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Materials

Materials characterization

Projects/Programs

Displaying 76 - 96 of 96
CNT_interconnect_failure

Reliability Metrologies for Advanced Electronic Interconnects

Completed
High-performance devices, such as microprocessors and memory chips, are typically composed of structures with strict dimensional tolerances and geometries and are made up of various materials, all in close proximity in a three-dimensional system. Material interactions lead to reliability issues such

Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Ion Source Development

Ongoing
In SIMS, a typical analysis requires <1 % of the surface to be sampled, which minimizes chemical damage in the form of molecular fragmentation due to energetic ion bombardment. Cluster sources such as C 60 and Ar GCIB allow for efficient removal of the damage volume, and by operating the analysis
Cross section of a SAC solder joint in a BGA, with sketches of potential micro specimens

Small Scale Mechanical Testing

Ongoing
Knowledge of a material’s mechanical properties is key to designing safe and reliable structural components for applications ranging in size from medical implants to large civil engineering structures. Traditionally, a material’s mechanical properties are measured by performing mechanical tests on
Photograph of SRM 3103a showing a labeled clear glass ampoule and labeled box against a blue background.

Standard Solution SRMs Provide Traceability for Millions of Measurements

Ongoing
Literally millions of measurements of elemental composition are performed each year worldwide. The vast majority of these measurements depend upon reference materials for establishing traceability of results to the SI. Leveraged through commercial CRM producers, the NIST SRM 3100 series provides an
Breathalyzer

Standards Development to Ensure Reliable Breath Analysis in the Field

Ongoing
Numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been identified in human breath. These compounds can be produced by the body or by organisms in the body (e.g., bacteria or viruses) and provide a non-invasive window into human health. Inexpensive point-of-care devices are being developed to diagnose

Structural Metrology of Advanced Manufacturing Processes

Ongoing
Understanding material structures in advanced manufacturing is crucial because it enables precise control over material properties, leading to improved performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in production processes. However, this understanding poses many challenges, such as the
subnanoscale electron microscopy figure

Sub-nanoscale electron microscopy of complex nanostructures

Ongoing
The properties of advance materials are becoming ever more reliant on the ability to manipulate their chemistry and structure at very fine length scales. For example, the relevant feature sizes in state-of-the-art transistors continue to decrease, even as the complexity of the architectures employed

Surface Desorption Ambient Mass Spectrometry

Ongoing
The Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group maintains a range of research avenues into the characterization, analysis, and optimization of various commercial and in-house developed surface desorption ion sources. These research avenues also aim to advance our fundamental understanding of the
Sustainable Metals Image Circular Blue and Green Arrows

Sustainable Metals Processing and Alloy Development

Ongoing
Foundational measurement science is being developed to support sustainable innovations through alloy design and optimization. The integration of experiments and computational thermodynamics and kinetics tools with mechanistic models enables the prediction of key processing-structure-property

Synchrotron Resonant Scattering and Diffraction

Ongoing
The Resonant Scattering and Diffraction effort seeks to develop measurements that provide spatial correlations in chemical, electronic, and physical structure in advanced materials. Scattering technology is developed as part of the NIST BNL partnership at the National Synchrotron Light Source II in

Synchrotron X-ray Absorbance Spectroscopy

Ongoing
The Absorbance Spectroscopy effort seeks to develop measurements that provide details of the local chemical, electronic, and physical structure in advanced materials. Spectrometer technology is developed as part of the NIST BNL partnership at the National Synchrotron Light Source II in Upton, NY

Synchrotron X-ray Spectroscopic Imaging

Ongoing
Building off technologies and expertise developed in the Synchrotron X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy project, the Spectroscopic Imaging effort seeks to develop measurements that provide spatial mapping of the local chemical, electronic, and physical structure in advanced materials. Technology is
Project Infographic for synthesis and longevity of candidate direct air capture (DAC) materials

Synthesis and longevity of candidate direct air capture (DAC) materials

Ongoing
We have been working on the identification and development of repeatable synthesis techniques for DAC materials for the purposes of generating repeatable samples for evaluating DAC characterization techniques. We have initially focused on impregnated and grafted aminosilane-silica materials. We are

Thermal Desorption Ambient Mass Spectrometry

Ongoing
The Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group is involved in a number of research avenues for the rapid screening of wipe-collected samples for the security and forensic chemistry fields. Similar to the widely-deploy ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) systems for screening, this is accomplished through

Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Ongoing
ToF-SIMS is an imaging mass spectrometry (MS) technique that allows us to obtain isotopic, elemental, and molecular information from the surface of solid samples. A pulsed, energetic “primary” ion beam bombards the surface and induces a collision cascade, liberating “secondary” ions that are then

Tissue Engineering

Ongoing
Tissue Engineering Measurands: Tissue engineering measurands are confusing to discuss and a charting method to improve communication is demonstrated. Measurement Assurance Strategies for Regenerative Medicine: Reliable methods for assessing product consistency and quality. Regenerative Medicine
Topological Insulators SbTe

Topological Insulators

Ongoing
Dichalcogenide-Based Topological Insulators A family of TI materials can by synthesized by combining binary compounds of Bismuth (Bi) or Antimony (Sb) with Selenium (Se) and Tellurium (Te) to form Bi 2Se 3, Bi 2Te 3, and Sb 2Te 3 compounds. In these material compounds, the spin of the electron has a
SRM 3452 certified Seebeck coefficient data

Transport Property Measurements for Semiconductors and Energy Materials

Ongoing
The properties of materials and interfaces that govern reliability, performance, and thermal transport in advanced microelectronic packages are not fully characterized or understood, especially at device length scales wherein properties may differ significantly from bulk or literature values
Sample in cryostat.

Ultrafast Spectroscopy to Advance Microelectronics

Ongoing
Continued advancement in microelectronics, including analog and digital electronics, power electronics, optics and photonics, and micromechanics for memory, processing, sensing, and communications as defined by the OSTP “National Strategy on Microelectronics Research,” requires knowledge of material
example sample for tomography

X-Ray Computed Microtomography

Ongoing
Impact XCT gives information that cannot be obtained any other way from opaque materials and objects. It gives us an “eye inside” so that features, of a certain size range, can be seen. The Division’s XCT instruments can reconstruct 3D images with a voxel size down to about 0.5 micrometers, at the
Catalyst Testbed

X-ray Testbed for Breakthrough Catalyst Measurements

Ongoing
Interested in collaborating? See below What does this project do for industry? Current measurement techniques are unable to follow the reaction pathways during catalysis and are limited to observing only the end products or looking at catalysts outside of realistic reaction conditions. Our new
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