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February 8th, 2010
Gold nanoparticles and theranostics
Theranostics is a term which many of you may not be familiar with, but it describes much sought after combinations of diagnostic and therapeutic processes. Traditionally, diagnostics and therapeutics are quite separate – if you are feeling unwell, you will visit your GP who will diagnose your illness (with a blood test, for example) and then prescribe the relevant treatment. Combining these two activities offers considerable benefits – speed of treatment, improved patient management/compliance and cost. Examples of theranostics currently on the market include Genentech’s Herceptin and Novartis’ Gleevec.
With this in mind I was fascinated to read this paper, recently published in the journal Nanotechnology. The team, working in the US and Europe, report the development of so-called ‘plasmonic nanobubbles’ (PNBs). These PNBs are effectively tunable and transient probes based around gold nanoparticles. The authors describe how such nanobubbles may potentially be used in 1) non-invasive imaging , 2) controlled-release, intra-cellular delivery and 3) selective and guided cell and tissue damage – true ‘theranostic’ potential!
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February 5th, 2010
Oxidized gold thin films
This is an area of research I wasn’t previously familiar with…oxidised thin films. They are claimed to have been shown to function as a direct drop-in replacement for the normal indium tin oxide anode in high-performance flexible organic light-emitting diodes fabricated on plastic substrates (as shown). The authors of this research claim the thin films offer a new materials technology for roll-to-roll processing of next-generation flexible organic optoelectronics. Which could be used in applications such as solid-state lighting. Promising stuff…. -
February 3rd, 2010
Copper wire bonding – do the cost savings add up?
I’ve just received a copy of the new edition of George G. Harman’s book (or ‘bible’) Wire Bonding in Microelectronics. George is widely considered to be the world’s foremost authority on wire bonding. I’d like to quote a passage from the book which is relevant to the ‘gold versus copper’ bonding wire debate (which I blogged on last week).” There is no question copper is a cheaper material but also one that brings new challenges to the bonding engineer. It may be a cost effective process in the eyes of a product manager but when the extra care and attention is required , it is weighed against the existing gold process and then we should ask ourselves, are the net savings worthwhile?”
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February 1st, 2010
Heart of gold?
The University of South Carolina has just released a fascinating press release detailing three of their researchers work investigating how injections of nano-sized rods of gold might improve the function of faulty heart valves while eliminating the need for corrective surgery. The work, which has been supported by a two-year exploratory grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, focuses on on the structural protein collagen. The amount of collagen within heart valves alters their mechnical properties – for example too much collagen leads to the valves becoming stiff and not functioning correctly. The team believe that the gold nanoparticles can alter the mechanical properties of the collagen in beneficial ways, and we will watch the outcome of their work with interest.
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January 29th, 2010
Concerns over shift from gold to copper bonding wire
There has been a lot of media coverage (see here and here for examples) of this week’s announcement of the results of a survey, conducted by SEMI, the global semiconductor industry association, which shows the semiconductor industry has serious reservations about the reliability and yield of copper bonding wire.
This global survey does show that an increasing number of companies are considering using copper for some new products – but the results of this survey show that there are still serious reservations in the industry over the use of copper wire in packaging technology. It is clear that gold has proven reliability and a track record – industry professionals still recognise this. We plan to undertake further research to discover the extent of the difference in reliability of gold versus copper over the coming months……
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January 27th, 2010
Nanopartz expansion
Nanopartz, the US-based company who specialise in the production and supply of gold nanoparticles, are planning on expanding their operations and staff headcount significantly over the next 5 years having recently moved into new purpose-built facilities in Loveland, CO. I was fortunate enough to have a tour of the new labs at the end of last year, and was impressed by the facilities which incorporate both new R&D labs and a large production area.
We’ve blogged before about some of the great products Nanopartz have developed – take a look at their catalogue for a full list.
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January 25th, 2010
Science reports on green gold catalysis
The leading journal science has just published an article (and accompanying perspective) on the ever-increasing potential of gold in ‘green chemistry’. The article, a collaborative piece from teams in Germany and the USA, details the development of a new catalyst with a stable structure that is active without any support. This material has been shown to catalyse the selective oxidative coupling of methanol to methyl formate with high selectivity under extremely mild conditions.
The ‘perspective’ letter, written by well known Danish researchers in the field, highlights the real potential in this breakthrough. They discuss the importance of identifying efficient catalysts in the industrially vital field of oxidation reactions, and how gold may prove itself applicable to large scale processes in the future. This is definitely worth taking a look at if you’re working in the field.
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January 22nd, 2010
Fault current limiters using gold-alloy coatings
Some months ago I blogged on the use of superconductors for fault current limiters devices. These require the use of a metallic shunt top layer to give a degree of thermal and electrical protection should a fault in the superconducting tape develop. This metallic layer is typically 50-100nm thick and must be resistant to oxidation at the high temperatures which can arise during both processing steps and in service during current overload situation. It must also serve as a barrier to prevent ingress of moisture into the YBCO superconductor. This story (although from last year – I’ve only just been told about here in Japan) shows the use of silver-gold alloy layers in a practical example of this technology.
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January 20th, 2010
Self-assembling electronic devices
A fascinating, and potentially very important, paper has just been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the prestigious US journal. The article details a simple and cheap way to create self-assembling electronic devices utilising the interfaces naturally created between silicone oil, water and a substrate. By manipulating these hydrophobic/hydrophilic interfaces (and the materials they come into contact with) the team have been able build a series of devices, culminating in a flexible monocrystalline silicon solar cell.This is a really exciting step forward, and we congratulate the authors on the paper. The real promise is in the technology’s applicability across a wide range of materials, ranging from metal to plastic.
The paper has received considerable media coverage, including an article on the BBC website.
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January 18th, 2010
Gold nanoparticle review
A really nice review articlehas appeared in the surface science journal Langmuir which charts recent developments in the synthesis, electrochemistry, and optical properties of gold nanoparticles. This paper has already appeared in the journal’s most read article list for the past 12 months, testament to its popularity. Indeed, of the 20 papers listed 7 are gold-based making Langmuir a great source of information on gold nanoparticles.
Trevor Keel
Richard Holliday
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