Detecting tiny particles of light using sophisticated silicon technology will become the next big thing in health diagnostics if a young Cork company has its way.
SensL Technologies, a spin-off at the National Microelectronics Research Centre, says it has developed silicon detectors that can count photons - particles of light that are the building blocks of electromagnetic radiation.
Until now, the medical, health and astronomical sectors, which all need to count photons, have used vacuum tube detectors based on 1950s technology. But SensL believes its silicon detectors offer huge cost advantages and is marketing its technology to several companies.
"Our detectors can be used in high-resolution microscopes and in medical imaging, particularly in PET Scanners that are used to detect cancers," says Mr Joe O'Keeffe, SensL chief executive.
Mr O'Keeffe, who worked previously with data centre firm Inflow, says SenL's products are based on 15 years of research by Prof Alan Mathewson and his former student, Dr Carl Jackson, at the National Microelectronics Research Centre.
Dr Jackson is the chief technology officer at SensL and several new researchers will join the firm following its €1 million fund raising last month. SensL says the fundamental research period is complete and time will now be spent engineering the product.
Two European companies, Austrian firm Tecan and British firm Visitech, are testing sensors based on SensL's new technology and a small number of sales have already been made, says Mr O'Keeffe, who was in Canada last week to meet companies that manufacture Pet Scanners.
SensL is the fourth company to emerge recently from the National Microelectronics Research Centre as part of its strategy to commercialise research. It has been funded by Enterprise Ireland and Irish venture capital company Delta Partners. University College Cork has also taken a small stake in the firm in return for access to the intellectual property developed at its centre.
"The global market for photon counting sensors is currently worth $400 million (€309 million) per year and we think we have the only silicon-based solution," says Mr O'Keeffe.
He adds that SensL will probably not have to raise any additional funding until the end of 2005 and should begin to generate revenue through sales of its product this year.
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