At the 2015 Elektra Awards ceremony at The Lancaster Hotel in London on 24 November, Cambridge Nanotherm Ltd of Haverhill, Suffolk UK, a producer of thermal management technology, has won the LED Lighting Product of the Year award (beating competition from NASDAQ-listed ON Semiconductor, Khatod Optoelectronics and Zeta Specialist Lighting) for its 'Nanotherm DM' product.
Judges noted that Nanotherm DM is uniquely compatible with standard manufacturing processes, and that the firm manufactures Nanotherm DM at its facility near Cambridge and exports to customers in the USA and Asia.
Nanotherm DM is said to be a robust and cost-effective alternative to aluminium nitride (AlN), an electronics-grade ceramic that is used in thermally challenging electronics. The production of Nanotherm DM involves a patented 'ECO' (electrochemical oxidation) process that converts the surface of aluminium into a nanoceramic dielectric layer. The nanoceramic aluminium is completed with a copper circuit sputtered onto the nanoceramic to customer specifications. This results in a material with thermal properties that are claimed to rival aluminium nitride but with the mechanical properties of aluminium that offers the best thermal performance-to-price ratio available.
Initially targeted at chip-on-board modules and LED packaging markets, Nanotherm DM enables LED manufacturers to make significant cost savings without impacting the performance of their products, the firm claims.
"We continue to ramp up our production capabilities to meet unprecedented demand for our thermal management solutions," said sales director Mike Edwards as he collected the award.
The win follows Nanotherm being shortlisted for the R&D 100 awards and winning the 2015 Insider Media 'Made in the East' technology award.