NanoInk, Inc., an emerging growth technology company specializing in nanometer-scale manufacturing and applications development for the life science, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor industries, has been awarded three additional patents pertaining to its core patented Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) patterning technology for nanoscale manufacturing.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the company a patent for "Processes for Fabricating Conductive Patterns Using Nanolithography as a Patterning Tool.
The patented technology is especially useful in the fabrication of micro- and nano-electronics and concerns a lithographic method using coated Atomic Force Microscope tips to deposit metallic precursors which are converted to metallic nanostructures with heat.
The company has been awarded two other patents related to its process.
"This latest trio of patents represents a powerful blend of ink, instrumentation, and software technology, all important aspects in the commercialization of the DPN process," said Dr. Cedric Loiret-Bernal, NanoInk's CEO.
The DPN process was first developed by Professor Chad Mirkin at the Northwestern University Nanotechnology Institute. It is a patented process used to build nanometer scale structures and patterns by literally drawing materials directly onto a surface. DPN users can build at resolutions ranging from many micrometers down to 15 nanometers, using virtually any material. This combination of ultrahigh resolution and material flexibility makes for numerous commercial applications.