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nanotimes

Companies Facts

towards further integrating Luna’s shape sensing technology into Intuitive’s products.

In June 2007, Luna and Intuitive entered into a multi-year development and supply agreement under which Luna would supply and license to Intuitive its fiber optic based shape sensing system for integration into Intuitive’s medical robotics products. Intuitive is the global technology leader in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Luna has satisfied its de- velopment obligations under the existing agreement, which had previously been extended in January 2010 to cover 2010 development work. The new agree- ment will cover development work in 2011. http://www.lunainnovations.com

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erck KGaA will be presenting its broad range of products for display applications at this year’s

SID Display Week in Los Angeles from May 15 to 20, 2011. The Darmstadt-based company has chosen “The Perfect Pixel” as its motto, once again under- scoring its role as the innovation and global leader in the field of liquid crystals.

Merck markets liquid crystals, which are used in te- levisions, tablet PCs, monitors, etc., under the brand name licristal®

. They support not only TN (Twisted

Nematic), IPS (In-Plane Switching) and VA (Vertical Alignment), but also the latest PS-VA technology (Polymer Stabilized Vertical Alignment) and are the- refore one of the key factors behind the success of LC displays. The new PS-VA materials make faster switching times possible and significantly lower the power consumption of LCD televisions.

They are also part of Merck’s innovative licristal® portfolio and are based on a combination of liquid

crystals and specially designed reactive mesogens produced in a high-tech manufacturing process.

Merck offers a broad range of efficient lighting ma- terials (phosphors) for makers of LEDs (light-emitting diodes). Marketed under the isiphor®

brand name,

they support color-on-demand concepts ranging from warm to cold white light. However, the range of ap- plications for conventional ortho-silicate phosphors, often referred to as BOSE, was limited. To solve this problem, Merck is now applying its newly developed Tool Box Approach for the first time. Instead of focu- sing on only individual production parameters, this approach takes several aspects into account, for exa- mple the chemical composition as well as the quality and reactivity of the starting materials, the additives as well as further refinements of the phosphor mate- rial. The result of the Tool Box Approach is isiphor® stable BOSE, an ortho-silicate lighting material for all LED application areas that shows high stability and effectiveness even under extreme conditions. http://www.merck.de

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esoCoat, Inc. and The University of Akron (UA) announced a collaborative effort to develop

and accelerate commercialization of advanced inor- ganic coatings directed at reducing the nation’s $300 billion corrosion problem. Under this collaborative effort, financed through the recently awarded and highly competitive $2 million Ohio Third Frontier Award, The University of Akron’s Corrosion and Re- liability Engineering (CAREs) program and MesoCoat will perform development, testing and risk reduction of advanced inorganic coatings (including ceramer, metallic, and ceramic nanocomposite coatings) in a new joint-use facility to be built at the University. MesoCoat will provide development engineers and

11-04 :: April/May 2011