Commercialization of the Alibava System Manuel Lozano 3rd EIROforum School on Instrumentation Presentation Manuel Lozano I work at Centro Nacional de Microelectrnica (CNM) Belongs to Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) The largest R&D organism in Spain Located in Barcelona (Spain) Devoted to Nano and Microelectronics Micro Nano Fabrication Facility (Clean Room) At CNM there is a group dedicated to radiation detectors which started in 1996 Some Views of Clean Room Activities in Radiation Detectors Silicon radiation detectors Layout design, simulation, fabrication, characterization Pad, strip and pixel designs P-in-N, N-in-P and N-in-N technologies developed Silicon oxigenation 3D detectors Electrodes deep into silicon bulk Low full depletion voltage Neutron detectors Pad pitch adaptors (fanins) Medical imaging X-ray radiation pixel detectors DEAR-MAMA European Project Real time stereotactic biopsy Complete pre-industrial system Hardware, software, chip design Radiation effects on devices and materials Silicon radiation detectors MOS, BiCMOS and bipolar techs. Thin dielectrics for submicronic technologies High density bump bonding Fine pitch by electrodeposition For pixel sensors Alibava Systems, S.L. Alibava Systems, S.L. is a young, small company founded by Spanish, Italians and British scientists working in radiation detectors The company is dedicated to readout electronics for radiation detectors Is a spin-off from CSIC CSIC licensed the technology I will explain the process that motivate us to create it And the experience of starting a new company Radiation detectors Radiation detection: Fully depleted reverse biased PN diode Radiation generates electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor Charges drift to the electrodes under the electric field Current pulse at the terminal Need for testing Quality control Performance Radiation degradation New structure development -V D P+ N N+ Spatial Charge Region (Depleted) t I IRIR Radiation detector testing Previous test systems Not simple electronic system Each Institute developed its own hardware and software Example: ATLAS module test system (Cambridge, RAL, UCL) Cumbersome, expensive, difficult to access, difficult to use Alibava System A group of physicist and engineers decided to develop a compact, portable, easy to use detector characterization system It was designed to fulfill the needs of CERN RD50 Collaboration members We defined the specifications Readout chip (not resources for a new development): LHCb Beetle System architecture: FPGA Split in to boards USB connection Two year development RD50 support We made three units for ourselves Other groups inside RD50 asked for one system We had no resources and asked RD50 for a subvention to afford the production of 25 units We started commercializing the system using an Institute belonging to Spanish Research Council (CSIC) We decide to apply a discount to RD50 members in compensation for the subvention The Alibava (A Liverpool Barcelona Valencia) System was launched Alibaba System The ALIBAVA SYSTEM is the first compact and portable system for the characterization of microstrip semiconductor radiation detectors. Elements of the system: Detector board (DB); houses the front end electronics and line drivers Mother board (MB): housing the DAQ and the drivers for communication with the PC/Laptop. Software: for system configuration, data acquisition, and analysis Plug-and-Play with Linux and Windows Alibaba System The DB hosts two Beetle ASICs, the Pitch Adapters (PA) and the detectors Up to 256 channels readout The MB provides a synchronised and programmable output trigger signal to drive a pulsed laser Complete software package with auto-install included: connect and get results! Software includes communication driver to the system, configuration and analysis package. Everything is adjusted by default Expansion After the first batch of 25 units more institutes were asking for a system and we decided to expand and create a company We were dedicating a lot of time to commercial tasks, software development, fabrication, customer support, etc. We wanted to further develop the system, develop accessories, improvements, etc. We were limited inside the Research Council This was a large amount of extra work and dedication We were not getting any personal compensation (money) from it WHY? The main object of a company is making profit and create wealth Create a company is not so easy We started taking courses on entrepreneurship Better if one of the partners has an MBA or similar We prepare all the necessary documentation Business Plan Market study SWOT analysis Company statutes Partner agreement (... and capital of the company) CSIC Licence agreement Extra problems as most of us are civil servants and we have legal limitations Another year planification and work Spin-off Creation When launching a technological company it is important to consider the "Valley of Death" The distance between research prototype and market product is huge It is important to consider what the market wants Not what is nice, interesting, appealing, innovative, etc. for engineers In Alibava we started launching a research system, which helped us to fill the gap. Ruling a company is not so easy Apart of the interesting engineering activities The company has to deal with: Look for funding Salaries Tax declaration Annual account declaration VAT, export, customs Customer support Repairing Web page maintenance Sales and marketing actions Going to conferences, fairs,... Need expert people Customers Alibava is the reference system for radiation detector performance studies Most of RD50 groups are using it Customers from many countries More than 30 publications in journals and conferences cite Alibava System Good support service Software upgrades User Community developing new analysis macros Future development You can not maintain a company with a single product It is necessary to have future developments in mind since the beginning (Business Plan) We develop custom system daughter boardson demand The present system is now "Alibava System I" It needs an external power supply and laser (or radiactive source or particle beam) A new Alibava System will be launched in September incorporating power supply and low cost laser An tracking telescope based on Alibava system is already developed A special fanin to read pixel detectors with the system is ready. It is being use to test ATLAS FE-I4 pixel sensors Alibava System for education Simple and friendly system to illustrates the operation of a silicon strip detector. Students could learn easily concepts as: Noise vs bias voltage; Signal spectrum of m.i.p.; Cluster size; Position resolutions; and many more concepts The system will have power supply, laser with positioning system 128 channel strip detector trigger exercise book all in a portable briefcase Other products Alibava Telescope Custom Daugther Boards Two-end DBExtensible DB Trigger card MPW pitch adapter (fanins) Advice for entrepreneurs Little Black Book of Entrepreneurship (El Libro Negro del Emprendedor) by Fernando Trias de Bes Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of any economy, and yet over 90 percent of new entrepreneurial ventures fail The book presents 14 Key Failure Factors that every aspiring entrepreneur should be aware of Most entrepreneur guides focus on the mechanics of raising capital, drafting a business plan, and handling licensing, but they overlook the serious self-reflection that is required in the decision to launch a business. Advice for entrepreneurs Some of the failure factors: Start with a reason, but without a motivation Not being a fighter Having partners where you can actually do without them. Choosing partners without a relevant selection criteria Go equal paarts when not everyone brings the same Lack of trust and communication with partners Think that success depends on the idea Start without assuming the impact it will have on our life balance Create business models that do not provide benefits quickly and are not sustainable ... Be brave and create a company But, in spite of this Contact
