Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Samuel M. Stavis (Fed)

Samuel M. Stavis is the Leader of the Nanostructure Fabrication and Measurement Group. He received a B.S.E. in Engineering Physics from the University of Michigan and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University, where he was also a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biological and Environmental Engineering. At Cornell, he performed early research in measuring fluorescence from single molecules in nanofluidic devices. Sam joined the NIST staff through a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associateship award. At NIST, he has advanced what is possible to make and measure at small scales. By developing and combining fabrication processes, device technologies, and microscopy methods, he has established new ways and limits of controlling and quantitating nanoscale systems. His research has diverse applications in manufacturing, healthcare, and the environment. Sam has received a Bronze Medal award, two Innovations in Measurement Science awards, a Strategic and Emerging Research Initiative award in support of the Circular Economy Program, and an Outstanding Authorship award from NIST.

Selected Publications

Publications

Sub-picoliter Traceability of Microdroplet Gravimetry and Microscopy

Author(s)
Lindsay C. C. Elliott, Adam L. Pintar, Craig R. Copeland, Thomas Brian Renegar, Ronald G. Dixson, Robert Ilic, R. Michael Verkouteren, Samuel M. Stavis
Volumetric analysis of single microdroplets is difficult to perform by ensemble gravimetry, whereas optical microscopy is often inaccurate beyond the resolution

Patents (2018-Present)

Patent description for Critical-Dimension Localization Microscopy

Apparatus for Critical-Dimension Localization Microscopy

NIST Inventors
Samuel M. Stavis and Craig Copeland
Patent Description Critical-Dimension Localization Microscopy (CDLM) is a new calibration and measurement method that establishes SI-traceability of optical microscopy and enables subnanometer localization accuracy over a submillimeter field. NIST fabricated arrays of sub-resolution apertures in an
Drawings describing the technology within patent 10,639,634

Vacuum Compatible Fluid Sampler

NIST Inventors
James Alexander Liddle , Samuel M. Stavis and Glenn Holland
Patent Description This invention is a complete system comprising a novel chip and chip holder that enables routine, high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of samples in liquids and high-pressure gases in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The system overcomes limitations in liquid-layer
Diagram of cells and other components within a blood vessel

Measuring a size distribution of nucleic acid molecules in a sample

NIST Inventors
Craig Copeland and Samuel M. Stavis
Patent Description This invention is a method for measuring the size of single nucleic-acid molecules. Measuring the size of nucleic-acid molecules is important in a variety of applications ranging from criminal forensics to clinical diagnostics. The invention advances conventional methods and
an image showing several different charts and figures that is titled "High-Resolution imaging and spectroscopy at High Pressure: A Novel Liquid Cell for the TEM"

Vacuum Compatible Fluid Sampler

NIST Inventors
Glenn Holland , Samuel M. Stavis and James Alexander Liddle
Patent Description The transmission electron microscope (TEM), with its ability to deliver atomic-scale spatial, and < 100 meV spectroscopic resolution, has enabled countless breakthroughs in materials science. From the early days of TEM development, researchers have sought to use the power of this
Created April 17, 2019, Updated December 8, 2022