June 2011 Newsletter

• Industry

June 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends:

We would like to welcome you to the June 2011 edition of the Potomac Photonics Newsletter.  The first six months of the year have proven to be extremely exciting as we have continued to expand our micromanufacturing capabilities and added new resources.  Amidst this growth, our greatest satisfaction remains to be derived from the partnerships they we have built with you to help develop and bring your miniature products to market. Medical Device, Biotech, Electronic and even Culinary companies are among the many clients that have contracted with us to machine very small features in materials such as polymers, metals and ceramics.  Whether you need one part or a million, please think of Potomac Photonics the next time you need a reliable source to machine your precision parts.

Yours Truly,

Mike Adelstein

President and CEO

[email protected]

(301)459-3031

Potomac Hosts Laser Institute Local Meeting

Potomac Photonics, Inc., a leading laser micro-manufacturing company, hosted the inaugural meeting of the Laser Institute of America Mid-Atlantic chapter in their Lanham, MD headquarters. On May 24, a group from academia, industry and government listened to technical papers on Lasers in Microelectronics Packaging. Potomac is also a Corporate Member of LIA. Potomac co-founder, Sarah Boisvert, who is a Past President and Fellow of LIA, introduced the meeting.

Alberto Piqué of the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. presented an overview of novel approaches developed at the lab for printing complex materials using Laser Direct-Write fabrication techniques.  He also described related work in “Lase-and-Place” as a method to use lasers in the placement of tiny components directly onto new miniaturized circuit boards.

Paul Christensen, whose work is an extension of a joint DARPA contract the two groups had in the mid-1990s also presented at the meeting.  The National Science Foundation has currently funded a SBIR Phase II contract for Dr. Christensen to work on new fabrication techniques that allow for creation of complex electronics packaging platforms.

Many attendees commented on the good opportunity a small regional meeting is for interaction with colleagues.  Ted Reutzel of Penn State’s Applied Research Lab saw such great value in the meeting he volunteered to host the next meeting at Penn State. All in all, our first meeting was a great success!

To participate in our next meeting, please contact Sarah Boisvert at [email protected].

Potomac Participates in SensorsExpo through MEMS Industry Group

Potomac would like to thank Karen Lightman and the MEMS Industry Group for opportunities to join them at the recent SensorsExpo and conference in Chicago.  We are Corporate Members of MIG, which is the industry non-profit association for MEMS and related fields.

During the Pre-Conference MEMS Day, Sarah Boisvert presented a talk on Turning Technologies into Products.  Sarah has given several webinars for MIG on this topic, which is a strength that has driven Potomac’s success.

During the MEMS track in the Sensors Conference, Dr. Paul Christensen presented his National Science Foundation work in a talk titled: ‘Providing the Infrastructure for Connecting to the World: One Sensor at a Time’.  He described new techniques for creating wireless sensor nodes and packaging.

For copies of either paper, please contact Sarah Boisvert at
[email protected] or call 301-908-6726.