THE PHAZIR WINS FROST & SULLIVAN 2007 NORTH AMERICAN PRODUCT INOVATION OF THE YEAR AWARD

By: Frost & Sullivan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Award Description

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation of the Year is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within their industry. The recipient company has shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies.

Research Methodology

To choose a recipient of this award, the analyst team tracks all new product launches, R&D spending, products in development, and new product features and modifications. This is accomplished through interviews with all the market participants, and extensive secondary and technology research. All new product launches and new products in development in each company are compared and evaluated based on degree of innovation and customer satisfaction. Companies are then ranked by number of new product launches and new products in development.

Measurement Criteria

In addition to the methodology describe above, there are specific criteria used to determine final competitor rankings in this industry. The recipient of this award has excelled based on one or more of the following criteria:
• Significance of new product(s) in their industry
• Competitive advantage of new product(s) in their industry
• Product innovation in terms of unique or revolutionary technology
• Product acceptance in the marketplace
• New product value-added services provided to customers

2007 North American Infrared Analysis, Characterization & Instrumentation
Product Innovation of the Year Award
Award Recipient: Polychromix, Inc.

Santa Clara, CA – The Frost & Sullivan 2007 North American Product Innovation of the Year Award in infrared chemical analysis, materials characterization, and identification instruments, goes to Polychromix, Inc. in recognition of its development of innovative near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers, which represent a significant advancement in compact, portable, low power, lower-cost infrared spectrometer technology.
These integrated monitoring devices that can be installed at the desired monitoring location in the field, and can help reduce the cost and complexity of NIR spectroscopy. These NIR analyzers incorporate a proprietary light-modulating MEMS (microrelectromechanical systems) chip and a method of modulating and measuring light using only a single detector. Such technology could help surmount key barriers to using NIR spectrometers for real-time plant process monitoring, and help expand applications for NIR spectrometers.

Introduction

Polychromix, a privately-held company headquartered in Wilmington, MA, develops and provides modular optical sub-systems based on its MEMS core technology, which was initially developed via U.S. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) funding. The DARPA project, which was led by researchers from MIT, Sandia National Laboratories, and Honeywell, was geared toward creating a new MEMS structure for building a spectroscopic device for remotely detecting the presence of chemical warfare agents in the field.
Founded in 2001, Polychromix is focused on developing an advanced suite of cost-efficient material analysis, chemical sensing, and spectroscopy solutions. Such products leverage the company’s MEMS technology and method of measuring and modulating light to address the increasing market demand for more convenient and cost-effective chemical sensing solutions. Polychromix’s spectrometer products offer performance and cost advantages by replacing IR spectrometers that use expensive interferometers or detector arrays with an NIR spectrometer that uses a single detector and the company’s MEMS chip.
Polychromix’s vision is to develop a unique, new breed of miniaturized material analyzers and spectroscopic solutions that allow for bringing the analyzer to the subject in the field as opposed to bringing a sample to an analytical device in the lab. This approach can enable markets and applications that were previously impractical or highly elusive. The portability of Polychromix’s solutions is particularly beneficial when the analyzed subject is large, perishable, or geographically dispersed.
A seasoned management team leads Polychromix. Brian Mitchell, the company’s president and chief executive, has spent the vast majority of his career in the RF/microwave and fiber-optic component and sub-systems industries. Stephen Senturia, Chairman, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Polychromix, has been a significant individual in the MEMS arena, with respect to designing and producing innovative micro-fabricated devices and systems. Serving a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for more than 35 years, Dr. Senturia has also pursued entrepreneurial opportunities since 1982, when he founded Micromet Instruments (since merged with Holometrix and acquired by Metrisa GmbH) to commercialize a microdielectrometer developed at MIT. Mike Butler, Ph.D., vice president of research and development and co-founder at Polychromix, is another key team member. He was previously a distinguished staff member of Sandia National Laboratories and has 15 years experience in the development of new optical sensing technologies and has worked extensively with small businesses. Dr. Butler is an inventor of the technology that is the basis for founding Polychromix.

Technology Overview

An infrared spectrometer is capable of non-destructively measuring the intensity of the electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths within the infrared portion of the spectrum. The distribution of the radiation after it has interacted with a material is of specific interest, since it possesses a unique fingerprint that can indicate the material’s chemical composition. IR spectrometers are used in diverse areas, such as, for example, laboratories and industrial process control, for such applications as material identification or inspection, quantitative analysis, purity analysis, and quality control. Near infrared spectrometers are capable of measuring diverse organic materials that have a signature in the near IR region (around 900nm to 2500nm); and can be useful for analysis and process control of solids and liquids in such industries as, for example, pharmaceutical or agriculture.

Traditionally, if an IR spectrometer used a single detector, repeated measurements would be required to perform chemical identification of materials (by sequentially measuring the parts spectrum of a sample and then analyzing the combined spectrum to identify the characteristic absorption lines of target chemicals). This method can be inaccurate, expensive, time- consuming and require highly skilled technicians. Fourier transform spectroscopy, a measurement technique in which spectra are collected based on measurements of the temporal coherence of a radiation source using time domain measurements of the electromagnetic spectrum of another type of radiation, can use a single detector and can provide very high sensitivity. However, FTIR instruments reportedly tend to be relatively large and expensive and tend to be more suitable for laboratory settings, since they are extremely sensitive to the environment around them (measurements could be affected by changes in temperature, vibration and other parameters).

Innovative Features

Polychromix’s near infrared (NIR) spectrometers use Digital Transform Spectrometer™ (DTS™) technology to address key needs in the chemical analysis market for to provide a more compact, lower cost, low power NIR spectrometer that can provide a more convenient, cost-effective and streamlined approach to NIR spectroscopy and materials identification and characterization applications. In contrast to other IR spectrometers that use interferometers or detector arrays, Polychromix’s NIR technology can enable smaller, more convenient and economical, low-power, battery-operated devices that are particularly conducive to field operations. The user friendly handhelds can be programmed and used by non-technical users to perform analytical tasks, streamline processes and extend the reach of bench-top devices.

Moreover, the company’s technology allows for integrated, cost-effective process monitoring device that can be installed at desired locations in the plant. In contrast, the paradigm in NIR-based process control has been to use a centralized spectrometer (typically a relatively large, dedicated device situated in a laboratory facility in a central location in the plant). This spectrometer can be connected via optical fiber to probes located throughout the process lines. This system incurs a high cost; and Polychromix’s spectrometer technology and products reduce the cost and complications in using NIR spectrometers.

In Polychromix’s DTS spectrometers, the wavelengths of incoming light are separated into a spectrum by a fixed diffraction grating. The spectrum is projected onto the surface of a MEMS chip (micro diffraction grating). The surface of the MEMS chip consists of long, narrow, programmable reflective elements. Elements in a certain area of the chip are grouped as pixel. When elements in a pixel are retained at the similar physical level, their surface reflects light impinging on them. When every other element in the pixel is activated by applying a voltage to an electrode beneath it, it slightly retracts to a lower that its neighboring elements and the wavelengths impinging on the elements are diffracted away.

When a scan is conducted, different pixels are activated in a programmed pattern. The reflected spectrum, minus the diffracted wavelength, is focused on the indium gallium arsenide detector, which senses the total spectrum transferred. When a full scan sequence is completed, the appropriate digital transform encoding is applied to the measured transform, and a spectrum in the wavelength-versus-intensity format is generated.

Polychromix’s NIR spectrometer products help decrease the cost and complexity of using NIR spectroscopy and provide a more convenient, cost-effective, and simple means of using NIR spectrometers in a wider range of chemical analysis applications. In chemical analysis, sampling methods can be easier to implement for NIR spectroscopic tools than for mid-IR spectroscopic tools, although the information content of near-infrared spectra are more convoluted than the corresponding mid-IR spectra.

Polychromix’s user-friendly handhelds can be programmed and used by non-technical users to perform analytical tasks, streamline processes and extend the reach of benchtop devices. The company has been able to fulfill unmet needs of its customers across a range of industries including recycling; pharmaceutical; aerospace and composite materials; food and beverage; and agriculture.

Polychromix’s Phazir™ handheld NIR analyzer manifests the company’s vision of leveraging their technology to build portable and handheld devices for use in the field rather than requiring a sample to be taken to the lab for analysis. Phazir incorporates the MEMS chip, a grating to spread the light spectrum across 100 individual regions of the chip, and indium gallium arsenide detector, light source, probe to interact with the target material, computer, and display. Phazir can be trained through statistical software to correlate the features of a measured spectrum with a particular target material. The short-wavelength version of Phazir has a spectral range of about 1000-1800 nm; the long-wavelength version has a spectral range of about 1,600-2,400 nm.

Phazir can be used for quantitative applications (e.g., determining chemical concentration, or the thickness or moisture content of a material) and for qualitative applications (e.g., material identification or inspection). Applications for Phazir include, for example,: pharmaceutical (e.g., incoming material inspection, quality control); food and beverage (e.g., raw material verification, moisture or oil content); agriculture (e.g., ripeness of fruits or vegetables); recycling of plastics and polymers; determining the thickness of coatings and paints; and aerospace composite materials (e.g., determining damage to aircraft composite materials or the curing of resins).

Polychromix exemplifies key practices that can lead to very effective product development and innovation. The company’s culture fosters product innovation, entrepreneurial activity, and the ability to respond to changing market conditions. Polychromix is comprised of a closely-knit team where R&D, engineering, sales and marketing personnel work closely together to address customer needs. It is a market driven company that is highly responsive to what creates real value for its customers.

Polychromix possesses considerable expertise in such areas as spectroscopy and MEMS and it has successfully leveraged such expertise for its product development and innovation. Polychromix’s technological expertise, and its deep understanding of key quantitative (e.g., determining chemical concentration, or the thickness or moisture content of a material) and qualitative applications (e.g., material identification or inspection) for NIR spectroscopy, have allowed the company to create effective spectroscopic devices that are particularly well suited to key user needs and requirements.

A vital element of the company is its dedicated research program, through which it has been able to develop and provide distinct, differentiated products that address key market needs. For example, the company’s NIR DTS spectrometers all use the MEMS spatial light modulator and include products that address general-purpose NIR applications, such as quality control, education, R&D, and industrial process control. Moreover, Polychromix has leveraged technology that was initially developed in conjunction with a DARPA contract with an aye toward defense-related applications to address a diverse array of applications.

The DTS product line was developed after talking to customers who expressed their desire for cost-effective miniaturized spectrometers. Polychromix identified a potential to expand the existing NIR spectroscopy industry by enabling applications that were heretofore impractical.

The Phazir was also developed as a direct response to a large aerospace manufacturer’s need for a handheld solution. In that case, portability was essential, since large samples could not be brought to the lab. Polychromix identified the technology’s uniqueness in building cost-effective handheld systems and the ability to generate value for a broad set of customers with similar unmet needs. Significantly, Phazir’s development timeline was only 9 months. The accelerated development timeline was made possible by the excellent internal communication between the different parts of the company.

In a testimony to its technology’s attractiveness and market potential, Polychromix has succeeded in attracting significant funding from top tier funds such as Siemens Venture Capital; Seed Capital Partners, Lighthouse Capital Partners, Navigator Technology Ventures, and Pyramid Technology Ventures. In all Polychromix has been able to attract approximately $23 million in venture funding. The funding, which occurred in three rounds has given the company much needed impetus to proceed with its developmental objectives. Round A funding enabled Polychromix to develop and perfect its MEMS technology; Round B enabled it to develop its first product lines; and Round C helped it market and ramp-up manufacturing.

Polychromix has also shown considerable vision and foresight by forming strategic collaborations with key players to further enhance its technology’s commercialization. For example, the company has a distribution agreement with Ocean Optics (a supplier of optical sensing solutions) to sell Polychromix products worldwide. Polychromix also has some other partnerships with major industrial corporations.

In addition, the company has a collaborative agreement with NASA to provide NIR spectrometers to determine water content on the surface of the moon. Under the agreement, NASA will outfit LCROSS, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (slated to be launched circa early 2009), with Polychromix’s NIR spectrometers, which provide key attributes for mission-critical measurements: low power consumption and weight, small size, robustness, lack of moving parts, and high reliability. The NIR spectrometers will help identify the presence of water ice at the moon’s North and South Poles.

Finally, Polychromix has built up an extensive IP portfolio. It holds several patents and exclusive licenses that have allowed it to build differentiated products. The main U.S. patents include: Electrically Programmable Diffraction Grating (#5,757,536); Optical Apparatus for Forming Correlation Spectrometers & Optical Processors (#6,768,589); and Actuable Diffractive Optical Processor (#7,046,410). Patents under exclusive license from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology include: Methods & Apparatus for Diffractive Optical Processing using an Actuatable Structure (#6,724,125); Electrostatically Controllable Diffraction Grating (#6,664,706); and Precision Electrostatic Actuation & Positioning. Patent applications include: Spectrometer Providing Wavelength Control And Method For Same (#10/752,212); and Apparatus And Method Providing A Hand Held Spectrometer (#60/763,284).

Conclusion

In summary, Polychromix, Inc has earned Frost & Sullivan’s Award for Product Innovation of the Year in infrared chemical analysis, materials characterization and identification instruments, in recognition of its sustained product development efforts that led to the introduction of a more compact, convenient, and cost-effective near-infrared spectrometer, which could help spearhead the expansion of opportunities and applications for infrared spectroscopy across diverse applications.

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