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Terahertz on Silicon Chip Arrays(TOSCA)

Rensselaer

I-CORPS SCPD 2011

EXISTING PRODUCT: Si-based terahertz detector outperforming commercial detectors.

PRODUCT TO BE DEVELOPED: complete THz system for a new multi-billion dollar market.

USED FOR SECURITY,MEDICAL IMAGING, HAZARDS

Talked to over 100 prospective customers

Team

Michael ShurPI

Alexey GutinEntrepreneurial Lead

Kerry Bohmert

Mentor

Michael Shur received MSEE Degree (with honors) from St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute, and PhD and Dr. Sc. Degrees from A. F. Ioffe Institute.

Alexey Gutin is a fourth year doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studying terahertz detection using FETs.

Kerry Bohmert is a Marketing Coordinator at Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. Other members: CEO Remis Gaska and Director of Marketing Tim Bettles,

Business Canvas 1

• Communications

• Size

• Product demo

• Training

• IP licensing

• IP

• Customer visits

• Fabrication companies

• Fabrication

• Universities• IP

development

• Much lower cost

• Human

• Facilities

• Support

• Feedback

• Conferences

• Website

• Imaging

• Spectroscopy

• Sales

• IP protection

• Employees

• Government & corporate contracts

Who we talked to• BAE Systems (Dr. Chao -Technical Director,

Microelectronics Center)

• NASA (Dr. Lumelsky- Lead Technologist @ NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center)

• SEMATECH (Dr. Veksler -Technical Staff)

• SYNOPSIS (Dr. Mickevicius, Director of Engineering)

• Power Photonics, Inc (Dr. Belenky, Founder)

• SUNY Stonybrook (Dr. Luryi, Center Director)

• Phillips Medical Systems (Dr. Parizh, Senior Manager)

• ARL (Dr. Wikner, Team Lead, mm Wave group)

• NASA (Dr. Abedin, Engineer)

• ARL (Dr. Amirtharaj, Chief of Electronics and RF Division)

Learned: need complete system• Discovered IP Licensing would not be a viable revenue

source

– Customers want a finished product not fab themselves

• Buying decisions at large corporations (TI, Motorola) are evaluated by engineers, then aggressively negotiated by purchasing department.

• Customers are looking for something smaller, lighter, cheaper.

• While most were impressed by our detector, the majority want an entire system (emitter/detector).

• Our value proposition only provides the detector, so it is only half of a complete system. This severely limits our market size

Channels

1

2

Business Canvas 2

• Size

• Product demo

• Training

• IP

• Customer visits

• Fabrication companies

• Fabrication

• Universities• IP

development

• Much lower cost

• Human

• Facilities

• Support

• Feedback

• Conferences

• Sales

• IP protection

• Employees

• Government & corporate contracts

• Robotics

• Hazard Detection

• THz companies• Entire THz

system

• Imaging

• THz companies

Who we talked to next• THz emitter research (Dr. Hella, Associate Professor)

• ZOmega (Mr. Tongue, CEO)

• SOC, Inc (Dr. Suh, Vice President and Resarch Fellow)

• STR, Inc. (Ms. Zimina, Marketing)

• SYNOPSIS (Dr. Mickevicius, Director of Engineering)

• Cardiologist and small medical business (Dr. Rapoport)

• SET, Inc. (Dr. J. Yang, Senior Manager and Board Member)

• Three THz researchers at RPI (Dr. Hella, Dr. Yamaguchi, Dr. Wilke)

• Dr. Mosbacker from Traycer Diagnostic Systems

Learned: need more R&D

• Professors at universities can serve as early adopters of our technology

• Several people have been interested in our technology for gas detection

• We need to partner with other groups to bring such a system to market quickly

• We still need to develop a complete system

Market size

2011 2016

$50M

THz Applications

M

M

M

Business Canvas 3

• Size

• Product demo

• Training

• IP

• Customer visits

• Fabrication companies

• Fabrication

• Universities• IP

development

• Much lower cost

• Human

• Facilities

• Support

• Feedback

• Conferences

• Sales

• IP protection

• Employees

• Government & corporate contracts

• Gas detection

• THz companies• Entire THz

system

• Imaging

• THz companies

• Government

University Partners

Brown (J. Xu)Si nanoarrays

for THz detection

Brown (J. Xu)Si nanoarrays

for THz detection

RPI (M. Hella)Si sub-THz VCOs

for biochipsSi THz camera

design

RPI (M. Hella)Si sub-THz VCOs

for biochipsSi THz camera

design

Buffalo (V. Mitin)QCL for sources

and mixers

Buffalo (V. Mitin)QCL for sources

and mixers

IFU (N. Pala)Si THz chips for

biodetection

IFU (N. Pala)Si THz chips for

biodetection

U of Aizu (V. Ryzhii)

Transit time THz sources

U of Aizu (V. Ryzhii)

Transit time THz sources

UC Davis (A. Balandin)

THz graphene on Si

UC Davis (A. Balandin)

THz graphene on Si

U of Paris (R. Colombelli)

QCL sources

U of Paris (R. Colombelli)

QCL sources

U of Montpellier (W. Knap)THz arrays

U of Montpellier (W. Knap)THz arrays

RAS (V. Popov)THz array modeling

RAS (V. Popov)THz array modeling

University Partners will team with us to develop software, characterize prototype devices, and even purchase our first systems

Government Partners

M. Wraback (ARL)THz

spectroscopy

M. Wraback (ARL)THz

spectroscopy

K. Gatskill (ONR)

THz graphene

K. Gatskill (ONR)

THz graphene

A. Efros (ONR)THz theory

A. Efros (ONR)THz theory

N. Abedin (NASA)

THz detectorsfor space

N. Abedin (NASA)

THz detectorsfor space

A. Davydov (NIST)

THz nanowires

A. Davydov (NIST)

THz nanowires

S. Suresh (JPL)Si cryo THz detectorsfor space

S. Suresh (JPL)Si cryo THz detectorsfor space

Jeff A. Hughes (WPAFB)

THz landing systems

Jeff A. Hughes (WPAFB)

THz landing systems

V. Lumelsky (NASA)

THz detectorsfor space

V. Lumelsky (NASA)

THz detectorsfor space

P. Seagal (JPL)Si THz detectors

for space

P. Seagal (JPL)Si THz detectors

for space

We will seek Government funding to take our technology to the next level

Industrial Partners

X.C. Zhang (ZOmega)

THz spectroscopy

P.C. Chao (BAE)

THz radar

G. DeSalvo (Northup

Grumman)THz camera

D. Wobschall (eSensors)THz mixers

R. Gaska (SET)THz GaN vs. SiBoard Member

D. Singh (Honeywell)THz sensors

Industry partners could get involved in co-production and co-distributing

Where we go from here

• Recruit full time CEO or Senior Scientist (US citizen or national)

• Apply for SBIR and STTR grants

• Quickly develop a complete THz system

• Demonstrate that the specifications of such a system exceed what is available commercially

• Demonstrate our system for customer’s desired application (chemical detection, imaging, security)