Mission & Core Technology

Our Mission: develop and produce state of the art nanotechnology products and processes for near term biotechnology, pharmaceutical, chemical and microelectronic applications.

Business Focus

NanoHorizons has developed nano-scale materials and devices in three specific application areas:

Matrix-less laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry targets for drug development research. Our QuickMass targets enable high throughput screening of potential drug combinatorial chemistry products and general small molecule identification. The utility of these targets has been proven with several mass-spectrometry and pharmaceutical companies. NanoHorizons has built a production facility and is exploring other applications for QuickMass such as drug metabolite screening and proteomics.
A breakthrough separation and transfer technology that provides enhanced cost effective production methods for mechanically flexible displays, integrated circuits and sensors. Our PostFlex Process allows high performance microelectronic device (e.g. CMOS logic) to be fabricated on silicon wafers, and then transferred to a flexible substrate (e.g. plastic).
Sensitive, application specific gas sensors based on proprietary inorganic thin film column void networks

Applications include:

Medical: e.g. breath monitor for intensive care and premature infant care
Industrial: on-line monitors for semiconductor and process gases
Environmental: specific gas sensors
Homeland Security: chemical threat detectors

Research and Background

The past decade has produced significant research activity world-wide in thin film-based nano-structures and devices. Pennsylvania State University Professor, Dr. Stephen J. Fonash, has been very active in this area and has developed manufacturable approaches to producing these materials and structures. One of these approaches is a unique high-density plasma technique that develops nano-structured semiconductor thin films at temperatures as low as 100 degrees C. Such materials have been shown to emit visible light at room temperature, to have excellent gas a vapor sensitivity, to be highly bio-compatible, and to be easily used in micro-machining processes. An extensive portfolio of invention disclosures and patents was licensed to NanoHorizons by the Penn State Research Foundation in March 2002.