Nanogen Inc has been issued U.S. Patent No. 6,569,382, "Methods and Apparatus for the Electronic, Homogeneous Assembly and Fabrication of Devices," by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This patent relates to electronic fabrication of micro and nanoscale devices and is the first to issue in a series of applications filed to broaden Nanogen's core proprietary technology. Nanogen has had five patents issued year-to-date, bringing the Company's total number of issued patents to 52 in the United States.
The new patent relates to methods to integrate micro and nanoscale components, such as light emitting diodes (LED) for displays, highly integrated biosensors and micromechanical devices, into higher order structures and devices. Using electroosmotic forces, component devices can be moved through a fluidic medium to a desired target location on a substrate or motherboard through electronic self-assembly fabrication. The heterogeneous assembly of microelectronic, microoptical and micromechanical components on an integrated silicon circuit illustrates the usefulness of these nanofabrication methods that go beyond lab-on-a-chip applications. These nanofabrication techniques could lead to faster, lower cost and more complex higher order devices and structures.
"One of the challenges to producing miniaturized products using nanoscale components will be the integration of these devices with existing microelectronic components. The electronic 'pick and place' fabrication processes described in the patent facilitate the bringing together of micro and nanoscale components thereby helping solve scaling issues. By combining the best aspects of top-down and bottom-up fabrication through Nanogen's proprietary electronic self assembly technology, nanoscale materials and components can be combined to form higher order devices," said Dr. Michael J. Heller, co-founder of Nanogen, one of the inventors, and currently a Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.
"We believe the technology described by Nanogen's new patent could provide a key technological advantage for nanofabrication across many diverse applications of nanotechnology," said Howard Birndorf, Nanogen chairman and CEO. "The issuance of this patent is a product of our continuing efforts to increase and broaden our intellectual property portfolio."