Jan 11 2008
First Nano, a division of CVD Equipment Corporation , announced today the shipment of an ET3000-BN Chemical Vapor Deposition System to the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The ET3000-BN system was configured specifically for Boron Nitride Nanotubes (BNNT's) and is, to the best of our knowledge, the first commercial system offered for this type of material growth.
CFN is one of five nanoscale science research centers established by the US DOE Office of Basic Energy Science to provide state-of-the-art capabilities for the fabrication and study of nano-scale materials. The CFN features strong in-house scientific programs while offering broad access to its capabilities and collaboration through an active user program. This increases the exposure of First Nano deposition equipment to a broad range of users from University, Government and Industrial Research Laboratories, here in the US, and abroad.
BNNT's have attracted more attention from researchers in recent years because of their unique electronic properties, high thermal conductivity, chemical resistance and high strength to weight mechanical properties. It has been proposed that BNNT will have wide applications in nano-electronic devices, thermal transfer and high strength composite materials.
To date, BNNT's have been made in only a few research laboratories by plasma-arc, laser ablation or chemical vapor deposition. It remains a challenge to control the diameter, length, uniformity and purity of the synthesized BNNT's because of their critical growth conditions. First Nano's EasyTube ET3000-BN system provides this precise control of pressure, chemical delivery and temperature in excess of 1500 Celsius for BNNT's synthesis using a liquid Boron source, Diborane and Ammonia. This system further expands our First Nano equipment product line designed for "enabling tomorrow's technology(TM)," today.