Quantum Dot Facility Opens in Upstate NY

WATERVLIET, N.Y., March 27 -- Evident Technologies Inc., a nanotechnology materials manufacturer and applications company, announced production has begun in its new nanotechnology manufacturing facility in Watervliet, N.Y., near Troy. This facility is capable of producing semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, in kilogram quantities every week. By making very large quantities of these materials readily available, Evident Technologies said it is enabling a completely new set of innovative nanotechnology applications to be brought to market.

EviDots are perfect crystals between three and ten nanometers in size. At that size, the EviDots are in a realm between atoms and bulk solid materials. These nanoparticles are high-precision nanoscale semiconductors that can be engineered to meet needs for new fluorescent or photonic materials in biotechnology, optical transistors and switches, optical computing, photovoltaics, light emitting diodes (LED), lasers or any number of nano applications.

Unique to quantum dots is the ability to engineer the semiconductor optoelectronic properties by changing the size and composition of the nanomaterials. Evident can tune the bandgap, photoluminescent and electroluminescent properties of these quantum dot nano products.

The manufacturing facility can produce enough quantum dot materials to meet the foreseeable needs of companies producing products using quantum dots. Thus nanotechnology can move out of the lab as a curiosity, and into products in the market, the company said.

In February, Evident, which has been in business for about two years, received a second round of funding from the Small Business Technology Investment Fund of the Empire State Development in New York. It received $500,000 and a $400,000 equity investment in May, plus a commitment of of $500,000 a year for the next two years, in return for staying in New York State and increasing its staff to 200 in two years. The new funds are a training grant.

"Semiconductor nanocrystals are a key nanotechnology material with a very wide variety of applications," said Frank Wise, a professor of applied and engineering physics at Cornell University. "To date, these materials have been mainly created in laboratory environments. Commercializing these materials will greatly enhance the ability of researchers to focus on applications."

For more information, visit: www.evidenttech.com