Jim Von Ehr – From Lab to Market : Commercializing Nanotechnology

James R. Von Ehr, II, President/Founder of Zyvex Labs 9:45-10:15am “New Synthetic Methods for Development of Nanoscale Materials”

Liveblogging notes of Foresight 2011 talk by Jim Von Ehr of Zyvex

Zyvex Labs
Zyvex Technology
Zyvex Asia
Zyvex Performance Materials
ZyCraft
Zyvex Group

From Lab to Market : Commercializing Nanotechnology

Zyvex started in 1997 to develop molecular nanotechnology

Started Texas Nanotechnology Initiative

Jim Von Ehr starts at 27 minutes in Molecular nanotechnology is the precise controlled rearrangement of atoms into higher value products. Stacks of aragonite tablets from nacre of a red abalone shell (3000 times tougher than the chalk and slime) Materials, clean cheap energy, computers, medicine Energy and medicine are the key aspects Takes a long time to displace materials in the market even with superior materials Engineer way – positional chemistry, system design

Wet Nano                             Dry/nano
=================================================================
        |                                     |
Active  | Enzymes, Ribosomes, molecular motors|Molecular machines
        |                                     |
Passive | Biotech, Drugs                      |Nanopowders, nanotubes, electronics

Zyvex instruments ⇒ DCG Systems IC Probing solutions Tungston probes on chips.

Figure properties of the transistors

nProber (over 2 million dollars) electron microscope 6 hours of probing, 1 week of FIB and TEM time 1 week of analysis savings on the order of $20 million

ZyvexPro.com Sportings goods

Piranha USV – largest nanomaterial object a boat made with carbon nanotube polymer 8500 pounds vs 40000 pounds for aluminum (about 5 times lighter)

15 gph versus 85 gallons per hour (more fuel efficient) can go into 2 feet deep water

Zycraft.com Piranha USV 25 knots, 2500 mile range, building second boat $2 million starter, ¼ operating costs unmanned and manned versions Zyvex labs Zyvexlabs.com Lead the commercialization of adaptable, affordable, atomically precise manufacturing Hand crafting (blacksmith)

Precision mass manufacturing (Ford) Semiconductor lithography (Intel) Atomically Precise Manufacturing (Zyvex Labs ?)

Taniguchi forecasted manufacturing to atomic precision in 1983.

Very accurate forecast Precision assembled systems Mini, semi

APM Patterned atomic layer epitaxy UHV STM (scanning tunneling microscope), 1 n tip radius

Initial litho results. 5% scatter in the dimensions.

Lyding Lab at UIUC (Illinois)

Quantum computer (3 pairs of hydrogen atoms, phosphorous atoms)

Scale up NanoRetina (joint venture with Zyvex)

Build an artificial retina, power via infrared laser Packaging stage

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