Moirans/Grenoble (France) – 27^th November 2013 – NikkoIA SAS announces the grant of several collaborative development programs in 2013, totaling more than 1.5 million Euros of cumulated subsidies over the next 2 years to sustain its development roadmap.

Following the grant of nation-wide collaborative programs from leading public organizations earlier this year, NikkoIA was recently granted a collaborative project for “Organic Semiconductors for NIR Optoelectronics” through Europe’s FP7 Framework Programme.

This project will sustain NikkoIA’s technology expansion through the development of new organic materials sensitive in the NIR spectrum. Project objective is to extend NIR photosensitive organic semiconductor materials to be used for the development of sensors and photodetectors with tunable sensitivity windows. It includes synthesis, characterization and application of NIR absorbing and emitting organic materials for Organic Electronics.

It perfectly complements the other granted programs which are more product-oriented and dedicated to the development of organic image sensors based either on a-Si active matrix TFT backplanes or silicon CMOS substrates, and targeting specific applications such as biometrics, medical and security of goods and people.

The combination of all granted programs wraps up NikkoIA’s comprehensive development strategy and secures its roadmap objectives.

“This grant is a great achievement as it connects us with the leading academic and industrial European players for organic electronic materials”, said A. Jutant, President of NikkoIA. “It secures our development roadmap for the next two years, while we are moving forward with our on-going fund raising process and promising commercial contacts, in line with our business plan. Put together, these three axes of development, funding and commercial achievements strengthen our position to achieve production and commercial ramp up and reap the benefits of our strategy within the next 12 to 18 months” he added.

The consortium is well-placed around leading German, English, Swedish, Greek and Dutch academic institutes in materials science and important industrial players/manufacturers. It covers the full value chain from materials over devices to demonstrators with very complementary experience in the fields of chemistry, materials science, physics, and electrical engineering.

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NikkoIA SAS Secures Major Development Programs for Organic Imaging

“IDTechEx visited Grenoble recently, which has a particularly large concentration of companies working on organic, printed and/or flexible electronics in France. One of those is start-up NikkoIA, aiming to exploit the huge development in materials for displays and photovoltaics by using them as optical sensors.

The company makes visible and infrared image sensors using a combination of organic materials and quantum dots layered on conventional TFT/CMOS backplanes. The company intend to make the sensor element, including digital I/O controller, and sell these to system integrators.

NikkoIA coat the organic thin films onto a TFT substrate or a CMOS sensor, resulting in an optical sensor. The organic and inorganic materials they deposit vary depending on the application i.e. what part of the visible and infrared spectrum is needed to detect. Most of the materials are organic layers but they integrate some quantum dots to tune the sensitivity of the device to some light wavelengths.

Their devices cover the visible and infrared spectrum range. They can be “tuned” to detect different wavelengths in that spectrum by using different materials.

They can deposit the layers by spray coating, die slot coating etc but are currently using spray coating. They cover the full surface and do not therefore need lithography steps. The device is then sealed to protect the organic layers. The devices are currently rigid (on glass or silicon) but the technology is also compatible with the use of flexible substrates such as printed TFT foils.

They have recently developed a version which has a scintillator layer over the organic sensor which converts x-rays to visible spectrum light which is detected by the organic layer.

The main proposition of the company is to enable low cost large area sensors (up to 55 x 65 cm²) as well as small, high-resolution infrared CMOS sensors at the same cost structure as traditional CMOS imagers. Applications include biometric sensor (offering cost reduction, flatness and enabling multi-modal biometrics through simultaneous fingerprints and vein detection), person monitoring/theft alarms (cost reduction and coverage of visible and infrared in single sensor), driver assisted applications in automotive, and much lower cost large area sensors for medical and veterinary purposes.

The company was founded two years ago and is already working with customers on samples. They are currently in a series A fund raise, where they plan to use the money to set up their own production line.”

http://www.printedelectronicsworld.com/articles/organic-image-sensors-from-nikkoia-00005604.asp?sessionid=12013.

OPE Journal – Magazine for Organic & Printed Electronics. June 2013.

“Organic life savers” – NikkoIA is featured in OPE Journal’s focus on printed and organic electronics applications in Automotive, especially for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) applications.

Read the article.

NikkoIA announces the production of several innovative organic image sensors, thereby confirming the potential of its technology, and validates the technology building blocks that can be immediately implemented to build its product lines.

NikkoIA’s technology consists in depositing thin films of photosensitive organic materials onto active or passive reading substrates. Current products are mainly based on TFT backplanes on glass, with a sensitivity optimized in the visible and/or 700/900nm spectrum range. The first evaluation cameras based on these sensors have already been shipped to the company customers.

NikkoIA announces the application of its organic imaging technology to two new product families:

1. X-ray sensitive image sensors, based on 256×256, 98µm-pixels organic image sensors, coupled with a CsI scintillator optimized for 70-90keV energy ;
2. VGA CMOS sensors with 15µm-pixels based on organic photodiodes and CMOS pixel arrays.

« The extension of the sensitivity to the X-rays range and the application of NikkoIA’s technology to various types of substrates (TFT or CMOS) enables, in the very short term, the production of large area visible, IR or X-rays image sensors at an extremely competitive cost structure compared to existing technologies, as well as the production of CMOS image sensors sensitive in the infrared beyond the cut-off wavelength of the silicon” said Alain Jutant, President of NikkoIA SAS.

These developments especially enable the production of image sensors immediately interesting for dental radiography and some security applications. They also enable other combinations such as the production of small size, high resolution, SWIR-sensitive CMOS image sensors at a very low cost structure, opening up new imaging solutions in the medical or automotive markets.

« These milestones reinforce our technology potential and validate our development strategy. They represent significant achievements that can now be implemented in products dedicated to our target markets », Alain Jutant added.

NikkoIA has a unique position in the market thanks to its worldwide and exclusive license agreement with Siemens AG, granting access to a strong intellectual property protected by several key patents. The company carries on its developments by the sensitivity extension beyond 1300nm while developing at the same time the first products dedicated to its target markets.

 CMOS VGA organic image sensor 

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NikkoIA SAS extends its organic imaging technology to X-Rays and CMOS substrates

For its third edition Grenoble Innovation Fair is broadening its scope to cover more new or emerging innovations in Europe, welcoming 150 start-ups and laboratories.

This international event, the only one of its kind in France, is being staged by three Grenoble organizations which have pooled their resources to bring together for two days new ventures with high-growth potential, research laboratories, industrial firms and innovative SMEs.

The fair is expecting more than 1,500 participants, eager to extend their innovation networks, identify opportunities for new partnerships and discover unsuspected sources of innovation.

Dates : 20 et 21 octobre 2011
Location: Grenoble Alpexo (France)

More info.

NikkoIA is selected among the “20 start-up at the top” selected by the french national magazine l’Usine Nouvelle in its “Special Innovation” edition, following the results of the 2011 National Contest for the Creation of Innovative Companies organized by the French Ministry of Research in cooperation with OSEO.

Read the article (in French).

Moirans/Grenoble (France) – 05th July 2011 – As a national award winner, NikkoIA SAS demonstrates its technological and industrial potential and benefits from significant funding for its development plan.

A national award of the 13th national contest for support of innovative technologies startup creation, organized by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, has been handed over to Alain Jutant, President and CEO of NikkoIA SAS, on June 28th 2011, in the presence of Valérie Pécresse, French Minister of Higher Education and Research.

Created in 1999 by the Ministry of Research, the contest aims at detecting, generating and raising startup creation projects based on innovative technologies, and by supporting the most promising ones through financial grant and custom support.

The contest is highly prized by innovative ideas or projects owners, and provides significant funding to many projects in the creation phase. NikkoIA SAS will receive an important grant to fund its innovation program through this operation.

« Being awarded at the national contest for support of innovative technology companies creation is not only receiving a financial grant, not only benefitting from a technical, administrative or legal support, it is first and foremost an acknowledgment as a promise of economic success », declared the Minister Valérie Pécresse.

« We are very proud and happy about our selection among several hundreds of high-quality innovative projects », said Alain Jutant, President and CEO of NikkoIA SAS.
« This national recognition by a jury of experts confirms the potential of our technology and our industrial project. NikkoIA will use the funding prize to accelerate the development of its new products », he added.

The National Jury is chaired by Jacques Lewiner, director of General Electricity Laboratory ESCPI (Higher Institute of Physics and Industrial Chemistry of Paris) and composed by about thirty prominent figures from the industrial, research and finance communities in France, chosen for their expertise and experience in innovative startup creation. It awarded 67 projects nationwide in the « Creation – Development » category, among several hundreds of nominees.

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NikkoIA SAS awarded by French Ministry of Higher Education and Research

Moirans/Grenoble (France) – June 23rd, 2011. Newly created Grenoble startup NikkoIA SAS becomes a prominent player in near infrared imaging by signing a worldwide and exclusive license agreement on a patents portfolio and associated know-how developed by Siemens AG.

Created in May 2011, NikkoIA SAS aims at designing and manufacturing photodetectors and multispectral image sensors in the visible and near infrared spectrum (0.7 – 3µm). It takes advantage of an innovative technology developed by Siemens Corporate Technology, which provides a significant cost benefit over existing near infrared sensors, and whose technical specifications enable the development of new applications on its target markets.

Technology innovation. The combination of both organic and inorganic materials sensitive to specific wavelengths and deposited as thin film layers onto industry-standard electronic substrates leads to high-performance and cost-optimized sensors. Among the technology benefits, the great versatility in sensor size (up to several hundreds of square inches), shape, sensitivity and resolution, as well as a simplified manufacturing process brings a technical answer to nearly any requirement. The process compatibility with any reading substrates (CMOS, amorphous Silicon thin-film transistor backplanes or printed electronics in the future) ensures leverage from the latest technical developments and the best market costs. Functional sensor prototypes have already been built and tested.

License agreement.

« Our labs are recognized worldwide for developing disruptive technologies » said Dr Joachim Wecker, leader Global Technology Field « Organic Electronics » at Siemens Corporate Technology. « We wanted to make the most out of 10 years of research and experience on these organic photodetectors and photodiodes. The proposed project and the motivation of NikkoIA’s founding team convinced us they are the right people for this » he added.

« Our vision consists in mastering the photodetection layer, as a key element of our know-how and products, and in considering related electronic reading systems as commodities », explains Alain Jutant, NikkoIA SAS President. « With Siemens technology at the core of the imaging device, this agreement provides a strong intellectual property on our core competencies ».

NikkoIA SAS and Siemens AG have signed a worldwide and exclusive license agreement on an extensive patents portfolio, either already granted or in the process of being so. This agreement is completed by a transfer of technology and know-how from Siemens AG to NikkoIA SAS to speed up the industrialization phase.

Fast growing market. NikkoIA SAS intends to use this technology to develop detectors and image sensors in the visible and near infrared parts of the spectrum.

« Our products enable more intuitive and less invasive systems and solutions in the medical, security and user interfaces markets », said A. Jutant. « Our markets are clearly identified and the first feedbacks from our target customers are very encouraging, all the more since these markets are strongly growing and are tightly related to our everyday lives ».

By settling down in the Grenoble area in France, NikkoIA SAS and its future production facilities reinforce and benefit from the rich environment in electronics, semiconductor and imaging competencies, and the local world-renowned infrared industry.

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Siemens AG exclusively licenses imaging technology to NikkoIA SAS (pdf)