News and Updates

Displaying 1 - 25 of 37

Bullseye! NIST Devises a Method to Accurately Center Quantum Dots Within Photonic Chips

March 18, 2024

Devices that capture the brilliant light from millions of quantum dots, including chip-scale lasers and optical amplifiers, have made the transition from

Leveling-Up SEM Measurements for Chip Manufacturing

May 31, 2023

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and KLA Corporation, a provider of inspection and measurement systems for the

Chip Circuit for Light Could Be Applied to Quantum Computations

January 3, 2023

The ability to transmit and manipulate the smallest unit of light, the photon, with minimal loss, plays a pivotal role in optical communications as well as

nucleic acid nanotechnology illustration

A Revolution Still in the Making: NIST Researchers Chart the Future of Nucleic Acid Nanotechnology

October 27, 2022

Trapped in a microscopic cage made of strands of DNA, molecules of a life-saving drug course through the bloodstream of a cancer patient. Only when receptors on

No Fib: NIST Unmasks a Superfast Process for Nanoscale Machining

August 23, 2022

Cutting intricate patterns as small as several billionths of a meter deep and wide, the focused ion beam (FIB) is an essential tool for deconstructing and

Sneezes, Rain Clouds and Ink Jets: NIST Improves the Ability of Optical Microscopes to Measure the Volume of Microdroplets

December 20, 2021

Sneezes, rain clouds, and ink jet printers: They all produce or contain liquid droplets so tiny it would take several billion of them to fill a liter bottle

Escape From Flatland: Calibration Method Enables Microscopes to Make Accurate Measurements in All 3 Dimensions

June 24, 2021

Conventional microscopes provide essential information about samples in two dimensions — the plane of the microscope slide. But flat is not all that. In many

NIST Publishes a Beginner’s Guide to DNA Origami

January 8, 2021

In a technique known as DNA origami, researchers fold long strands of DNA over and over again to construct a variety of tiny 3D structures, including miniature

A novel, low-cost method detects nanoscale contaminants during manufacture of semiconductor devices

October 19, 2020

As computer chips and other electronic devices continue to shrink in size, they become ever more sensitive to contamination. However, detecting the nanoscale

A man in safety goggles gives a thumbs-up while sitting at a computer.

Spotlight: Theorizing Between Postdoc and Adviser About the Future of DNA Origami

September 22, 2020

Some assembly required — NIST postdoctoral researcher Jacob Majikes takes the smallest fragments of life and combines them into new structures ... or rather

Spotlight: Addressing the Minuscule Measuring Needs of the Nanotechnology Community

February 21, 2020

A tooth? An angel? A strong man? Instead of seeing patterns in clouds, our scientists go to the microscope! NIST’s Ravi Attota uses a simple optical microscope

A Bubbly New Way to Detect the Magnetic Fields of Nanometer-Scale Particles

June 10, 2019

As if they were bubbles expanding in a just-opened bottle of champagne, tiny circular regions of magnetism can be rapidly enlarged to provide a precise method

NIST Study Resolves Fine Details of How Microscopic Machines Can Fail in the Blink of an Eye

November 27, 2018

How long can tiny gears and other microscopic moving parts last before they wear out? What are the warning signs that these components are about to fail, which

An electron micrograph showing many blue-colored nanoscale (billionth of a meter) particles of varying sizes and shapes scattered atop a silicon wafer.

Connecting the (Nano) Dots: NIST Says Big-Picture Thinking Can Advance Nanoparticle Manufacturing

August 22, 2018

Nanoparticle manufacturing, the production of material units less than 100 nanometers in size (100,000 times smaller than a marble), is proving the adage that

A New Way to Measure Energy in Microscopic Machines

June 8, 2018

What drives cells to live and engines to move? It all comes down to a quantity that scientists call “free energy,” essentially the energy that can be extracted

NIST Puts the Optical Microscope Under the Microscope to Achieve Atomic Accuracy

May 22, 2018

Over the last two decades, scientists have discovered that the optical microscope can be used to detect, track and image objects much smaller than their

sphere-shaped particles of different sizes on a nanometer-scale staircase with 7 steps

Atomic Blasting Creates New Devices to Measure Nanoparticles

December 14, 2017

Like sandblasting at the nanometer scale, focused beams of ions ablate hard materials to form intricate three-dimensional patterns. The beams can create tiny

Image showing several lines of a circuit, with an inset showing a device that has both a quantum dot and a network of waveguides

Hybrid Circuit Combines Single-Photon Generator and Efficient Waveguides on One Chip

November 7, 2017

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their collaborators have taken a new step forward in the quest to build quantum

Researchers Find New Way to Manipulate Magnetism

September 14, 2017

In a pioneering effort to control, measure and understand magnetism at the atomic level, researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and

How To Tell When a Nanoparticle is Out of Shape

December 20, 2016

Nanoparticles -- those with diameters less than one-thousandth the width of a human hair -- are increasingly prevalent in high technology, medicine, and

NIST Illuminates Transfer of Nanoscale Motion Through Microscale Machine

September 12, 2016

From the printing press to the jet engine, mechanical machines with moving parts have been a mainstay of technology for centuries. As U.S. industry develops

Improving CD-AFM Measurements from the Tip Down

March 31, 2016

As the sizes of computer chips in electronic devices continue to shrink, traditional measurement tools (e.g., microscopes utilizing visible light) are no longer

Detecting Effects of 3D Shapes in Nanoscale Chip Features

April 27, 2015

As microchip feature dimensions approach atomic scale, it becomes formidably difficult to measure their size and shape. According to the International

NIST Shows Ultrasonically Propelled Nanorods Spin Dizzyingly Fast

July 21, 2014

Vibrate a solution of rod-shaped metal nanoparticles in water with ultrasound and they'll spin around their long axes like tiny drill bits. Why? No one yet

Don't Blink! NIST Studies Why Quantum Dots Suffer from 'Fluorescence Intermittency'

May 20, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), working in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory, have found that a

Advanced communications
-Open Radio Access Network (Open-RAN)
-Quantum communications
-Spectrum sharing
-Wireless (RF)
Bioscience
-Bioimaging
-Bioinformatics
-Biomanufacturing
-Biomaterials
-Cell biology
-Cell-free systems
-Engineering / synthetic biology
-Gene delivery systems
-Genome editing
-Genomics
-Glycomics
-Metabolomics
-Microbial measurements
-Proteomics
-Sequence screening
-Transcriptomics
Buildings and Construction
-Building codes and standards
-Building control systems
-Building damage and repair
-Building economics
-Building materials
-Energy efficiency
-Heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment
-Indoor air quality
-Structural engineering
-Thermal comfort
Chemistry
-Analytical chemistry
-Chemical engineering and processing
-Chemical thermodynamics and chemical properties
-Molecular characterization
-Theoretical chemistry and modeling
-Thermochemical properties
Electronics
-Electromagnetics
-Flexible electronics
-Magnetoelectronics
-Optoelectronics
-Organic electronics
-Semiconductors
-Sensors
-Superconducting electronics
Energy
-Alternative energy
-Conventional energy
-Electric power / smart grid
-Fuels
Environment
-Air / water / soil quality
-Climate
-Environmental health
-Greenhouse gas measurements
-Marine science
-Sustainability
Fire
-Emergency building evacuation
-Fire detection
-Fire dynamics and science
-Fire fighting
-Fire modeling
-Fire risk reduction
-Materials flammability
-Structural fire resistance
-Wildland urban interface fire
Forensic Science
-Digital evidence
-Drugs and toxicology
-Firearms and toolmarks
-Forensic biometrics
-Forensic genetics
-Trace evidence
Health
-Biopharmaceuticals
-Cell and gene therapy
-Clinical diagnostics
-Dentistry
-Food and nutrition
-Human microbiome
-Medical imaging
-Precision medicine
-Regenerative medicine and advanced therapy
Information technology
-Artificial intelligence
--AI measurement and evaluation
--Applied AI
--Fundamental AI
--Hardware for AI
--Machine learning
--Trustworthy and responsible AI
-Biometrics
-Cloud computing and virtualization
-Complex systems
-Computational science
-Conformance testing
-Cyber-physical systems
--Smart cities
-Cybersecurity
--Cryptography
--Cybersecurity education and workforce development
--Cybersecurity measurement
--Identity and access management
--Privacy engineering
--Risk management
--Securing emerging technologies
--Trustworthy networks
--Trustworthy platforms
-Data and informatics
--Human language technology
--Information retrieval
--Natural language processing
-Federal information processing standards (FIPS)
-Health IT
-Internet of Things (IoT)
-Interoperability testing
-Location based services
-Mobile
-Networking
--Mobile and wireless networking
--Network management and monitoring
--Network modeling and analysis
--Network security and robustness
--Network test and measurement
--Next generation networks
--Protocol design and standardization
--Software defined and virtual networks
-Privacy
-Software research
--Software testing
-Usability and human factors
--Accessibility
-Video analytics
-Virtual / augmented reality
-Visualization research
-Voting systems
Infrastructure
Manufacturing
-Additive manufacturing
-Factory communications
-Factory operations planning and control
-Interoperability in manufacturing
-Machining
-Manufacturing economics
-Manufacturing quality assurance
-Manufacturing systems design and analysis
-Monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics
-Process improvement
-Process measurement and control
-Product data
-Robotics in manufacturing
--Agility and adaptability
--Collaborative robots
--Dexterous grasping
--Manipulation
--Mobility and industrial autonomous vehicles
--Navigation / actuation / control
--Sensing and perception
-Supply chain
-Sustainable manufacturing
-Systems engineering
-Systems integration
-Technology commercialization
Materials
-Ceramics
-Composites
-Concrete / cement
-Materials characterization
--Composition and structure
--Mechanical properties
--Thermal properties
-Metals
-Modeling and computational material science
-Polymers
-Superconductors
Mathematics and statistics
-Experiment design
-Image and signal processing
-Modeling and simulation research
-Numerical methods and software
-Statistical analysis
-Uncertainty quantification
Metrology
-Amount of substance
-Dimensional metrology
-Electrical / electromagnetic metrology
-Flow metrology and rheology
-Force metrology
-Humidity metrology
-Ionizing radiation metrology
-Mass metrology
-Metric
-Optical / photometry / laser metrology
-Pressure and vacuum metrology
-Thermometry metrology
-Time and frequency metrology
-Weights and measures
Nanotechnology
-Nanobiotechnology
-Nanochemistry
-Nanoelectronics
-Nanofabrication / manufacturing
--Lithography
--Self-assembly
-Nanofluidics
-Nanomagnetics
-Nanomaterials
-Nanomechanics
-Nanometrology
-Nanophotonics
-Nanophysics
-Nanoplasmonics
Neutron research
Performance excellence
-Assessment tools and services
-Baldrige award
-Baldrige examiners
-Baldrige Framework and Criteria
-Best practices
-Leadership development
Physics
-Atomic / molecular / quantum
-Biological physics
-Condensed matter
-Electron physics
-Magnetics
-Nuclear physics
-Optical physics and communications
-Quantum information science
-Radiation
-Spectroscopy
-Thermodynamics
-Time and frequency
Public safety
-Chemical / Biological / Radiological / Nuclear / Explosives (CBRNE)
-First responder preparedness
-Law enforcement
-Public safety communications research
-Response robots
Resilience
-Community resilience
-Disaster and failure studies
-Earthquake risk reduction
-Resilience economics
-Resilient materials
-Windstorm impact reduction
Standards
-Accreditation
-Calibration services
-Conformity assessment
-Documentary standards
-Frameworks
-Quality assurance
-Reference data
-Reference instruments
-Reference materials
-Standards education
Technology transfer
Transportation
-Aerospace
-Automotive