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Projects/Programs

Displaying 26 - 50 of 125

Earth Energy Budget

Ongoing
The Earth Energy Balance is a fundamental climate measurement that has been monitored from space for over 40 years. Microfabricated, absolutely calibrated bolometers with vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes that are developed by this project provide a more accurate and more compact method for

Electric Power Metrology and the Smart Grid

Ongoing
Major advancements in electric power generation, transmission, distribution and loads over the last 20 years have led to improvements, reliability, robustness, efficiency and energy security unlike anything from the proceeding 80 years. Combined, this power grid modernization has been called the

Electrical Characterization of Nanoscale Electron Devices

Ongoing
Over the decades, many measurement methods were developed to meet the needs of advancing electron device/circuit/system technology. As technology continue to advance, new needs continue to surface, either due to old measurements are no longer adequate or due to no established method exists. A case

Electromagnetic Field Strength Metrology

Ongoing
NIST calibrates electrically-small field probes from 10 megahertz – 40 gigahertz. These measurements are done in facilities that are periodically compared against other National Metrology Institutes in conjunction with the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). This assures international

Electronic Biophysical Measurements

Ongoing
We develop measurements that leverage electronic signal transduction using FETs to maximize sensitivity and improve the resolution of biomolecular measurements. The techniques allow direct charge transduction during molecular interactions to quantify fundamental biophysical processes. Critically the

Electronic Material Characterization

Ongoing
Manufacturing optimized devices that incorporate newly-emerging materials requires predictable performance throughout device lifetimes. Unexpected degradation in device performance, sometimes leading to failure, is often traceable to poor material reliability. Reliability is rooted in the stability

Electronic Structure and Dynamics in Quantum Materials

Ongoing
Photoemission-based methods that interrogate solid state electronic structure have played a pivotal role in identifying and understanding key features of emerging materials. Band structure information from Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscpy (ARPES) provided the first evidence for the d-wave

Electron-Solid Interactions

Ongoing
A measuring instrument produces a signal that depends upon the value of the measurand. The value and its uncertainty are inferred from the signal by using a model of their relationship. Erroneous models lead to erroneous inference. The accuracy of SEM (scanning electron microscopy) is limited by

Engineering and Optical Characterization of Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNPs)

Ongoing
Nanomagnets by Design Nanoparticles are an important subclass of low-dimensional magnetic materials displaying size-dependent magnetic behavior. The controllable magnetocrystalline anisotropy introduced at nanoscale size regimes (as low as 3 nms in diameter) allows for MNPs of ferro/ferrimagnetic

EUV Scatterometry

Ongoing
To measure and inspect the smallest printed features on an IC chip, researchers and manufacturers use a combination of electron scanning modalities (i.e., transmission electron and scanning electron microscopies) and an optical method, scatterometry. Industrially, the most common modality for

Evaluation of 2D and WBG Material Quality Toward Device Reliability

Ongoing
Two-dimensional (2D) and wide band gap (WBG) materials are some of the latest materials classes having the potential to be transformative because of their high carrier mobilities, tunable bandgap, and atomic-scale film thicknesses. Unexpected degradation and failure in device performance is often

Extreme Atom Probe Tomography

Ongoing
Sub-nanometer-resolved 3-D chemical mapping of any atom in any solid continues to be an imperative goal of materials research. If reduced to practice, it would have profound scientific, engineering, and economic impacts on U.S. industries collectively worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Such

Extreme ultraviolet optical constants

Ongoing
Measurements of EUV optical constants are often made by measuring the absorption or near-normal-incidence reflectivity, then performing transforms to obtain both the real and imaginary parts of the index. These sorts of measurements have considerable uncertainty because they require knowledge of

Farad and Impedance Metrology

Ongoing
The primary facility for connecting the U.S. legal system of electrical units to the international system of units is the NIST calculable capacitor, with which the measurement of capacitance is effectively achieved through a measurement of length. Both the calculable capacitor and the chain of high

Fatigue in Silicon

Ongoing
It has long been thought that bulk silicon is immune to fatigue. We present contrary evidence by demonstrating severe fatigue in macroscale specimens. Cracks are produced during cyclic loading of monocrystalline silicon plates with a 3 mm radius sphere indenter mounted onto a universal testing

Fiber Sources and Applications Background Information

Ongoing
NIST has been a world leader in lasers since the technology's development in the early 1960s, a tradition continued when NIST scientist John L. Hall shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics for his part in the invention of the optical frequency comb. The output of a comb is a brief broadband pulse

Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Designs for Metrology

Ongoing
Until recently, the precision measurement of phase noise, spectral purity, and related quantities had been a challenging process, with only a handful of qualified experts in the world. However, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based measurement systems, similar to software defined radio (SDR)

Flexible and Printed Electronics

Ongoing
Approach Developing commercial products based on organic electronics requires materials that deliver predictable and reproducible performance. One advantage of these materials is their compatibility with versatile solution processing methods. However, this advantage can lead to unpredictable

Flow Metering and Properties for Semiconductor Process Gases

Ongoing
A type of flow meter called a mass flow controller (MFC) is used to regulate gas flow in order to produce the desired structures during chip fabrication. As semiconductor manufacturing advances, the requirements on MFC performance are increasingly strict: any process variation can reduce device

Flux Quantum Electronics

Ongoing
Quantum-Based Reference Sources The demand for wireless communications has exploded over the last 2 decades and there is no end in sight. The quest for higher bandwidth is driving the use of higher carrier frequencies in the microwave and millimeter-wave (>30 GHz) bands. However, there are no

FOREST

Ongoing
The goals of the research are to: Provide a testbed (Forested Optical Reference for Evaluating Sensor Technology, FOREST) for ecophysiological and optical sensors with well-established reference points Investigate ecosystem phenomenology that will allow for better estimates of carbon flux Improve

Fundamental Electromagnetic Technologies and Standards

Ongoing
This focus area develops theory, metrology, and standards for the technologies upon which the future of both wired and wireless communications depends. These developments are then leveraged to provide better measurement services to U.S. industry through extended frequency range, lowered uncertainty

Fundamental Guided Wave Metrology

Ongoing
The science of microwave measurements is expanding in many different directions. There is a constant push to use higher frequencies. Signals are becoming much more complex and include modulation effects, multiport/differential signals, complex waveforms, and other unusual signal schemes. On-wafer

Future Computing Systems and AI

Ongoing
Electrons confined in arrays of semiconductor nanostructures, called quantum dots (QDs), are a promising quantum computing approach. Due to the ease of control of the relevant parameters, fast measurement of the spin and charge states, relatively long decoherence times, and their potential for