News Article
Nitronex Receives Contract for UV Detector Development
Raleigh, NC. Nitronex Corporation announced today that it received a contract from the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program for the development of Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) based photodetectors and focal plane array cameras which operate specifically in the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum.
For this technology transfer program, Nitronex is teamed with the NC State University Solid State Physics Laboratory, which is directed by Professor J.F. Schetzina. This STTR project is administered through the Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory in Bedford, Mass., and is planned for six months in the initial evaluation phase.
Professor Schetzina and his colleagues at NC State recently demonstrated the world s first UV specific camera based on AlGaN in a 32x32-pixel focal plane array. Those peer-reviewed findings were published by the Materials Research Society Internet Journal of Nitride Semiconductor Research, at http://nsr.mij.mrs.org/4/9/.
The researchers camera detects light in the 300-365nm wavelength range, which is not visible to the human eye, and as a result is termed visible blind. The images created with such a camera have many potential uses in military and industrial applications where ultraviolet light is present. Examples include the tracking and monitoring of missiles, the control of automated arc-welding systems and the monitoring of ozone depletion in the atmosphere.
The specific goals of the STTR contract to the Nitronex and NCSU team are to develop these detectors to larger array sizes thereby providing better image resolution; to investigate extending the ultraviolet sensing to even shorter wavelengths of 280 nm (a wavelength region called solar blind ); and to transfer this technology to Nitronex for commercial manufacturing.
"It is a tremendous honor and opportunity for our company to team with the NC State Solid State Physics Laboratory and to participate in the commercial development of this exciting new technology," said Mark Johnson, the president of Nitronex. "Many new applications are possible only through the use of UV imaging. The BMDO selection of this program validates the need for these products and with the STTR funding we are optimistic that we can pioneer the commercial development of this technology."
Nitronex is a venture-capital-backed, development-stage company focused on opportunities in the emerging field of III-nitride based semiconductor materials and devices. In particular, Nitronex is developing AlGaN based products for UV opto-electronics as well as low-defect-density GaN using the PENDEO process.
Nitronex is commercializing technologies originally developed in several laboratories at NC State, which have pioneered the field of III-nitride semiconductors. In addition, Nitronex has had support from the NC State s Centennial Campus and Office of Technology Transfer and Industry Research as well as the North Carolina Technology Development Authority. The Nitronex offices are initially located in the business incubator, the Entrepreneurial Development Center @ NC State, on the university s 1000-acre research campus. For more information on Nitronex or III-nitride semiconductor technology, please contact the company at info@nitronex.com.
Contact: Mark Johnson, 919/807-9100
Mark Johnson, 919/807-9100
E-mail: info@nitronex.com
Web site: http://nsr.mij.mrs.org/4/9/
