HELSINKI --- A new high technology company, Emberion Oy, has been established by a leading edge research team formerly employed by Nokia. Emberion Oy will revolutionise X-ray, infrared and thermal imaging markets with its novel camera sensors that will significantly improve the performance and cost competitiveness of existing commercial devices. Emberion's technologies are based on a novel carbon nanomaterial, graphene, whose unique optical and electrical properties enable a quantum leap in the performance of thermal cameras and X-ray detectors and create new applications for these technologies.
Under an agreement between Emberion Oy and Nokia, photodetector technologies developed by the team have been acquired by the new company. Emberion Oy has recruited key people from the former research team to continue the commercialisation of products. Funding from the private equity funds of VersoVentures Oy makes it possible for Emberion to continue the development of its leading edge products. The first prototypes of Emberion's key products are planned to be delivered to customers during the autumn.
Emberion Oy is headquartered in Espoo, Finland and the company has a subsidiary in Cambridge, UK, one of the world's leading centres for graphene research.
About graphene:
Graphene is a two-dimensional atomic crystal made up of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Graphene can be thought of as a giant two-dimensional molecule. Graphene is only one atom layer thick, over 100 times stronger than steel and is an extremely light and flexible material. It is also an excellent electrical and thermal conductor. The electron mobility in graphene is over 100 larger than in silicon. Graphene is nearly transparent but absorbs a significant amount of energy from light being only one atom layer thick.
Due to its unique combination of superior electrical, optical and mechanical properties, graphene is a credible starting point for new disruptive technologies across a wide range of fields: such as, electronics, medicine, aerospace, automotives, energy storage, water desalination, coatings and paints, solar technologies, oil and communications. In addition, the industrial manufacturing of graphene materials is cost efficient compared to many other materials used in the electronics industry. The applications of graphene technologies in optics and electronics are progressing fast: high performance photodetectors have been realized by several research teams, and graphene technologies can be combined with traditional integrated circuits.
Professors Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov succeeded for the first time to isolate graphene from graphite crystal and to verify this two-dimensional material at the University of Manchester in 2004. They received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 in recognition of their breakthrough. After a two-year long preparation period the EU Commission selected graphene technologies as one of the European Flagship research projects in 2013. Today the EU FET Graphene Flagship project has over 150 participating European research institutes or companies. Nokia Research Center was one of the founders of the Graphene Flagship, and Emberion's managing director Tapani Ryhänen is a member of the Strategic Advisory Council of the Flagship.
More information:
http://www.emberion.com
http://www.versoventures.com