Nov 11 2008
NanoGram Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced products and solutions for optical, electronic and energy applications, announced today that it has extended its relationship with Tokyo Electron, Ltd. from strategic investor to technology and market development partner by entering into a joint development agreement.
The JDA will focus on developing advanced thin film deposition tools based on NanoGram's patented laser reactive deposition (LRD™) process for silicon. The platform will be targeted for the rapidly growing thin film photovoltaics market, which is expected to grow to 40 percent of the entire PV market by 2012 according to the Prometheus Institute.
NanoGram's LRD process has a distinct rate advantage with the capability to deposit amorphous and microcrystalline silicon significantly faster than conventional CVD processes. The development work is also expected to be complementary to NanoGram's breakthrough low-cost multicrystalline SilFoil™ PV module business.
"This extended relationship with TEL is very important and exciting for us because it validates TEL's initial investment in NanoGram and the potential of our technology," said NanoGram President and CEO Dr. Kieran Drain. "This expanded relationship will help NanoGram accelerate the development of this technology to capture the demand for higher rate silicon deposition tools."
"We are very happy with our investment in NanoGram and now this joint technology development even further establishes our relationship and creates new opportunities in key and target markets," said TEL Venture Capital President Mike Yamaguchi.
This announcement comes on the heels of NanoGram's receipt of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for its SilFoil multi-crystalline photovoltaic product. The company is planning five megawatts of capacity to be on line by end of 2009.