MIPS Project Detail:
Company
Company Description:
Pixelligent is an advanced materials company that delivers next-generation optical materials for demanding applications in solid-state lighting, flat panel displays, and optical components.
Pixelligent leverages its proprietary nanocrystal dispersion and manufacturing technology to create innovative materials that significantly improve existing products. The company’s Zirconia nanocrystals are used to improve the optical, electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties of numerous commonly used polymers including acrylics, silicones, siloxanes and epoxies.
In LED and OLED lighting applications, Pixelligent’s materials significantly increase light output by increasing the refractive index of materials in the device. In display and optical components applications, the company’s products can increase transparency, decrease haze, and increase scratch resistance.
MIPS Project
Nanocrystals for 193nm Lithography
Project #
3601
|
MIPS Round
36
|
Starting Date:
Aug 2005
MIPS Project Challenge:
The goal of this MIPS project was to increase the resolution in Pixelligent’s photolithography, the way computer chips are made. The challenge was to write more circuit features on a chip of the same size. The limitation was based on the wavelength of light used to make the chips. UMD researchers worked with Pixelligent to develop a new material, a reversible contrast enhancement layer (R-CEL), where a chemical layer is used to focus the light and improve the resolution.
Project Scope:
UMD researchers started out working with organic dyes for the chemical layer, then switched to nanoparticles. UMD support helped Pixelligent as it transitioned this technology to other applications in semiconductor manufacturing and the electronics industry.
Results:
In 2011, Pixelligent moved to its new 13,000 square-foot, state-of-theart pilot manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland. The company has increased its workforce by nearly 150 percent. This growth is attributed to the increased demand for its proprietary Zirconia and Hafnia nanocrystal additives and the progress Pixelligent has made in scaling-up its manufacturing capacity. The company is now producing and shipping its nanocrystal additives to customers around the world.
In June, 2017, Pixelligent Technologies was named 2017 Manufacturer of the Year by Frost & Sullivan. Over the past five years, Pixelligent has invested over $20 million in designing and building its advanced product development and manufacturing platform, the PixClearProcess™. This proprietary platform has enabled Pixelligent to scale from a manufacturing capacity of grams-per-year, to one of the most sophisticated and highly capital efficient manufacturing lines in the world, capable of mass production volumes in the tons.
To date, Pixelligent has raised over $26 million in equity funding and has been awarded more than $12 million in U.S. government grants.
Principal Investigator:
Daniel
Falvey
Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project Manager:
Gregory
Cooper
President
Technologies:
Materials Science
Optics
Nanotechnology
