Member Info for Nanonano

In what way?

AGM ran out of cash and is now to be sold off to a Canadian outfit for a around £1m. Nothing for shareholders.

AGM is down the plughole, simply run out of cash, and couldn't raise any more funding. All IP sold for about £1m which will barely cover winding things up, so nothing left for shareholders. Would it be a surprise to see Versarien , Haydale etc. go the same way in the near future?

All have high running costs with lots of expensive directors and nothing close to the revenue required to support such largesse.

QS Ltd offer lead and lead free QD's according to their website.

Re sensors in cars, annual smartphone sales outnumber car sales by about six to one. Having said that cars may incorporate several sensors per unit, whereas phones are more likely to feature one or two at most.

I'm not sure if SiGe will become more ubiquitous for cars, it may be adequate enough for that application and doesn't have the issue with extreme heat that seem to be a challenging issue for QD's, at least in present formulations.

There's no doubt that QD's will play an important part in sensor technology, it's how much that market Nanoco can secure which is crucial.

They did all the heavy lifting for display, and haven't been very well rewarded for it. A man once said that history doesn't repeat, but it echoes.

Good sleuthing. I wonder how well those patents would stand up to prior art, assuming they are approved.

I guess there could be two Hao Pang's, but I think the likelihood is they're one and the same person.

Perhaps patents are pending, or maybe they will be one of the companies getting a love letter from Nanoco in due course.

Can't find any on a search, although the website claims "patented INFIQ quantum dot (QD) technology".

Certainly members of the group have many patents assigned to them, but they're under Nanoco.

I don't really know enough to form an opinion one way or the other.

One thing I found out today whilst reading through some past Nanoco patents that completely slipped past me.

The founder of Quantum Science Ltd. Dr Hao Pang is also ex-Nanoco as he is listed on some of their patents, so that makes four of their executive team as former employees. Comes across as a bit of a mutiny and far too coincidental that they've formed a company competing directly in the same sensor materials as their old employer.

Hao Pang- CEO and founder
Cong-Duan Vo- CTO
Lesley Smith- Head of IP
Stuart Stubbs- Product Director

The problem for current holders, specifically anyone beyond those who managed to pick up a significant holding when it was in single figures, is that significant scaling for sensors is still years away. Analysts predict 2025 at the earliest and most likely 2027 or later, and many key patents will have expired by then, which could kick open the door for competitors. Industry analysts are showing significant growth for SWIR sensors, however if we look at their original predictions for QD display growth they were shown to be far too optimistic. So any forward looking predictions may either be exaggerated or conservative.

Certainly if , and it's a big if, the sensors due for production this year turn out to be incorporated in an Apple device, that should move the needle on the share price, as anything linked to Apple has a terrific halo effect. However it may not be Apple, and even if it is any rise may be short lived if it's sold into, and/or the device flops or is not followed up with additional devices.

It's a wait and see, but it's of no surprise the share price is in the doldrums, as there are plenty of opportunities for your hard earned out there at present and, perhaps ironically bearing in mind their new cash rich status Nanoco doesn't look quite as attractive as it did pre settlement.

Hope that doesn't come across as overly pessimistic, just trying to balance the good with the bad.

One of the companies working closely with Apple is ii-vi also known as Coherent.

They've been working in partnership with Artilux with extended silicon sensors. I wonder if this could be the tech potentially used in an Apple AR device for instance instead of STMicro QD enhanced CMOS. Or perhaps they would use both technologies but for different parts of the headset.

https://ii-vi.com/news/ii-vi-incorporated-and-artilux-demonstrate-a-3d-camera-for-enhanced-user-experience-in-the-metaverse/

No idea, all very hush hush. They have said it uses Nanoco's seeding patents, whereas I understand Material A does not and isn't exclusive, but does use some trade secrets, and benefits from the years of working with STMicro and Apple. This was covered in previous company updates.

Sadly sampling doesn't always lead to product.

Apple have numerous patents mentioning QD's in display and for sensors, some dating back many years, a simple google search will reveal a few.

Perhaps Nanoco will hit a richer seam this time with sensors, but I have a sense of deja vu for 2015/16 all over again where the company was at the cusp of a new technology that was finally escaping the lab and hitting the shelves and there was a buzz of excitement, only to find that the orders never arrived.

I crucial difference is that finally after years of aggravation and at huge legal cost they wrung something out of Samsung. So they have some cash, plus a leaner operation with a more focused team on a couple of core applications.

On the flip side, the CEO's reputation has taken a hit, the patents are several years older and competition is nipping at their heels.

I can't see them using lead sulphide for this application. Possibly material B, or a competitor with a lead free alternative e.g. QS Ltd?

With SWIR, to the best of my knowledge there are only about three ways of achieving it, ingaas which is expensive and lower resolution. Extended silicon which can only extend into the lower SWIR region and at lower sensitivity, which may limit its application but it's cheap and high res. Finally QD enhanced CMOS which is cheap enough to make it viable for consumer goods, capable of reaching far into the SWIR region and high resolution.

What remains uncertain is which technology will win the larger share of the market,as they all have pros and cons. Ingaas seems to be ruled out for the consumer market on cost grounds alone, so that market is not expected to grow significantly. Extended silicon looks promising, but the lower efficiency and inability to extend into the higher SWIR wavelengths could limit it's effectiveness in many areas. So that leaves QD on CMOS, which can absorb SWIR bands at fairly narrow bandwidths depending on the size of the QD's. Heat seems to be an issue for QD's and maybe hampering its adoption in cars. Lead sulphide maybe restricting it's adoption in mass market goods? Hence material B may solve these issues?

Off topic I noticed that LOAM have recently doubled their stake in IQE, so if you subscribe to following the big money, then that may be worth keeping a eye on.

Are you referring to the February RNS? That seemed pretty straightforward to me.

I took the settlement RNS at face value, a full and final deal with Samsung regardless of division.

IIRC, didn't Samsung ask for SD to be excluded from the proceedings?

Agreed, but did the contested patents cover these areas?

So the patent expiring in 2035 was for films incorporating multiphase resins. I wonder how relevant this would be to second generation QD based display, where the QD's are placed into an ink and coated onto OLED or microled?

Perhaps the key patents were the ones expiring 2025-28. Still a raw deal for thirteen years of commercialisation plus several years of working closely with Samsung leading up to the first products appearing.

Says 2025 here, have I got it wrong?

https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/patents/patent/8524365

Disputed patents with expiry dates first to last-

8524365 expires 2025-04-26
7588828 expires 2026-10-27
7867557 expires 2027-01-29
7803423 expires 2028-01-25
9680068 expires 2035-06-21

"Wonder when they will pop up next."

Wouldn't be at all surprised if Mr Potts is appointed a position on the board of Universal Matter UK Limited in due course.