Global semiconductor technology development consortium International Sematech (ISMT) and the University at Albany-SUNY announced plans for a joint five-year $320 million program to accelerate the development of next generation lithography. ISMT and UAlbany have signed a letter of intent to begin negotiations on the formation of a strategic alliance, to be known as International Sematech North (ISMTN), to conduct research and development in the area of advanced lithography infrastructure for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. As currently envisioned, the alliance will initiate a program in EUV infrastructure, to be managed by International Sematech and housed in UAlbany's 300-mm wafer cleanroom complex. Contract negotiations will begin immediately, and both parties hope to have a final agreement on the strategic alliance by the end of the third quarter. New York Gov. George Pataki called the project "a milestone in the economic history of New York State." Pataki is hoping the Albany center will attract as many jobs to New York's Hudson Valley as the last ISMT research center in Austin, Texas, did 14 years ago...

Zyvex Corp. has been awarded a one-year SBIR grant to work on a four probe stage and holder for transmission electron microscope (TEM). The objective of the program is to design and fabricate a new holder incorporating a four-probe nanomanipulation and characterization platform with electrical feedback. Zyvex will assemble and test stick/slip linear actuators built within mini-sized piezotubes. The Zyvex team is developing a new design concept for a reliable manipulation and characterization tool adapted for high-resolution electron microscopes. The new project will demonstrate the performance of the four-probe stage and holder inside a typical TEM...

NextGen Partners LLC announced the final closure of its NextGen Enabling Technologies Fund. After an initial closing in March 2001, the fund added a pair of companies in the materials sector, Catalytic Solutions and Agile Materials, and a pair of nanotech players: Oxonica (recently profiled by NanotechPlanet) and Optiva. The most recent additions to the fund's limited partnership include DuPont and CDP Capital-Technology Ventures. They join Air Products and Chemicals, BASF, Bayer, Boeing and Unilever, among others, as investors. Funds under management total more than $55 million...

JMAR Technologies Inc. projected sales revenues for its second quarter (ended June 30, 2002) to exceed $6.0 million, which wold be an increase of more than 80 percent over the $3.3 million reported for the comparable year-ago quarter and more than 30 percent above the $4.5 million generated in the first quarter of this year. Management attributed the improvement in revenues to a significant increase in contract sales from the company's Collimated Plasma Lithography (CPL) program and an upturn in sales at JMAR Precision Systems Inc. (JPSI). In June, JPSI announced it sold and delivered two of its sub-nanometer-resolution Nano-Zoom metrology systems to a leading internationally-recognized manufacturer of computer hard disk drives. The systems enable hard disk drive manufacturers to see and measure molecular-size features on the surfaces of their products while processing disk media...

Harris & Harris Group, Inc. reported that, in the quarter ended June 30, 2002, its net asset value per share increased from $2.63 to $2.68. The increase is due to the strong performance of PHZ Capital Partners, L.P. during the second quarter. The valuations of the company's other private equity holdings were unchanged during the quarter. Harris & Harris owns 20 percent of privately held PHZ, a non-controlled affiliated company. PHZ is a non-registered investment advisor utilizing proprietary algorithms to manage third-party assets through private limited partnerships investing primarily in global financial futures, long/short equities and interbank FX. Although PHZ has been profitable and has made cash distributions to its partners, including Harris & Harris, for several years, PHZ was especially profitable in the second quarter of 2002...

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