Jul 23 2009
For the second year in a row, Advanced Diamond Technologies (ADT), the world leader in developing and applying diamond film for industrial, electronic, and medical applications, wins the prestigious R+D 100 Award. ADT's latest award is for its NaDiaProbes® - the world's first commercially available all-diamond atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes. Receiving this mark of excellence deems NaDiaProbes as one of the "most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year," by R+D Magazine.
NaDiaProbes are not diamond-coated probes or pieces of diamond mounted on cantilevers; rather the entire cantilever and tip assembly is made of UNCD®, a thin-film form of nanocrystalline diamond. NaDiaProbes harness the unsurpassed properties of diamond, provide outstanding sharpness, dimensional stability, and wear resistance. They are suitable for general imaging applications, metrology, inspection, and manufacturing at the nanoscale.
NaDiaProbes have 30 times the price performance of industry standard silicon nitride probes because they are manufactured in a highly parallel process similar to the way semiconductors are made. As importantly, the wafer-scale capability utilized in the manufacturing of NaDiaProbes demonstrates the feasibility of using diamond for MEMS (micro-electrical-mechanical systems) and sensor devices. "Due to their durability, NaDiaProbes increase efficiency and reduce costs - both important attributes for research laboratories and companies, especially in this tight economy," said ADT's president Neil Kane.
"We've won R+D 100 Awards in both of the years that we've been shipping commercial products," said Dr. John Carlisle, ADT's chief technical officer. "This is a great testimony to the caliber of our team and it's an honor to be recognized as an innovative company for our path breaking products."
"The R+D 100 Awards honor the latest technology developments that are designed to meet societal, scientific, or business challenges facing us today - and tomorrow," said Rita Peters, R+D Magazine's editorial director. For more information about R+D Magazine, visit http://www.rdmag.com.
ADT gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation's SBIR/STTR program and contributions from co-awardees professors Robert Carpick of the University of Pennsylvania and Kevin Turner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ADT also acknowledges the State of Illinois' Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Homeland Security Market Development Bureau for a product development grant.