High Tech Ceramics News articles from November 2005

High Tech Ceramics News archives from November 2005

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS Bright Future for Sputtering Targets.
November 1, 2005... Sputtering is one of the most common and widely used technologies for thin film manufacturing. Ceramic and metals are used as sputtering targets. Quality of deposited films, however, not only depends on process and equipment parameters (such as...

METROLOGY AND ANALYSIS Consortium Works with Malvern Zetasizer Nano Systems.
November 1, 2005... Malvern Instruments has become the primary supplier of systems for nanoparticle characterization to a consortium of 13 commercial companies and 12 academic research groups in Israel - Nano Functional Materials (NFM). The NFM Consortium is...

STRUCTURAL CERAMICS Ceradyne Receives Armor Contract.
November 1, 2005... Ceradyne, Inc. received a $47.8 million delivery order for its lightweight ceramic body armor. This is the fifth delivery order received under the $461 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract announced on August 20,...

ACM Gets Navy Contract to Develop Cutting Tools.
November 1, 2005... The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Va., awarded a $3-million contract to Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing (ACM), Tucson, Ariz. to develop new wear-resistant ceramic materials for use in industrial cutting tools. The 18-month program will...

Armor Holdings Receives Contract for Armor Inserts.
November 1, 2005... Armor Holdings Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., received a contract modification for $19.3 million from the Defense Supply Center-Philadelphia for ceramic armor inserts used with the individual body armor ensemble. The new protective plates are for...

POWDERS AND NANO CERAMICS High Purity Zinc Oxide Available from Nanophase.
November 1, 2005... Nanophase Technologies announced the availability of a new line of high purity zinc oxide nanoparticles that is primarily targeted for electronics, catalysts, healthcare products, personal/suncare products, and industrial UV protection where a...

Purdue University Dedicates Birck Nanotech Center.
November 1, 2005... Purdue University has a new $58.3 million research center named after Tellabs Inc. chairman and founder Michael Birck and his wife Katherine. Named, the Birck Nanotechnology Center, it is part of the university's Discovery Park research campus,...

Transparent Nanotubes Make High Strength Sheet.
November 1, 2005... University of Texas at Dallas researchers have developed transparent carbon nanotube sheets that are stronger than the same-weight steel sheets. Starting from chemically grown, self-assembled structures in which nanotubes are aligned like trees...

DIAMOND PRODUCTS Machineable Polycrystalline Diamond Hits Market.
November 1, 2005... Ringwood Diamond Material Technologies, based in Canberra, Australia, is now manufacturing and selling, what it claims is the thickest machineable polycrystalline diamond (PCD) compact cylinder-measuring 32mm 0 x 40mm (h). The large cylindrical...

sp3 Diamond Awarded DARPA Contract.
November 1, 2005... sp3 Diamond Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., has been awarded a DARPA contract to introduce its nanoparticle diamond thin film deposition process into the MEMS Exchange. The award covers a 10-month project in which the company also will...

OPTICAL MATERIALS Cree Achieves LED Brightness Levels Ahead of Schedule.
November 1, 2005... Cree, Inc., a leader in high brightness LED solid-state lighting components, has announced breakthrough performance results achieved in development of Cree Lighting's standard white XLamp(TM) 7090 Power LED. XLamp 7090 LEDs in development have...

BATTERIES, POWER DEVICES AMSC to Supply Power Electronic Converters.
November 1, 2005... American Superconductor Corp., Westborough, Mass., announced receipt of an order from Hydrogenics Corp., a global fuel cell developer and manufacturer. The order for three PowerModule PM1000 power electronic converters follows Hydrogenics'...

Ceramic Prolongs Life of Fuel Cells.
November 1, 2005... Ceramic plate electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells are cast or silk-screened in ceramic paste and then sintered to form plate electrodes of the required thinness by Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Sintered Materials IKTS,...

DOE Grants To Altair Nano and University of Nevada.
November 1, 2005... A consortium by Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. and University of Nevada Las Vegas Research Foundation (UNLVRF), has received a $2.5 million Phase III grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the joint development of solar...

ESL Electro-Science Commercializing Scandia Stabilized Zirconia.
November 1, 2005... ESL Electro-Science based in King of Prussia, PA., has announced the commercial availability of its new Scandia stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). The use of ScSZ has recently been shown to more than...

ELECTRONIC CERAMICS Companies Join Forces in Systems Development.
November 1, 2005... SEMATECH researchers have identified a dual damascene method for interconnect integration that could achieve an aggressive industry target for ultra low-k dielectric materials in semiconductor manufacturing. The two-level metal, dual damascene...

Cree Selling 100 mm SiC Substrate, Epitaxy Materials.
November 1, 2005... Cree, Inc., is now taking orders for 100 mm (4-inch) n-type silicon carbide (SiC) substrates and epitaxy material. The current Cree standard for SiC is 3-inch diameter material. The announcement is being made at the International Conference on...

AVX's Niobium Oxide Capacitor Gets Award.
November 1, 2005... A niobium oxide capacitor, OxiCap, developed by AVX Corp., Myrtle Beach, S.C., was voted component of the year at the Elektra 05 European Industry awards in London on Sept. 27. The niobium oxide-based system is lead- and halogen-free,...

SUPERCONDUCTORS AMSC Awarded Contracts for Wire Development.
November 1, 2005... American Superconductor Corp., has announced the receipt of three new government contracts for second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire and applications development. These contracts, which have a total value of $1.35...

INDUSTRY NEWS Alcoa Approves $1.6 Billion Investment Plan.
November 1, 2005... Alcoa announced that its board of directors has approved G. investments in Brazil that will total $1.6 billion in the company's Brazilian upstream operations, including a 2.1 million metric ton per year (mtpy) expansion of the Alumar consortium...

Piezo Technologies Consolidates Divisions.
November 1, 2005... Piezo Technologies, a producer of piezo ceramcis and ultrasonic transducers, has announced that it will be conducting all piezoelectric material and ultrasonic transducer R&D, development and production from one location after relocating its...

Kyocerea Awarded Supplier of the Year.
November 1, 2005... Advanced Power Technology Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., presented Kyocera America Inc., San Diego, with its "Supplier of the Year Award." APT's Santa Clara Div. presented the award to recognize Kocera's "exceptional quality, delivery and...

CALENDAR.(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... January 8-11, 2006, 9th International Ceramic Processing Science Symposium, Coral Springs Marriott Hotel, Golf Club and Convention Center, Coral Springs, Florida. Contact: American Ceramic Society, P.O. Box 6136, Westerville, OH 43086-6136,...

((BRIEFS)) PERSONNEL.
November 1, 2005... Eisenmann Names Mark West VP. The board of directors of Eisenmann Corp. has announced the promotion of Mark West to the position of vice president. As an officer of the company, West will share in the strategic direction of Eisenmann's...

FINANCIAL.
November 1, 2005... Ceradyne Reports Record Sales. Ceradyne, Inc. reported financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2005, including record sales and record net income. Sales for the third quarter 2005 rose to a record $94.4...

TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT Reinforced Aluminum Oxynitride (AlON) for Metal Cutting Applications.
November 1, 2005... By Russ Yeckley and Shanghua Wu Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, PA SiC whisker reinforced alumina cutting tools are the dominate ceramic tools used for machining aerospace alloys. Together the whisker reinforced alumina and sialon tools enable...

Observations.
November 1, 2005... Experimental observations and field application data indicate that thermal shock resistance plays a dominant role in determining the DOCN resistance. The evidence includes: * Interrupted cutting leads to greater DOCN wear compared with...

Machine Testing.
November 1, 2005... Further comparison machine tests (turning Inconel 718 round bar) were conducted using five different tool materials: * SiCw reinforced alumina, * alumina, * sialon, * SiCw reinforced (alumina + TiCN), and * SiCw reinforced AlON. ...

WHO'S WHO.(Company Profile)
November 1, 2005... Gregory J. Yurek, Promoting Ceramic Superconductors HTCN interviewed Gregory J. Yurek, Founder, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Superconductor Corp. Yurek is a recognized global leader in the...