Aixtron Buys Nanoinstruments

Aixtron AG announced yesterday it will buy University of Cambridge spinoff Nanoinstruments Ltd., a manufacturer of equipment for the controlled growth of carbon nanotubes. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Aachen-based Aixtron, a provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, said the acquisition will expand its presence in the nanotechnology sector. Carbon nanotubes show promise in a range of future optical and electronic devices and applications and are currently being investigated for use in flat-panel displays, heat sinks, integrated circuits and sensors, or as electron guns, the company said.

Nanoinstruments, which was founded in 2005 by Ken Teo and Nalin Rupesinghe, makes chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma-enhanced CVD research systems for carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials for emerging applications in electronics. Its machines grow both single- and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for use in research and industry. Nanoinstruments is based in England, with its headquarters in Cambridge and its manufacturing facility in Meldreth, near Cambridge.

The company will become the Aixtron Nanoinstruments technology unit and will focus on research and development and industrial-scale CNT equipment, Aixtron said. The founders and other key members of its management team will remain in place.

"We have been very impressed with what the Nanoinstruments team has achieved in the short time they have been operating. They have already supplied systems to key research and industrial institutions around the world which are using their equipment to push CNT technology into novel electronic applications," said Paul Hyland, president and CEO of Aixtron.

"We are convinced that Aixtron is the right partner to take our technology to the next level," Teo said. "Our existing and future customers will strongly benefit from the acquisition not only in terms of increased R&D capabilities, but also from Aixtron's production capabilities and its worldwide sales, service and support network. We will be able to operate more closely with our customers through Aixtron's subsidiaries in Europe, USA, Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan."

For more information, visit: www.aixtron.com