Archive for January, 2010
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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.
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January 13th, 2010
Seeing through gold
Chemical and Engineering News is reporting that thin layers of evaporated gold are being used to help study the layer-dependent surface property of graphene. Advances in graphene technology have been hampered by the small number of microscopy and spectroscopy techniques capable of “seeing” graphene and distinguishing between samples of various thicknesses. The research from the National Center for Nanoscience & Technology, in Beijing has been published in JACS.
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January 11th, 2010
Patenting nanotechnologies
I’m a big fan of the nano patents and innovations blog, and they have kicked off the year with an eye-opening post regarding the sheer volume of patent activity in the field of nanotechnology. In the first week of 2010, approximately 102 nano-related patents were identified, many filed by some of the world’s leading names including Sony, Samsung, Roche and Pfizer.
The blog author determined that the majority of these patents are devoted to nanomaterials and nanofabrication processes for the semiconductor industry. However, biomedical applications were also well represented. Gold is a prominent material in both of these areas, more details of which can be found on our scientific website
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January 8th, 2010
Fancy a chat?
Many of you will know that as part of itspromotional activities the World Gold Council helps to matchmake and link those with new gold-based technologies with potential end users and manufacturers. Our knowledge of the world of gold science and technology means that if you have a question, or would like assistance in this area, we can offer help, relevant advice and technical or business contacts. As part of our activities we exhibit promising technologies at international trade shows and exhibitions. If you want to meet us in person, these are the events we’ll definitely be at in 2010.
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January 6th, 2010
Nature Nanotechnology feature article
Nature Nanotechnology, the leading journal which covers all aspects of nanotech-based research, has just published an excellent article on the ever-growing field of gold-based catalysis. The piece, entitled ‘A Golden Opportunity’, is particularly interesting as it focuses on the drive to commercialise gold-based catalysts, and features commentary and opinion from a number of eminent academic and industrial scientists including Chris Hardacre of Queens University Belfast, Graham Hutchings of Cardiff University, Jason McPherson of Mintek and David Barton of Dow Chemical Company amongst others.Here at the World Gold Council we are particularly excited to see the publication of this article in such an eminent journal. The tone of the piece certainly fits in with our aim of aiding the acceleration of gold-based technologies to market by providing marketing expertise and offering various funding strategies. For more information on our funding programmes, see here.
Richard Holliday
Trevor Keel
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