computer science

Nanosys

Nanosys is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nanosys rather than just read about it. In short: Nanosys is a nanotechnology company located in Milpitas, California and founded in 2001. The company develops and manufactures quantum dot materials for display products.

Key takeaways

Nanosys belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nanosys to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nanosys from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nanosys is a nanotechnology company located in Milpitas, California and founded in 2001. The company develops and manufactures quantum dot materials for display products.

History On July 28, 2021, Bloomberg reported that Nanosys was in talks to go public via GigInternational1 SPAC. A transaction is set to value the combined entity at about $1 billion. In May 2023, Dr. Martin Devenney was named chief executive officer. Devenney was the former chief operating officer. In September 2023, Nanosys was acquired by Shoei Chemical, Inc.

Products

Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF)

Nanosys Quantum Dot Enhancement Film, or QDEF, is an optical film component for LED driven LCDs. Each sheet of QDEF contains trillions of tiny Quantum Dot Phosphors. QDEF enables LED-backlit LCDs to be brighter and more colorful by providing a high quality, tri-color white light from a standard blue LED light source. Larger than a water molecule, but smaller than a virus, these tiny phosphors convert blue light from a standard Gallium Nitride (GaN) LED into different wavelengths based upon their size. Larger dots emit longer wavelengths (red), while smaller dots emit shorter wavelengths (green). Blending together a mix of dot colors allows Nanosys to precisely engineer a new spectrum of light to customer specifications. The Quantum Dots are tuned to create better color by changing their size during fabrication to emit light at just the right wavelengths. Traditional light emitting materials such as crystal phosphors have a broad fixed spectrum. Quantum dots can convert light to nearly any color in the visible spectrum, giving display designers the ability to tune and match the spectrum more accurately to color filters while improving energy efficiency. QDEF was announced on May 17, 2011 at the Society for Information Display (SID) Display Week tradeshow. It has been adopted in products such as the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 (2013) and the ASUS Zenbook NX-500 (2014). At the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 it became known that Nanosys has licensed Samsung Electronics as well as 3M to manufacture QDEF products. QDEFs from 3M are used by top US TV brand Vizio (M-Series Quantum, P-Series Quantum & P-Series Quantum X) as well as TV manufacturers Hisense (ULED TV) and TCL (QLED TV) TV sets. In 2020, Nanosys announced a supply agreement with Shoei Chemical, a Japan-based producer of nanoparticles, under which the latter became the sole manufacturing partner of QD materials.

QuantumRail Announced just after CES in January 2010 as part of a commercial agreement with Korean consumer electronics manufacturer and LG subsidiary LG Innotek, the quantum rail is a glass capillary optical component containing red and green quantum dots that is inserted between the LEDs and the lightguide panel (LGP) of an LED LCD in manufacturing to improve color gamut.

Awards Society for Information Display DisplayWeek People's Choice Award 2019: Best Large Booth Society for Information Display Display Component of the Year Award 2017: Hyperion Quantum Dots Society for Information Display Best in Show 2015: Small booth category, Cadmium-Free Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) comparison demo Society for Information Display Best in Show 2014: Small booth category, Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) High Dynamic Range, wide color gamut demo with Dolby Society for Information Display Gold Component of the Year Award 2012: Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) Society for Information Display Best in Show 2011: Small booth category Best of CES: 2011 Enabling Technology Award Silicon Valley Business Journal Emerging Technology Awards: Winner, life sciences Wall Street Journal 2010 Technology Innovation Awards: Runner up, semiconductors

Founders, funding, and patents Nanosys was founded by Larry Bock, Charles Lieber and Paul Alivisatos. They were subsequently joined by Steve Empedocles, Wally Parce and Calvin Chow. Major funders of the company include Venrock Associates, Samsung, BOE Technology, LG Display, ARCH Venture Partners, Intel, El Dorado Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, Prospect Ventures, Harris & Harris Group, Lux Capital, Applied Materials and Wasatch Advisors. Nanosys has developed a significant quantum dot patent portfolio with over 650 issued and pending patents worldwide. These patents cover the fundamentals of quantum dot construction as well as component and manufacturing designs. This portfolio is the result of collaborations between Nanosys and universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Hebrew University, as well as industry collaborations with companies including Philips-Lumileds and Life Technologies. Nanosys also led the development of nanowire technology for solar cell, fuel cell, and lithium-ion battery applications, which it spun out in 2013 to a company now known as OneD Battery Sciences.

References

External links Video: Robert Scoble discusses Nanosys display technology with CEO Jason Hartlove

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nanosys

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nanosys claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nanosys before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nanosys ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nanosys

In research: Nanosys appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nanosys in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nanosys is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Milpitas, California, Companies based in Palo Alto, California, Computer companies of the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nanosys outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nanosys in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nanosys means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nanosys out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nanosys in simple terms?

Nanosys is a nanotechnology company located in Milpitas, California and founded in 2001. The company develops and manufactures quantum dot materials for display products.

Why does Nanosys matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nanosys?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nanosys.