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Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 25

AC-DC Difference

Ongoing
The use of thermal converters for ac voltage metrology was introduced by Frank Hermach at NIST in 1952. The basic thermal converter is a thermoelement, consisting of a thermocouple positioned at the midpoint of a heater wire, enclosed in an evacuated bulb. The thermoelement senses the heat generated

Advanced Materials Metrology

Ongoing
Electromagnetic devices cannot operate without the interaction of electromagnetic waves with materials, and the characterization of the interface between fields and materials will be a critical task for any device or metrology development from nanoscale to larger scales. Areas of impact over the

Advanced Metering in Smart Distribution Grids

Completed
Objective: To advance measurement science for the performance of smart meters and associated metering standards and test procedures that will enable accurate and fair electricity metering needed for the smart grid, by 2016. What is the new technical idea? This project will develop test procedures

Advanced Microwave Photonics

Ongoing
NIST is home to a broad interdisciplinary program in quantum information science. NIST is exploring multiple implementations of qubits and strategies for taking advantage of quantum effects to compute, simulate, and improve fundamental measurement strategies. Josephson junctions are at the heart of

Amplifiers

Ongoing
We have developed parametric amplifiers based on two different technologies: Josephson Junctions and superconductors with high kinetic inductance, a representation of the kinetic energy of superconducting Cooper-pair charge carriers. Junction-based parametric amplifiers (JPAs) are well suited 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

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

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

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

Hierarchical Materials

Ongoing
The STG develops the methods and metrology that will lead to the understanding of the structure-property relationships of hierarchical composites in real medical PPE or protective applications, which heretofore has been lacking. This work establishes in situ monitoring of advanced manufacturing

High-Frequency Electronics

Ongoing
This project supports the metrology of advanced electronic circuits and systems through many activities centered around accurate measurements and characterizations, improving device models and designs, enabling traceability of complicated electronics systems, and incorporating advanced technologies

Hybrid Quantum Optomechanical Systems with Solid-State Artificial Atoms

Ongoing
Quantum Dot – Surface Acoustic Wave Microwave-to-Optical Transducers In this project, we focus on coupling nanoscale acoustic resonators with InAs quantum dot (QD) single photon sources (Fig. 1). At ultra-low temperatures, such as those in a dilution refrigerator, the acoustic resonators act as

Integrated CMOS Testbeds for Nanoelectronics and Machine Learning

Ongoing
The increasingly complex device requirements for next-generation computing architectures such as neuromorphic computing or nanoelectronic machine learning accelerators present challenges for researchers across the spectrum of institutions, from small businesses and universities to government

Measuring Intermolecular Interactions with Electro-Acoustic Spectroscopy

Ongoing
We have a number of opportunities to collaborate with us. See below for details. What does this project aim to do for the chemical industry? Many industrial processes depend on the intermolecular environment- the solvents and ions that surround a molecule. These interactions impact separations

Metrology of the Ohm

Ongoing
The Metrology of the Ohm Project has been a leader in providing internationally consistent resistance standards that are readily available to support the scientific and industrial foundations of the U.S. economy. Through this very broad customer base, the activities of the project enable cost

Nanoelectromagnetics

Ongoing
The primary goal of this program is metrology that enables advanced nanoscale device (including electronics, spintronics, and life science) development. Based on current trends in electronics, we are focusing on metrology for two classes of devices: (1) nanoscale devices utilizing and exploring new

Precision Electro-Mechanical Experiments (PREME)

Ongoing
NIST-4 Kibble Balance Previously called ‘the Electronic Kilogram’ Project, a major component of PREME is the realization of SI unit of mass, the kilogram, using the NIST-4 Kibble balance, the fourth generation of Kibble balances at NIST. This is accomplished through a high-accuracy comparison of

Precision Materials for Quantum Devices

Ongoing
MBE System Our fabrication system is composed of ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chambers that support the in-vacuum exchange of 75 mm wafers without exposure to air as seen in Figure 1. These chambers are: (1) a deposition chamber with electron gun deposition, UHV compatible sputter guns, in situ shadow

Quantum Conductance

Ongoing
Inset: Example of an array device design. (a) An illustration of the graphene quantized Hall array resistance device with NbTiN interconnections (dark grey) between individual QHR elements (light grey) and the positions of the bonding wires that were used for the measurement (blue). The red inset

Quantum Voltage Project

Ongoing
Researchers in the Quantum Voltage Project develop and disseminate highly accurate instruments that exploit the quantum mechanical properties of superconductive devices known as Josephson junctions (JJs), as well as measurement techniques and best-practices for using these instruments. When a JJ is

Quantum Waveform Metrology

Ongoing
The recent redefinition of the SI was motivated in part by the success of quantum-based electrical standards, such as those based on the Josephson effect. Quantum standards enable the direct realization of physical quantities that are traceable to fundamental constants, invariant with respect to

Single Photonics and Quantum Information

Ongoing
One of the activities in this group is the development of single photon technologies for quantum information science and technology. We work closely with the Nanostructure Fabrication and Metrology Project on the generation of novel non-classical states of light and the detection of single photons

Thermal Noise Metrology

Ongoing
Customer Needs Noise is a crucial consideration in designing or assessing the performance of virtually any electronic device or system that involves detection or processing of a signal. This includes communications systems, such as cellular phones and home entertainment systems, as well as systems

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