Norcada Silicon Nitride Windows Enable Quantum Mechanical Study

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - June 2, 2008 – Norcada Inc., a MEMS product development company, announced today that reports out of Yale University show successful Q-factor results for Norcada’s silicon nitride membrane windows.

A recently published study by a group of physicists at Yale University reported extremely high Q-factors (1.2x10E7 at 0.3 K) for Norcada's nitride membrane windows. The high mechanical Q-factor and low optical loss of the silicon nitride windows were key factors cited in the report for enabling potential observation of quantum fluctuations.

Silicon nitride membrane windows are typically used as sample support or holding cells in UV, IR, and X-ray Spectroscopy studies of materials owing to their ability to offer high mechanical strength with nanometer scale thickness. More recently, the silicon nitride windows are also finding increased applications in nano mechanical studies where high mechanical Q-factors are extremely important.

“Norcada is excited about the role its nitride windows played in this ground breaking study” said Yuebin Ning, VP R&D of Norcada. “The report findings are another example of the high quality of Norcada’s silicon nitride membrane windows.”

The study appeared in the March 6, 2008 issue of Nature (Vol 452, March 6, 2008). A similar study focusing on the mechanical and optical properties of the silicon nitride membranes was also reported by the same group which appeared in Applied Physics Letters (online version) in March 2008 (APL 92, 103125, 2008).

About Norcada Inc.
Norcada is a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System) product development company with extensive industrial experience in MEMS design and fabrication for sensors and other commercial devices. Founded in 2001, Norcada has a state-of-the-art MEMS design, prototyping, and test facility in Edmonton, Canada, which is home to one of the largest micro and nano technology clusters in North America. Norcada offers a wide range of MEMS products including standard silicon and nitride membrane windows for the TEM microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy research community, custom optical mems mirrors for the telecom industry, as well as MEMS micro-relay technology.