As I understand it, filters are porous materials.
Of course, if FC-CVD can grow CNTs on a non-porous membrane, then it might circumvent that particular patent. NOTE: I am not aware of Canatu’s other patents that might prevent this from being done. Someone else more knowledgeable can confirm/deny.
I’m trying to spell out what’s happening,
carbon nanotubes are dropping, I let them settle, for example, onto paper towels, into acetone, or into a polymer solution, what then? another step is needed
how does this work?
You need to research the publicly available materials. However, things may not become clear with the clarity you desire. Probably very few people are interested in the functioning of technology at a very deep level. At most, some agent hired by a competitor, who tries to find out details through social engineering on various forums.
“You need to examine the publicly available materials. However, things may not become clear to you with the clarity you desire.”
the strongest and best protection is patent protection, which is public and should not remain obscure to a professional in the field
and as Canatu has said, they have a strong IPR strategy, of course they said other things too, there are trade secrets
Quite often, patent applications use such generic wordings that they leave room for ambiguity, meaning that while expanding the scope of protection, they also make direct copying more challenging, as a professional in the field has to figure out the details by experimenting.
Apparently, a carbon nanotube network is deposited onto porous cellulose, and then the carbon nanotube network is removed from the porous cellulose, and then a second coating is applied to the removed network.
How does this differ from a very simple method, for example, where there is a Petri dish containing acetone, and thus the carbon nanotube network settles there, and the acetone evaporates, and a film forms?
Here’s a suitable summer job that would clarify how the process works:
https://canatuoy.teamtailor.com/jobs/5577238-r-d-operator-summer-trainee
“Probably very few people are interested in how technology works at a very deep level.”
that’s true, but apparently almost every tech listing and its subsequent life has been dependent on technology, even with incredibly great PPTs and committed teams
Canatu has huge opportunities,
the best/most affordable carbon nanotubes will win the competition
It was still a bit unclear to me whether Canatu also intended to manufacture those pellicle films for sale on its own production line, or only sell these reactors? However, the CEO mentioned in the interview that, in themselves, those pellicle films are standardized (in terms of size and other properties) regardless of the mask or its pattern. Wouldn’t one then think that one option would also be to directly sell ready-made pellicles of the correct size to those who want them, so that the end customer gets a ready-to-install film for the machine instead of that reactor? Or is it that those big customers want the reactor directly if the required pellicle quantities are so large, etc.?
They both manufacture and sell reactors. That reactor business is a newer thing. Originally, they only manufactured them themselves for customer use.
Well, in Turku, university health technology research is being conducted concerning carbon nanotubes. Today’s research news: Breakthrough in carbon nanotube sensors could revolutionize health monitoring
Is this now good or bad news for Canatu? It doesn’t say who produced the material, but was it the case that specifically only Canatu’s carbon nanotubes can be utilized in such an application, or could it be that successes have also been achieved with carbon nanotubes produced by some other company?
In my opinion, more positive background support for Canatu, because Canatu has aspirations in the health technology sector and Canatu, as I understand it, has the potential to be a supplier for such niche CNTs (although, what is that chirality property mentioned in the study and does Canatu have the technology for it…). I don’t have information about the CNT supplier used in the study, or if they even manufactured the CNTs themselves in very small batches using solutions and other techniques (I thought I saw something like this in the research paper).
edit: found information from the research paper (Single-chirality single-wall carbon nanotubes for electrochemical biosensing - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (RSC Publishing)), the CNTs appear to be from Canadian Sigma-Aldrich / the actual origin, however, is Southwest Nanotechnologies, Inc., and they also have clarifying information about chirality:
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/FI/en/technical-documents/technical-article/materials-science-and-engineering/microelectronics-and-nanoelectronics/comocat-carbon-nanotubes
It’s good to remember that a pellicle is reticle-specific, not machine-specific. The more difficult the design, the more reticles are needed in production, and consequently also pellicles.
Canatu’s website provides information on warrants and options: Warrantit ja optio-ohjelmat - Canatu
These often seem to have a trigger where the volume-weighted average price is above a set threshold price level for 10 days (not necessarily consecutive) within a 30 trading day period.
I spent a little more time familiarizing myself with that research vs. Canatu’s technology, so my analysis would be that in the case of this research, carbon nanotubes from a competing manufacturing method (wet dispersion vs. Canatu’s patented Dry Deposition) are used, from which, according to them, carbon nanotubes of different chiralities have now been successfully separated for the first time, thereby improving the material’s ability to detect desired concentrations.
Canatu’s information materials state that their CNT offers over 10x better sensitivity compared to competing alternatives, including “commercial CNTs”. I am not an expert in the field, but I would be interested to hear if the analysis is correct, that a way has now been found to bring the sensitivity/properties/capabilities to a completely new level also with carbon nanotubes made using the wet dispersion method. It’s interesting that the research report seems to state that everything has been done for the first time now, and thus does not acknowledge the known benefits already achieved with Canatu’s Dry Deposition method in the use of carbon nanotubes, because Canatu does communicate that these are already within their expertise, and results have been reported. Probably, in this case, I just don’t understand everything.
Well, what would it mean from an investor’s perspective if something could already be gained from wet dispersion CNTs (I emphasize that this is basic speculation based on what I’ve read), then progress would have only occurred in one study and seemingly at the first level, and no mass scale or application has even been tested, unlike with Canatu, where things are already much further along based on their materials and research reports. Good specs for these can be found on their website.
Comments?
I have those warrants, or options. The subscription period is almost 5 years. Warrants can be bought from the stock exchange. Theoretically, the warrant’s price rises or falls with a leverage of approximately 4 compared to the share. So far, they have moved up and down at almost the same pace.
Here is an AI summary of the terms
The purpose of investor warrants is to enable the Company to raise capital for its business operations. Investor warrants are issued to shareholders who have not voted against the Corporate Acquisition and have not requested the redemption of their shares.
Key Features:
Rights of Investor Warrant Holders in Certain Situations:
The listing document and the terms and conditions of the warrants define in detail the rights of investor warrant holders in connection with, among other things, share issues, share splits, dividends, and capital repayments.
Risks:
Investing in investor warrants involves risks. Investors may not receive a return on their investment, and the trading price of the warrants can fluctuate significantly. It is important to carefully review all risks described in the listing document and the terms and conditions of the warrants.
For those medical sensors, it seems no concrete revenue target has been set in any Canatu analysis, so it’s mostly a wild card if business comes from it.
Carbon nanotubes have been studied, for example, in cancer treatments for over ten years, and that Turku study compares its achievements to these widely available nanotubes, which have traditionally been used in those studies, and how better results have now been achieved with them. It’s a mystery what technology the commercial solutions will ultimately be produced with. Probably several.
They are not super-sensitive sensors. Canatu’s own publication list includes a simultaneous measurement article for dopamine and serotonin (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956566323005213), where the signal-to-background is significantly better for dopamine compared to that Peltola article. A quick visual inspection shows that Canatu’s carbon nanotube has a signal-to-background equivalent to 2.5 uM dopamine (Fig.1A) compared to Peltola’s article’s 50 uM concentration (Supplementary Fig. S10), meaning the material is approximately 20X more sensitive for dopamine. Also, the background current appears to be massive with Peltola’s CNT (Fig. 4)
In addition, the standalone films in Peltola’s article are apparently very resistive, because the cyclic voltammogram is skewed (Fig.3 curves). This most likely results directly from the processing method, i.e., ultrasonication which breaks carbon nanotubes.
And finally, it must be remembered that in Peltola’s article, measurements were only done in pure saline solution, which is a very different environment than the environment of human samples (blood/saliva/urine).
In academic publications nowadays, it’s just necessary to hype up one’s own stuff, because everyone else does it too.
I tested Google’s new Deep Research and asked about carbon nanotubes to understand more. I thought that such a summary table might be useful for others too. The topic is new to me, so please check that the content is accurate.
RESEARCH TOPIC (PROMPT): What emerging lithography methods are on the rise and how do Canatu’s carbon nanotube technologies position themselves in relation to these – are carbon nanotubes more essential or less so than in current lithography methods? Does the necessity of Canatu’s carbon nanotubes vary between different technologies or are carbon nanotubes increasingly important for all of them?
Table 1: Comparison of Emerging Lithography Technologies
| Technology | Wavelength/Beam | Key Advantages | Key Challenges | Current Status/Outlook | Potential Role of Canatu’s CNTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUV | 13.5 nm | Smaller features, fewer mask layers | High costs, light source power, vacuum environment | In use for 7 nm, 5 nm, and 3 nm nodes, High-NA under development | Essential as pellicles and filters, especially in High-NA EUV |
| NIL | Variable | Simple, low cost, high resolution | Scalability, defect control, mold quality | Growing popularity, potential successor to EUV | Potential use in molds, catalyst patterning for CNT growth |
| DSA | Chemical | Finer patterns, fewer steps, cost-effective | Uniformity, applicability to irregular structures | In research phase, potential for memory | Supporting CNT self-assembly, customized CNTs |
| EBL | Electron beam | Very high resolution, no diffraction limits | Low throughput | Used in prototypes and specialized applications | Electron beam sources, CNT-based micro-cathode parallel systems |
| X-ray lithography | 0.1 - 10 nm | High resolution, bypassing diffraction limits | Lack of lenses, high costs | Not widely used as a primary method | X-ray filters due to high transparency |
Table 2: Canatu CNT Properties Relevant to Lithography
| Property | Significance in Lithography Applications (especially EUV) | Specific Details |
|---|---|---|
| High EUV and X-ray transparency | Enables efficient light utilization, improves productivity | Up to 97% transparency with EUV |
| High thermal resistance | Withstands high temperatures in EUV scanners | Up to 1500 °C in vacuum |
| Exceptional mechanical strength and flexibility | Protects masks, withstands pressure differences | Withstands mechanical stress and pressure differences |
| High purity | Reduces impurities and defects | Nearly flawless thanks to the Dry Deposition™ process |
| Customizability | Enables optimization of CNTs for different applications | Number of walls, orientation, bundle size adjustable |
SUMMARY:
Among emerging lithography methods, EUV lithography currently holds a leading position, enabling the manufacturing of the most advanced semiconductor nodes. Canatu’s carbon nanotube technologies have proven increasingly important for the advancement of EUV lithography. Specifically, Canatu’s CNT pellicles play a crucial role in next-generation high-power EUV scanners, where their unique thermal and mechanical properties surpass the performance of traditional materials. Furthermore, Canatu’s CNT membranes are essential for EUV mask inspection and optical filtering.
While the role of Canatu’s CNTs in other emerging lithography technologies, such as nanoimprint lithography, directed self-assembly, and electron beam lithography, is currently more in the research and development phase, they hold significant potential to offer unique advantages in these areas in the future as well. Canatu’s ability to produce high-quality and customizable carbon nanotubes places the company in a strategically significant position in the development of semiconductor lithography.
In summary, Canatu’s carbon nanotube technologies are increasingly important for at least EUV lithography, and they have the potential to become even more significant in other emerging lithography methods. The company’s investment in high-performance materials for demanding applications in the semiconductor industry creates a strong foundation for its future success in this dynamic field.*