The DREEBIT GmbH was created as a spin-off from departments of the Technische Universität Dresden and the Dresden Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum GmbH in October 2006. The company reached a balanced budget in 2007, its first full year in business, with a turnover of about € 750,000. At present the DREEBIT GmbH employs 11 permanent staffs. Dr. Grossmann, CEO of DREEBIT, explains the business plan: "in 2008 we expect a significant growth, especially in the ion beam technology sector. This is due to the development of new business areas such as medical particle therapy and surface analysis on both micrometer and nanometer scales."

The business philosophy of the DREEBIT GmbH is based on the fact that nanotechnology is one of the most important future technologies. It does not only represent a basic technology in the classical sense, but also is a new interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach for further advances in electronics, optics, medicine, biotechnology and new materials. The key is that many new functions and features enhancing existing or future products and applications result from the nanoscale system components. Highly charged ions are an instrument for the realization of these advanced technologies. They are characterized by a high neutralization energy which interacting with solid surfaces is released in extremely short times and small areas. This results in very high energy densities at the surface. Moreover, highly charged ions have several new features which were not available until now in "classical" low charged ions.

Based on this concept the business idea of the DREEBIT GmbH has been developed: creating economic and reliable ion sources according to the principle of EBIT technology. Due to on-going research and development in this field a family of ion sources for highly charged ions has been set into operation (see picture) which are applied in many domains of science. The unique selling point is that highly charged ions are produced in very compact machines compared to other known systems. Furthermore, they are long-term stable and low-priced. This principle of ion production has been patented in Europe and the USA and has been applied for a patent in Japan.

Target customers are global scientific institutions such as universities, governmental and industrial research institutes related to scientific fields such as solid-state physics, surface analysis, nuclear physics, fusion research, radiation biology and medicine. Most prospective customers are companies within medical technology and high technology industries. For instance, the application of the ion sources in cancer therapy is prepared in cooperation with scientists from Austria and industrial partners.

Ion source family for the stable and efficient production of highly charged ions developed by the DREEBIT GmbH.

The commitment to developing high technology requires not only marketable solutions but also a coherent and meaningful service concept. Therefore, the DREEBIT GmbH has been established with two core business units, ion beam technology and service of vacuum components.

In addition to a market development it is important to be present in regions with many high technology industries. In order to open up new markets in Japan and Asia an international distributor agreement has been concluded with the NISSHO ELECTRONICS Corp. Tokyo. The document was signed at the fair Nanotech 2008 in Tokyo on 14th February by the General Director of the Nanofilm Business Unit of the NISSHO Group, Mr Yasuo Mishiro, and the CTO of the DREEBIT GmbH, Dr. Günter Zschornack, with the presence of the official head of the Department of Business Development of the city of Dresden Mrs. Birgit Monßen and the project manager Japan of the Business Development of Saxony Mrs. Karin Heidenreich (see photo).

Handshake between Dr. G. Zschornack (left) and Y. Mishiro (right) after signing the contract with the presence of K. Heidenreich (2nd from left) and B. Monßen (2nd from right).

After the contract was signed Dr. Zschornack said: "The application of highly charged ions in high technology will open up new possibilities we do not know about. Therefore, we are very happy to have found a strong partner who will customize the market in Japan. Thus, we expect new impetus to the improvement of our technologies as well as new and creative access to business and science in Japan."

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