Back to News Archive

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Amy Foschetti
Interprose PR
Phone: + 1 (703) 917-0972
[email protected]

Franklin Township and New Jersey State Recognize NanoOpto

Somerset, New Jersey. March 4, 2002. In a brief ceremony at their Somerset, NJ, location on March 4, 2002, NanoOpto Corp. and local Franklin Township officials inaugurated NanoOpto’s nano-manufacturing facility. This first-of-it’s-kind nano-fabrication facility uses nano-technology to create compact, high-performance components for optical networking applications and delivers breakthroughs in both device performance and manufacturing scalability.

Franklin Township Mayor Shirley Eberle and former Franklin Township Mayor and current Councilman and State Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula were on hand to recognize the production of the first wafer. Mayor Eberle stated, “Less than four months ago we were breaking ground on this project in an empty warehouse and today we are producing the first of what we hope will eventually be a long line of new products produced in Franklin Township.” Assemblyman Chivukula echoed Eberles sentiments, “New technology is essential in providing a better and cleaner quality of life for our residents. Franklin Township and the State of New Jersey are happy to assist NanoOpto in providing the support needed to develop that technology.”

NanoOpto’s nano-manufacturing technologies and the subwavelength optical elements created using it are the realization of 20 years of research by its principal founder and Chairman, Dr. Stephen Chou. “Nano-optics, or the use of subwavelength optical elements (SOEs), entails interaction with light based on entirely new physical principles. This allows optical processing to occur on a much smaller scale and to perform new functions that bulk optics cannot,” says Dr. Chou. “Many researchers have seen the commercial potential of SOEs. But what has been missing is the ability to make them in a scalable, high-speed manufacturing process that would make SOEs broadly economical. NanoOpto’s nano-manufacturing technologies, which include proprietary nano-imprint lithography techniques, are the first to achieve this.”

“NanoOpto thanks Franklin Township for their support and for creating a positive environment in which to start a new company and build a state-of-the-art, high capacity, nano-fabrication facility,” stated Barry Weinbaum, NanoOpto’s CEO and President. “The communication components on a chip that we will manufacture here have revolutionary potential for the optical networking industry.”

About NanoOpto
NanoOpto Corp. is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking. Based on years of research, the company’s technology allows orders of magnitude more rapid prototyping, higher performance and lower overall system cost. Both on its own and with corporate partners, NanoOpto will use subwavelength techniques to produce better conventional optical components and also to create new classes of integrated components. The company’s development of patented nano-imprint lithography techniques forms the basis for high volume manufacture at its facility in Somerset, New Jersey. The company has received financial backing from leading venture capitalists.