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Material Measurement Laboratory

Projects/Programs

Displaying 326 - 350 of 575

Multiplexed "Detectorless" Electrophoresis

Completed
Intended impact: In the biological sciences, there is an increasing need for measurement tools that can provide high-throughput, high-quality data (consider drug discovery and systems biology, for example). Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is fast, requires only small amounts of sample and reagents
Hybrid_method_small

Multiscale MD-FEM Methodology

Completed
MSED, as a part of the MGI effort within NIST, is developing a multiscale modeling schema, statically coupling finite element modeling (FEM) to atomistic Molecular Dynamics (MD) 1. This methodology allows a far more realistic representation of physical phenomena than that obtained by applying each
Integrated multi-physics simulation and validation

Multiscale Modeling and Validation of Semiconductor Materials and Devices

Ongoing
The limitations of scaling traditional CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductors) designs have necessitated that the semiconductor industry consider new materials and design concepts. For wide bandgap semiconductor devices, optimization of materials and fabrication processes is needed to
USAXS animation

Multiscale structure and dynamics in advanced technological materials

Ongoing
New technologies increasingly harness materials phenomena that operate across many length-scales: e.g., in selective gas adsorption, additive manufacturing, new alloy designs, or advanced concretes. To overcome technology barriers, it is no longer sufficient just to characterize the materials

Nanocalorimetry

Completed
The global market for semiconductor chips is $270 billion. Growth in this industry is driven by the need to enhance performance by packing more transistors into the same chip area, with a relationship between feature size and time that approximately follows Moore's Law. As the feature size shrinks
Nanocalorimeter Measurements Project

Nanocalorimetry Measurements

Ongoing
Accurate thermodynamic measurements are essential to understand fundamental properties of materials, providing direct and quantifiable insight into the thermodynamics of thin film reactions and phase transitions. Going forward, new classes of materials may only be synthesized as thin films, a scale
Nanocalorimetry for Semiconductors and Semiconductor Process Metrology

Nanocalorimetry for Semiconductors and Semiconductor Process Metrology

Ongoing
In September 2022, NIST published a report titled Strategic Opportunities for U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing , which cited, among other challenges, the need to understand and improve heat dissipation and performance in advanced microelectronics. Specifically, there needs to be better measurements

Nanometer Scale Measurements of Crack Tips in Glass

Ongoing
Our approach is to fracture glass samples under controlled conditions in order to elucidate fracture mechanisms. Specimen geometries with well-defined fracture mechanics behavior are used to propagate cracks at controlled velocities ranging from 10-11 m s-1 to 102 m s-1. Fracture surfaces are then
Thin film RGTM, both whole sister wafer and diced wafers for NIST Measurement

Nanometer-Scale Planar Reference Materials

Ongoing
In most industrial fabs today, foundry test artifacts (wafers) are used to test metrology tools and monitor process stability. These wafers are made in partnerships between specific materials providers and metrology tool providers and may have limited or no adoption across foundries. In some

Nanoparticle Assembly in Complex Fluids

Completed
Engineered nanomaterials are promising for technological and medical purposes. However, molecular mechanisms of toxicology are less known. This presents a problem and barrier for future innovation and applications as new nanomaterials are developed for healthcare where particles are intentionally
Nanoparticle Metrology

Nanoparticle Metrology in Complex Cellular Environments

Completed
Nanoparticle interactions with individual cells. Existing techniques to evaluate nanoparticle incorporation include ICP-AES or ICP-MS, which atomize entire samples (thousands of cells) and detect nanoparticles by quantifying the elemental composition. Bulk techniques provide general trends averaged
CRAFM_on_Au_cube

Nanoscale Property Measurements by Atomic Force Microscopy

Ongoing
Over the past several decades, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has advanced from a technique used primarily for surface topography imaging to one capable of characterizing a range of chemical, mechanical, electrical, and magnetic material properties with nanometer resolution. Such characterizations

Nanoscale Thermal Properties

Completed
It is known that at the nanoscale, composition and interface structure play important roles in determining the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of multiphase nanomaterials and nanocomposites. To probe the thermal properties of these heterogeneous nanomaterials, local thermal analysis

Nanotube Metrology

Completed
Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are a tubular form of carbon consisting of a single shell of sp2 bonded carbon with a nanometer scale diameter that have many predicted properties superior to other available materials. However, every production technique for SWCNTs produces many different
Carbon Nanotubes imaged via Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope.

Nanotube Quality Control

Completed
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is widely used to gather data on nanotube chemistry. By monitoring weight loss as a function of temperature, one can determine decomposition kinetics and use this data to closely approximate the distribution of impurities present in a few milligrams of material

Nature of the Threat

Ongoing
"Improving Particle Collection Efficiency of Sampling Wipes used for Trace Chemical Detection", Gillen, Greg and Lawrence, Jeffrey and Sisco, Edward and Staymates, Matthew E. and Verkouteren, Jennifer and Robinson, Elizabeth L. and Bulk, Alexander, Anal. Methods, 14, 581-587 (2022). http://dx.doi

NCAL: Data Management

Ongoing
In the mechanical testing and materials science communities there is not a widely accepted solution for data management of test data. As part of NIST efforts on data archiving, provenance, and availability, we have worked to improve our data practices. We have extended our system beyond many out-of

NCAL: Diffraction Stress Measurement Under Applied Load

Ongoing
Using X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques one can measure the full stress tensor just inside the surface of a sheet metal specimen under applied loading. This permits the measurement of biaxial stress states resulting from directly applied deformation (see NCAL: Multiaxial Material Performance) or

NCAL: Intermediate Strain Rate Testing

Ongoing
This project seeks to improve servohydraulic testing methods at intermediate strain rates by addressing the well-known problems associated with excessive stress oscillations (ringing) that currently limit our understanding of the mechanical behavior of engineering materials for loading conditions

NCAL: International Documentary Standards Activities

Ongoing
NIST Center for Automotive Lightweighting (NCAL) staff participate in many different international standards committees (e.g. ISO TC 164, ASTM E28 and D30); however, our main focus has been in the mechanical testing of metals and, to a lesser extent, composites. We work on the calibration and

NCAL: Materials Testing 2.0

Ongoing
The traditional approach to calibrating material models, known as Materials Testing 1.0, is a time-consuming and costly process that requires multiple experiments to be performed on different types of testing equipment. This not only results in high capital costs for testing machines but also leads
2 meter diameter horizontal mechanical test machine with control computers

NCAL: Multiaxial Material Performance

Ongoing
Modern metal forming methods are designed and optimized using digital models of specific manufacturing operations. These models rely on a precise understanding of the mechanical behavior of sheet materials as they undergo multiaxial loading out to large plastic strains without failure (necking or

NCAL: NIST Center for Automotive Lightweighting

Ongoing
The ongoing development of new, advanced lightweight materials presents opportunities for the USA automotive industry to produce better, more reliable and less expensive products provided the new materials can be efficiently manufactured. The use of lightweight materials in automobiles, such as
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