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Performance
of 50 Completed ATP Projects
Status
Report - Number 2
NIST SP 950-2
Chapter
2 - Advanced Materials and Chemicals
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Geltech
Incorporated
Making Low-Cost, High Quality Glass Microlenses at
Low Temperature
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| Tiny
lenses and other micro-optical components appear in many industrial
products such as sensors, laser systems, detector arrays, and fiberoptic
data links. Tens of millions of these components are produced every
year. Many are made of plastic, are of low quality, and cost little.
Others made of silica glass are higher quality, but they cost much
more than plastic lenses. |
COMPOSITE
PERFORMANCE SCORE
(Based on a four star rating.)
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Technology for Making
Small, Complex Silica Micro-Optics
This ATP project with
Geltech, a small Florida company, developed a novel method for producing
low-cost, high-quality silica-glass microlenses based on “sol-gel”
technology pioneered by the company. Geltech was founded in 1985 to commercialize
micro-optics technology (dealing with light wavelengths in the range of
nanometers to hundreds of microns) discovered at the University of Florida,
and it holds exclusive licenses for patents assigned to the university.
Casting Silica at
Room Temperature
Silica cannot be used with traditional molding techniques because of its
very high melting temperature. In addition, conventional grinding and
polishing processes limit how small and complex the silica micro-optics
can be. Geltech overcame these problems by developing methods to cast
net-shape (no grinding necessary) silica-glass micro-optics at room temperature
using sol-gel technology.
In the sol-gel process,
silicon alkoxides are formed into larger molecules (polymerized) and combined
with a liquid in a suspension, or sol, that is cast in a mold at room
temperature to make a rigid, wet gel. The gel, in turn, is dried, strengthened
and densified at high temperature into a pure, highly homogeneous, silica-glass
structure. The ATP project demonstrated that fully dense silica glass
— hard, transparent, nonporous glass with a density of two grams
per cubic centimeter — can be produced by this process with a quality
similar to that of the best fused silica glass.
Signs of Initial Technical
Success
Near the end of the ATP project, five of the company’s prototype
refractive lens devices were tested by a customer and found to perform
satisfactorily. In addition, the Army recently gave Geltech a Small Business
Technology Transfer Research Phase II award for research using technology
partly developed with the ATP funding. Under the contract the company
will build prototype windows molded in silica using the sol-gel process.
The windows are designed to protect military personnel from intense laser
pulses.
Secondary Products
Although the ATP-project demonstrated that high-quality, silica-glass
micro-optics can be produced by the sol-gel process at low temperature,
the technology could not produce refractive microlenses at a cost low
enough to penetrate this market. Therefore, the company has been as yet
unable to commercialize microlenses produced by the new process.
The company, however,
succeeded in using the new technology to produce diffraction gratings,
its second major product, with acceptably high surface quality and at
reasonable cost. A diffraction grating is a band of equidistant parallel
lines (usually more than 5,000 per inch) ruled on a glass or polished
metal surface and used to break a beam of light into components of different
wave lengths. The company has just begun to offer parts to customers for
use in conjunction with lasers in optical systems. It is too early to
tell whether commercialization of its diffraction gratings will succeed.
Acceptance of this product in the marketplace has taken longer than anticipated.
Geltech also used
some of the ATP-funded technology — materials processing and mold
fabrication methods — to develop a porous-glass product, which has
been introduced to the market as a component of a home sensor for toxic
gases. The details of this application are still confidential. The company
is also using some of the technology to develop plastic micro-optics,
which are lighter and less expensive than glass micro-optics, with hopes
for commercialization in consumer products in the near future.
Geltech officials
say the ATP funding helped the company form alliances with research partners
and enabled it to conduct research it would otherwise have been unable
to do. The funding was also critical in helping Geltech survive as a company.
Geltech more than doubled its revenues over the ATP grant period, and
the new technology played a significant role in boosting the company’s
revenues from less than a quarter million dollars in 1992 to about $5
million three years later.
Potential Broad Applications
If the unit-cost of diffraction gratings continues to drop and Geltech
succeeds in selling large volumes of them, producers and users of systems
that contain optical components will benefit from components that are
smaller, lighter and less expensive than their refractive (light-bending)
counterparts. In addition, diffractive parts may perform functions not
possible with refractive parts. Geltech’s sales are small at this
point, and specific applications are still in the testing stage, but the
potential broad applications and benefits are there.
The new gelcasting
process technology can be used in manufacturing microlenses, microlens
arrays, beam splitters and other micro-optics, and the company anticipates
moving into these markets when it is economically feasible to do so. The
technology has already been applied to refractive lenses, diffraction
gratings, and porous glass optics. It might also be used for producing
ceramic packages (casings for chips in computers and communications equipment)
in electronics manufacturing and for applications in the global surveillance
and communications fields.
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Project
Highlights
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PROJECT:
To develop a method of casting net-shape (no grinding necessary)
pure silica glass micro-optics at room temperature.
Duration: 4/5/1993 — 7/4/1995
ATP Number: 92-01-0074
FUNDING (in
thousands):
| ATP |
$1,323
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48%
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| Company |
1,456
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52%
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| Total |
$2,779
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Geltech demonstrated that high quality, silica glass micro-optics
can be produced by a manufacturing process that includes a room-temperature,
net-shape casting method. Also, in activities related to the ATP
project, the company:
- had five
prototype refractive lens devices tested by a customer and
found to perform satisfactorily;
- used the
technology to develop diffraction gratings, for use in conjunction
with lasers in optical systems, with market introduction just
beginning;
- used some
of the ATP-funded technology (materials processing and mold fabrication
methods) to develop a porous-glass product, which has been introduced
to the market;
- used the
procedures for making optical-quality molds, developed in the
ATP project, as initial steps toward commercialization of plastic
micro-optics;
- increased
revenues from less than a quarter million dollars in 1992 to
$5 million in 1995, with the new technology playing a significant
role
in the company’s revenue growth; and
- recently
received a Small Business Technology Transfer Research
Phase II award from the Army for research using technology developed
in the ATP project.
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COMMERCIALIZATION
STATUS:
Commercialization of refractive microlenses, one of the major products
envisioned in the ATP project, has not occurred because the technology
did not produce microlenses with a high enough surface quality to
penetrate this market. Geltech began using the ATP-funded technology
in 1994 to produce a porous-glass product for a home sensor application,
with production reaching a peak of about 500,000 parts per week
at the end of 1995 and sales achieving significant levels. Although
today the sales of products derived from the ATP technology are
relatively small, sales of diffraction gratings — the second
major micro-optics product envisioned in the project — have
just begun.
OUTLOOK:
Despite the successful commercialization of other products using
the ATP technology, it is too early to tell when refractive microlenses
will enter the commercial marketplace or whether commercialization
of diffraction gratings will succeed. However, if the cost per piece
of diffractive gratings continues to drop and Geltech succeeds in
selling large volumes of them, producers and users of systems that
contain optical components such as printers will benefit from parts
that are smaller than their refractive counterparts or that perform
functions not possible with refractive parts. Users of one device
already on the market, a home sensor product for detecting toxic
gases (details are still confidential), are already benefitting
from the technology.
Composite
Performance Score:
COMPANY:
Geltech Incorporated
3267 Progress Drive
Orlando, FL 32826
Contact:
Jean-Luc Nogues
Phone: (407) 382-4003 ext. 302
Number of employees: 7 at project start, 65 at the end of
1997
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of Contents or go to next section.
Date created: April
2002
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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