gave the first of the technical talks, describing molecular ion implantation, a technique that satisfies growing needs for lower-energy, high dose implants by accelerating clusters of atoms that split apart when bombarding a surface. The lower energy, shallower implants and high doses satisfy needs for shrinking electronic device sizes and high throughput. In a shorter encounter still resulting in important effects, Sjoerd Roorda (now at the University of Montreal) collaborated with Poate for only a few months at Bell Labs, but was the start of a stream of Dutch graduate students who flowed into Bell Labs over the years. He recalled writing the operating manual with Dale Jacobson for a new 1.7 MV accelerator, with the last of a set of simple instructions being simply to “optimize all parameters.” He talked about using ion beams of kV and MV energies to make, modify, and study materials on a nanometer length scale. Poate’s many interactions, particularly across international and interdisciplinary lines, speak to the depth and breadth of his talents which have led to continuing camaraderie, frank discussions, and critical research accomplishments.
Thin Film Polymer/Liquid Crystal Composite Materials for Holographic Optical Element Applications
The desire to place large telescope mirrors in space to probe the darker recesses of the universe is running into practical materials problems: as standard mirrors get large, they become suffer from structural instabilities, and require sophisticated support structures to maintain their precise focusing abilities. Today, in a presentation in symposium O, Michael Ermold (Drexel University) proposed the use of holographic optical elements (HOEs) as a potential solution. Light weight holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) gratings made from nematic liquid crystals, multifunctional polymers, and photoiniators, can be used as electrically controlled beam steering and focusing optics. Ermold presented models of the optical properties of the films, including estimates of the amount of phase-separated liquid crystal in these thin films. Development of these holographic devices may produce lightweight, stable optics for space-based telescopes in the future.
From Molecular Motors to Active Self Assembly: Biomolecular Motors Do the Job
Biomolecular motors, such as the motor protein kinesin, can act as independent agents in a liquid environment, making them capable of directed transport or active self-assembly processes. Kinesin binds to ATP and walks along the molecule in 8-nm steps, converting the stored chemical energy in ATP into mechanical work. Henry Hess and his colleagues at the University of Florida, Gainesville, are attempting to use these properties to detect and round up antigens in the body, measure their concentration, and transport them to a desired site.
In his presentation in symposium AA, Hess described the process of making a biosensor based on molecular shuttles through sequential assembly of a double antibody sandwich on a biotinylated microtubule. Starting with a kinesin-coated substrate, a microtubule is laid down and coated with streptavidin, followed by a biotinylated antibody layer. This antibody layer will fluoresce when it comes into contact with and captures an antigen. Once the antigens are captured, the microtubules can transport and aggregate them based on random motion or by following a patterned surface. The result is self-assembly driven by biomolecular motors, which produce order at the expense of ATP fuel.
Synthesis of ZnO-based Exotic Nanotructures using a Novel Sol-Gel Technique
ZnO is a wide bandgap semiconductor with high excitonic binding energy and high luminescent efficiency at room temperature. Such features make it a useful material for many optoelectronic applications. However, the traditional thermal evaporation technique used to produce nanostructured ZnO particles provides no control over the yield of a desired particle shape or size: nanowires, nanorods and nanotubes occur along with other structures in an undifferentiated mixture.
In order to gain some control of ZnO microstructures, Ashutosh Tiwari and his coworkers at the University of Utah have developed a sol-gel method for producing ZnO at room temperature, as he reported in symposium GG. The technique gives them the ability to synthesize controlled ZnO nanostructures at desired locations on a substrate. In the process they have learned to make exotic structures that may have practical uses.
By varying the substrate, the substrate temperature, and the molarity of the Zn(NO3)2 precursor solutions, the researchers have succeeded in making ZnO “flowers” and “spiders” on sapphire substrates and “crosses,” “swords,” and “pillars” on Si (111) surfaces. Flat planes of ZnO have also been produced. Some of these microstructures have high surface areas that would make them ideal for sensor applications. Tiwari also says that they can insert ZnO into the pores of felted fabrics to act as a radiation shield, and can coat ZnO onto cotton threads to make flexible magnetic sensors.
Experimental and ab initio Investigations of a New Hard Material: Osmium Diboride
Diamond is the hardest material known to exist, followed at a distance by BN. The discovery that osmium is less compressible that diamond spurred speculation that perhaps one of its compounds might be added to the list of superhard materials. In a presentation within symposium II, Mohamed M. Hebbache and his colleagues at the University of Paris have confirmed the existence of OsB1.1, Os2B3, and OsB2 (osmium diboride). Microindentation hardness experiments show that the orthorhombic OsB2 phase has a hardness of 36 GPa, just less than the values of 40-50 GPa reported for BN and 60-70 GPa for diamond. Also, first-principles calculations reveal that OsB2 is less compressible than diamond, raising the possibility that it could be used as a superhard industrial coating.
High Carrier Lifetime Bulk-Grown 4H - SiC Substrates for Power Applications
Cree Inc. has come a long way in the development on silicon carbide single crystals and is among the leaders, if not the leader, in the world. D. Malta from Cree described experiments to increase the lifetime of minority carriers (holes) in the bulk material for the fabrication of PIN diodes with high breakdown voltages. He were careful about giving away too much information due to intellectual property considerations but was able to show using several measurement techniques that an anneal at 2600°C with a slow cool-down over 12 hours increased the lifetime from less than 10 nanoseconds to 30 microseconds. The researchers were also able to show that the effects were not due to trapping.
Growth and Characterization of Nitrogen-Doped 4H SiC Boules by Halide Chemical Vapor Deposition
M. Fanton et al. along with co-authors from Penn State Univ., Carnegie Mellon and NRL grew SiC by chemical vapor deposition. They were able to control the carbon to silicon ratio very well and tested the resulting materials for low boron concentrations and nitrogen concentrations that could be varied over a wide range (1x1016 to 1x1019 atoms/cm3). They provided a clean solution to non-uniform growth by the extraction of exhaust gases from the top of the reactor rather than the bottom.
Materials Research Initiatives from a Global Policy Perspective
A special panel discussion on materials research initiatives from different regions of the world was held in the evening. The panel was moderated by William Spencer (CEO Emeritus SEMATECH) and Kenneth Flamm
(Professor & Dean Rusk Chair in International Affairs University of Texas at Austin). The panelists were from the USA, France, Germany and Japan.
Michael Maloney (National Academies, Senior Program Officer, National Materials Advisory Board) started by describing the results of a study on "Globalization of Materials R&D" which was released in a report form in August 2005. The report is available in its entirety online. Maloney described the goals and recommendations of the committee that compiled this report. The group attempted to define globalization. They came up with trends in the US position in materials science and engineering R&D. Maloney briefly discussed the summary of findings, the recommendations of the committee and potential impacts.
Next, Mari-Isabelle Baraton (Université de Limoges,
Limoges, France) discussed materials research in the European Union. She indicated that the EU was comprised of 25 countries with 454 million people. There are several associated countries as well. From a policy perspective, there are two major objectives, the "Lisbon Objective" and the "Barcelona Objective" which form guidelines for policy decisions. Baraton discussed the 6th EU Framework Program (FP6) which seeks to create a unified European Research Area (ERA) with a budget of €17.5 Billion for 2002-2006. She discussed the priority area of nanotechnology, materials and production, including its components, as well as the European Technology Platforms. She concluded by outlining the proposed 7th Framework Program. Additional information is available at http://www.cordis.lu/fp6 and http://www.cordis.lu/fp7.
The German perspective was given by Karlheinz Bock (Deputy Director, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, Munich) with focus on the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. He described the organization, structure and materials related activities, including interest topics and alliances. He then overviewed the overall German research landscape as well as materials R&D components.
The Asian perspective with a Japanese focus was presented by Hideomi Koinuma (Vice President, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Japan). He started by showing a cartoon from the Japanese version of Newsweek magazine indicating how Asian countries need to catch up quickly in terms of innovations with the US and Europe. Koinuma then discussed the research activities of NIMS, which had a 2005 budget of ¥19 Billion. He also described the nanotechnology landscape in Japan and the Nanotechnology Researchers Network Center (Nanonet). He finished by discussing post-nanotech initiatives for materials and energy.
Finally, Julia Phillips (Director, Physical, Chemical and Nano Sciences Center, Sandia National Laboratories) discussed the recently released report titled "Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future". The report was requested by the US Congress and was compiled by a very distinguished Committee of people. It clearly demonstrates the numerous worrying trends for continued US dominance in science, engineering and innovations. The report has four major recommendations focusing on K-12 education, research, higher education and economic policy.
A lively discussion and question & answer session concluded this special session.
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