Source: optics.org

Developer of ¡°black silicon¡± laser texturing process for imaging and PV applications signs deal with In-Q-Tel.
 
In-Q-Tel (IQT), the technology venture wing of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has signed a ¡°strategic investment and technology development¡± agreement with the Harvard University photonics spin-out SiOnyx.

Laser-textured "black" silicon

The deal, for an undisclosed amount, is designed to help SiOnyx accelerate the integration of its ¡°black silicon¡± sensors within imaging systems, thereby offering imaging across the visible and short-wave infrared (SWIR) frequency ranges with low-cost devices based largely on the CMOS chip fabrication process.

Founded by Eric Mazur and James Carey from Harvard in 2006, SiOnyx is working to commercialize the ¡°black silicon¡± technology, which is based on a laser texturing process that improves infrared response.

The approach, which is also suited to improving solar cell performance, uses a picosecond pulsed laser to reduce the surface reflectance of the cell or image sensor surface below what is possible using standard chemical methods.

Existing investors in the company include Coherent ¨C whose ¡°Talisker¡± laser has been used by the SiOnyx team ¨C and Vulcan Capital, the venture firm founded by Microsoft¡¯s co-founder Paul Allen.

According to its most recent filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), by April 2012 SiOnyx had so far raised $6.8 million out of an anticipated $16 million round of equity funding.

Syd Ulvick, the senior VP in charge of IQT¡¯s physical and biological technologies practice, said in a statement: ¡°SiOnyx has developed a highly differentiated platform for advanced imaging systems utilizing [its] proprietary CMOS image sensor technology.¡±
¡°The company¡¯s unique approach opens a host of new opportunities for wide-scale deployment of advanced imaging systems.¡±

SiOnyx CEO Stephen Saylor added: ¡°Our partnership will expand our platform capabilities to to include applications that will potentially address the needs of the government market, while accelerating our entry into next-generation consumer and commercial opportunities.¡±

The CIA's photonics-related investments via In-Q-Tel

SiOnyx is far from the only photonics company to have received strategic backing from the CIA, which also invests in communications technologies. Other photonics companies in its portfolio include:

• Advanced Photonix: developing terahertz imaging technologies

• Alfalight: a specialist in manufacturing high-power laser diode and systems

• Genia Photonics: ultrafast fiber lasers suitable for chemical detection

• InView Technology Corp: infrared and hyperspectral imaging

• LensVector: ¡°solid-state optics¡± to replace moving parts in autofocus cameras

• OpGen: optical mapping for whole genome analysis

• Semprius: concentrated photovoltaics via micro-transfer printing

• SpectraFluidics: surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to trace airborne chemicals

• Walleye Technologies: microwave imaging to ¡°see through walls¡±