Five into Heraeus accelerator programme

Following a digital pitch day and evaluation by an internal panel, Heraeus has launched its third ‘accelerator programme with five start-ups, who will have access to its research laboratories, test equipment and customer and partner network. The focus is on products for the semiconductor and precious metals industries.

The five comprise from Germany and one from Spain. The latter is Nanogap, which is working on a nanomaterial that can catalyse reactions off limits to conventional catalyst, like the oxidative desulfurisation of oil or photocatalytic water splitting with visible light. Heraeus will work with Nanogap to investigate whether this technology can be used to develop lower-cost catalysts.

Among the others, OrelTech develops easy-to-apply, nanoparticle-free inks made of silver, gold, platinum, and palladium that can be turned into pure metal in a fast, green process to make extremely thin, flexible, pure and highly conductive layers. Heraeus is working with OrelTech to test the use of inks in the production of coatings.

Fusion Bionic develops systems for producing biomimetic surfaces using a laser technology up to 100 times faster than established processes, paving the way for surfaces with self-cleaning properties and reduced friction. Heraeus and Fusion are planning joint projects for surface functionalisation of precious metal parts.

HighLineTechnology develops precise, contactless dispensing systems. Customer-specific parallelisation of this technology facilitates particularly high throughputs in production. It and Heraeus will work on dispensing small dots for solder pastes.

Finally, Intelligent Fluids offers environmentally friendly cleaning fluids in place of replace toxic chemicals and solvents. Through their cooperation, Heraeus is aiming to develop new approaches in the production process for metal-ceramic substrates.