New Castle Firms Part of ‘Small Scale’ Revolution
Published Apr 16, 2006
Berhan Tecle of Ultrafine Technologies, holding a copper nano-coated glass substrate, says nanotechnology will make production of solar panels much cheaper.
Some of science’s biggest achievements these days are on the tiniest of scales, and they’re happening in New Castle County. While the impact of nanotechnology on the economy is big, the local contributions to this emerging science are bigger still.
“What we are doing is making small particles, and the only way you can make particles of that dimension is by building up, atom by atom,” says Berhan Tecle, president of Ultrafine Technologies, located in Newark’s Delaware Technology Park.
“Remember when we used to talk about microelectronics? ‘Micro’ means that the circuitry was measured in microns, one millionth of a meter. Now we are going beyond that,” Tecle says, “1,000 times smaller. Nano is one billionth of a meter.”
Nanotechnology involves the meshing of several traditional disciplines, from chemistry to materials science. The essence of nanotechnology is that, at the nano scale, a material is very different from when it is in bulk.
A former DuPont researcher, Tecle has developed a very thin film, atom by atom, that will make the production of solar panels much cheaper. Currently, solar panels are five to seven times more expensive to manufacture and install than conventional technology, albeit the energy is then free and environmentally friendly. Tecle says his nanotech process, which “makes the chemistry much simpler,” would make the solar panels cost competitive.
Ultrafine Technologies, which built a prototype and is now marketing the product to potential investors, is just one example of nanotech entrepreneurship in New Castle County.
In 2004, ANP Technologies moved to Newark, two years after its founding in Maryland by a scientist with the Army Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. “We’ve found that this is a fantastic location – closer to the customers, and the cost of living is reasonable,” says ANP President Ray Yin. “There’s more talent around here, and it’s easier to recruit more experienced people.”
Now with 26 employees, ANP is a cross between a nanotechnology and a biotechnology company, with two proven, patented platforms: nanoencapsulation and nanomanipulation. The former is of interest to pharmaceutical companies because it promises improved drug delivery within the body. The latter has yielded several military-related federal contracts.
Yin describes nanomanipulation as “a detection-based technology,” which would arm American military personnel with a device to sense contamination. About the size of two cell phones, the instrument would detect biological warfare agents and other contaminants in air and water. A wireless network would feed results from many points in the field back to a central command and control location.
DuPont, too, is working at the nano scale to aid the U.S. military. In fact, the company is a founding member of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a research consortium that also includes the U.S. Army Research Service and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Uma Chowdhry, DuPont vice president of central research and development, says, “There is a lot of burden on our soldiers, and we are continually working to try to make their garments lighter and stronger and the load that they carry a lot lighter.” The results may be a suit that dissipates the energy of a bullet, thus preventing serious impact to the soldier, or nanomaterials that weigh much less and are much stronger than conventional composites used to build, for example, a battering ram.
Chowdhry says nanotechnology is “a natural extension of what we do at DuPont.” It’s apparent that scientific discovery just comes naturally in New Castle County.
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Antony Boshier
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