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Projects/Programs

Displaying 26 - 50 of 108

Dimensional Metrology for Nanoscale Patterns

Completed
Dimensional metrology and control is a critical component of semiconductor fabrication. State-of-the-art integrated circuits are comprised of nearly a billion nanoscale transistors linked together by an equally as impressive nanoscale network of conductors, insulators, and capacitors. To ensure that

DUV/EUV Nanoscopy for Imaging Nanostructures

Ongoing
Novel optical nanoscopy techniques using deep-ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) laser sources are developed to characterize nanostructures with high dimensional sensitivity and low uncertainty for advancing the semiconductor devices manufacturing process. The illumination beam is

Dynamic EUV Imaging and Spectroscopy for Microelectronics

Ongoing
Collaborations with industry leaders have led us to develop new measurement techniques to improve our understanding thermal transport, spin transport, and nanoscopic (and interfacial) material properties in active device structures. Such capability requires the ability to measure these properties at

Ecogenotoxicity Measurements of Nanoparticles

Completed
Intended Impact Understanding the potential environmental fate of NPs has direct implications to the US economy, as potential environmental and human health impacts of NPs is one of the main factors slowing the commercialization of this technology. Reducing the uncertainty regarding 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

Electrical Scanning Probe Microscopy

Ongoing
Electrical scanning probe microscopes (eSPMs) are a subset of scanning probe microscopes which measure some electrical parameter as well as surface topography. These include techniques such as scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM), scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM), conductive atomic

Electron-beam lithography

Ongoing
Electron-beam lithography allows fine control of nanostructure features that form the basis of diverse device technologies. Lateral resolution of 10 nm, placement accuracy of 1 nm, and patterning fields of 1 mm are all possible. However, achieving these performance metrics depends on many

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

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

Environmental Leaching of Nanoparticles from Consumer Products

Ongoing
New nanotechnology-based consumer products are currently entering the market at a rate of 3 or 4 per week, and it is estimated that $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods will contain nanotechnology by 2014. Unfortunately, the overall safety of short- and long-term exposure to nanoparticles and the

Exciton and Charge Transport Dynamics in Organic Semiconductors

Ongoing
Our approach toward establishing connections between the application space and physical phenomena includes developing electrical/optical devices and measurements that can be used for physical measurement, physical measurements that can be applied to real devices, and device design that can be tuned

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

Fluctuations and Nanoscale Control Software (Archived)

Completed
For each file YYY.m, type "doc YYY" from the Matlab command prompt for documentation, literature references, and usage guidelines. DSigma2_Est.m Estimates the diffusion coefficient (D) and localization noise (σ 2 or "Sigma2") from single-particle tracking data. It implements the algorithms for the

Focused-ion-beam machining

Ongoing
Structure determines function in diverse nanotechnologies, so that making devices to control or measure nanoscale phenomena begins with control of nanoscale structure. Few fabrication systems outperform the focused ion beam to pattern nanostructures by directing ions of various elements to an

Forensic Topography and Surface Metrology

Ongoing
Surface texture and microform Surface texture affects the functionality of many products, ranging from bearings to semiconductors and optics. Affected properties include aesthetics, friction, wear, lubrication, sealing, light scattering, and conductivity. Improvements in parameters and metrology to

Fundamental Interaction Mechanisms of Engineered Nanomaterials with DNA

Completed
Intended impact Nanotechnology research has resulted in the rapid creation of engineered nanomaterials with many foreseeable applications in medical imaging/diagnosis and in drug delivery. However, there is a notable scarcity of both acute and chronic human toxicity data for these new materials

GaN Nanowire Growth

Ongoing
Selective epitaxy: We have demonstrated that the diameter and placement of nanowires can be controlled by using silicon nitride (SiNx) masks on top of MBE-grown buffer layers (see figure). With electron beam lithography, several patterns with 3 mm die size that provide over 100,000 controlled

GaN Nanowire Metrology and Applications

Ongoing
GaN Nanowire LEDs: Our selective epitaxy methods and dopant characterization techniques have enabled fabrication of arrays of nanowire LEDs with controlled location and spatial layout. This development is complemented by modeling of the carrier flow and recombination. These LEDs were combined to

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 Near-field Optoelectronic (INFO) Scanning Probe

Ongoing
In a collaboration between the Nanoelectromagnetics Project and the Quantitative Imaging Project, we have fabricated and tested a GaN nanowire mounted on an AFM tip as a near-field scanning microwave microscopy (NSMM ) tip (see Fig. 2(a) below ). A tungsten atomic layer deposition (ALD) coating

Integrated Photonics

Ongoing
The Integrated Photonics Project utilizes heterogeneous materials integration to demonstrate novel optoelectronic devices such as semiconductor lasers, wavelength converters, and polarization rotators with compact form. We use materials including silicon, silicon dioxide, tantalum pentoxide, and