Making nanotech big in state

Arizona entrepreneurs exploring the submicroscopic world have formed an organization that they hope will turn into something big.

Called the Arizona Nanotechnology Cluster, the consortium consists of members from about 150 organizations, most of them small startup businesses, who gather monthly to network and hear industry experts speak on the latest developments.

The purpose is to encourage technical collaboration and promote the growth of the nanotech industry in the Valley and state, said Rajendran Nair, co-chairman of the Phoenix chapter of the group and chief executive of ComLSI, a Mesa-based designer of microchips used in nanotech processes.

"We are building an infrastructure, a bottom-up approach with small companies, not with huge amounts of money from the government or large corporations," he said. "We are bringing small companies together to collaborate and create programs that survive."

The next seminar sponsored by the cluster will feature Otto Sankey, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Arizona State University, who will speak on molecular electronics, materials and nanomedicine at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the ASU Brickyard, 699 S. Mill Ave., Tempe.

The meeting is open to anyone with an interest in nanotechnology.

One of the hottest buzzwords in science, nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of structures on the molecular and atomic levels — a scale too small for most people to easily comprehend. Working at such small levels can change the properties of materials, making them stronger, better conductors of heat or otherwise more useful.

Semiconductor companies are working on the nanoscale level as they continue to reduce the size of integrated circuits. Medical researchers also are working at nanosizes to develop drug delivery methods, therapeutics and pharmaceuticals. Nanotechnology also is a factor in alternative energy research.

In the Valley, the industry is small despite the presence of major semiconductor producers such as Intel and Freescale Semiconductor, formerly Motorola.

One of the reasons is that many nanotechnologies are still in the research and development phase and are only starting to reach the commercialization stage, Nair said.

The Valley’s nanotech sector also suffered a setback when Motorola Labs in Tempe phased out most of its research operations, said Matt Kim, treasurer of the cluster and a former Motorola Labs scientist who has set up his own nanotech company called QuantTera in Scottsdale.

"We had world-class scientists working on nanotech problems, but with the demise of Motorola, much of the technology developed here is leaving the Phoenix area," he said.

But he added "there are still enough people around to make some sort of interesting research and development structure. ASU still does good work in nanotechnology."

Nair is seeking funding to form a nanotechnology incubator in the Valley along the lines of the Technology Development and Research Institute at the University of Arizona’s Science and Technology Park in Tucson.

The institute provides equipment and facilities for small businesses that are getting started in the nanotech field.

Nair hopes to have such a center started in the Valley by the end of this year.

The cluster was formed about two years ago in Tucson, which has become a center for nanotech businesses formed as spinoffs from research at the UA, said co-founder Doug Goodman, the chief executive of Ridge Top Group, a Tucsonbased company that makes integrated circuits for space satellites.

The Valley chapter was formed last September, spearheaded by Nair and Kim.

Goodman thinks the longterm prospects for the industry are good in the Valley and Tucson.

"We have a tremendous resource base of scientists and professors, which could be transformed into business opportunities," he said.

More information on the cluster is available online at

www.aznano.org.