news digest ♦ Equipment and Materials
5N Plus and Rio Tinto unite to recover gallium
In light of anticipated strong growth in the demand for gallium, the new source will enable the companies to strengthen their supply chains.
5N Plus, a producer of metal and chemical products used in compound semiconductor manufacturing, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Rio Tinto Alcan, a provider ofaluminium.
This MOU will allow 5N Plus and Rio Tinto to pursue discussions regarding a project to recover gallium from an alumina production stream at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Vaudreuil alumina facility, Quebec.
Jacques L’Écuyer, President and Chief Executive Officer of 5N Plus said, “We are very pleased with the scope of our discussions with Rio Tinto, and have good reason to believe that we will shortly be in a position to develop a new primary source of gallium. In light of anticipated strong growth in the demand for gallium, this new source will enable us to both strengthen our supply chain and forge a strategic partnership with Rio Tinto.”
5N Plus deploys a range of proprietary technologies to produce products which are used in a number of advanced pharmaceutical, electronic and industrial applications. Typical products include purified metals such as bismuth, gallium, germanium, indium, selenium and tellurium, inorganic chemicals based on such metals and compound semiconductor wafers. Many of these are critical precursors and key enablers in markets such as solar, LEDs and eco friendly materials.
Portable Raman instrument for material verification in cGMP
The compact spectrometer can support a broad range of applications in multiple industries including compound semiconductors.
B&W Tek, an advanced instrumentation company producing optical spectroscopy and laser systems, is introducing the NanoRam, a new class of small,
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net November/December 2011
handheld instruments for materials identification and verification within cGMP compliant facilities.
The NanoRam is a state-of-the-art compact Raman spectrometer and integrated computing system, based on an open systems architecture design that can support a broad range of applications in multiple industries. Designed for use by non- specialists, the NanoRam is easy to use and operates single-handedly.
The NanoRam allows rapid development of standardised and validated methods to facilitate 100% inspection for purity and quality.
The advantages of portable Raman spectroscopy are ease of sampling, on the spot analysis with no need for quarantine areas, highly selective peaks for both qualitative and quantitative analysis, and the ability to analyse both organic and inorganic compounds over a wide spectral range.
B&W Tek says the NanoRam reduces production costs and escalates productivity, all at the same time and that new spectra can be easily generated and added to existing libraries. Raman spectral libraries that have been created on other instruments can be transferred to the NanoRam platform using a library conversion utility.
The NanoRam is equipped with B&W Tek’s patented CleanLaze technology for exceptional laser stabilisation and narrow linewidth. Other features include a spectral resolution below 10 cm- 1, wide Raman shift coverage up to 3200cm-1, and a TE cooled 2048 pixel CCD array.
Weighing less than 1.1 kg, the instrument’s small, compact package, large OLED display, and low power consumption provides high quality Raman measurements and ease of use anywhere. The unit comes with a range of sampling accessories for gels, liquids, powders and solids.
“The NanoRam represents a new generation of small handheld tools for material identification and verification,” says Mike Kayat, VP of Sales & Marketing for B&W Tek. “Rapid validation and deployment within cGMP facilities is made possible by the combination of near-laboratory grade Raman spectral analysis with a high performance PC- based environment that can communicate with ERP systems, together with validated methods and
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