Determination of the elemental composition of the outermost layer of alloys is crucial for the design of self-sustainingcoatings for the first wall materials in a fusion reactor. direct recoil spectroscopy (drs) overcomes the limitations inherent in all other surface analytical approaches for the… More

Determination of the surface stoichiometry of semiconductor surfaces during processing by mbe or cvd is desireable. direct recoil spectroscopy (drs) may overcome the limitations inherent in conventional surface analysis so that analysis of gaas surfaces simultaneously for h, c, o, n, al, si, fe, zn,… More

Design, simulation, fabrication, and evaluation of a prototype very large scale integration (vlsi) data acquisition subsystem is proposed. available state-of-the-art one micron cmos technology may allow incorporation of more than 128 channels of 24-bit 300 mhz counters into a single integrated… More

An instrument is under development that will quantitatively measure isotopic ratios on a solid or liquid surface of uranium (or other elements). the instrument uses a pulsed ion beam at grazing incidence to knock surface atoms off in billiard ball type collisions. some of these atoms are ionized and… More

Electron loss spectroscopy for vibrational analysis is an established technique best suited for adsorbates on polishedmetallic surfaces. ionwerks proposes a departure from the standard instrumentation which allow vibrational measurements on practical surfaces such as rough metallic oxides. our… More

We will explore the possibility of fabricating superconductor material using low energy ion beam techniques. the goal will be both to improve the epitaxial growth of superconductor thin films on substrates and to remove the necessity of harsh post-annealling in oxygen ambients.

We will explore the possibility of fabricating superconductor material using a low energy high flux atomic oxygen source. the goal will be both to improve the epitaxial growth of superconductor thin films on substrates and to remove the necessity of harsh post-annealling in oxygen ambients.

Surface metal oxide and oxyhydroxide layers have been implicated as tritium traps in stainless steels. a new technique is being developed for measuring hydrogen isotope diffusion within this layer and within permeation barriers meant to limit tritium inventory in these materials.

A new technique is being developed for minority isotope and trace element analysis on solid surfaces. the apparatus is simple, reliable, and relatively inexpensive. direct recoiling of surface atoms results in complete reduction to elemental ions. molecular isobaric interferences are eliminated… More

The high pressure limits of a new proprietary technique for surface elemental and isotopic analysis are being explored. the technique should be useful in the millitorr pressure regime, thus allowing measurement of thin film stoichiometry during growth and processing. the present research is focusing… More

A technique will be demonstrated which can provide accurate and quantia technique will be demonstrated which can provide accurate and quantitative elemental analysis in real time during epilayer growth and proctative elemental analysis in real time during epilayer growth and processing. the… More

When making a structure like AlGaAs or SiGe by heteroexpitaxial growth techniques, it would be nice to know when one atomic layer is completed so that the next can be started. The quality of the device depends on accurate control of the thickness and purity of each layer. Currently, no way exists to… More

A new approach to generating atomic hydrogen (and possibly N and O) will give atomic fluxes of 10(-19) atoms/cm(-2) over a three inch wafer positioned three inches in front of the source. Scalt up to larger areas may be possible in phase II. We will examine the use of this source as an alternative… More

Ionwerks has begun an internally funded project to design and manufacture an MBE growth chamber specifically designed and optimized for wide bandgap nitrides (compatible with Si/Ge growth also). This chamber will include two proprietary growth techniques which we have found to be crucial for… More

Understanding the behavior on n- and p-type doped cubic boron nitride (cbn) thin films is important to the ability to make electronic devices to take advantage of the thermal as well as electronic properties of cbn. n- and p-type doped cbn are being grown using atomic layer epitaxy (ale) in a… More

A novel nitrogen beam source will provide 5 eV atomic and molecular nitrogen to a 0.5 cm diameter circle with a flux of 10(21)/cm(2)/sec. Larger areas can be irradiated with a lower flux (eg. 10(18)/cm(2)/sec over a 2" diameter wafer). The technique will put minimal gas load into the chamber so it… More

A unique approach to formation of nitride materials using matrix isolation methods will be attempted. Large quantities of reactants can be prepared and forced to react under much more controlled conditions than in CVD or MBE. Important issues that will be addressed are epitaxial growth and growth… More

Good insitu tools exist for measuring temperatures and thickness during epitaxial thin film growth. In contrast, almost no technique gives information on surface elemental composition in real time. We propose an extremely simple experiment which can be performed with an ion source little… More

Not Available Maximizing the use of available frequency spectrum is crucial for both military and commercial systems today. The class of waveforms called Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) signaling, with Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) as a specific instantiation, have been shown to be highly… More

Not Available ITN proposes a new, innovative material system and rigidizing approach for self-rigidizing inflatable space structures, comprising: graphite fiber/thermoplastic matrix composite (Gr/TP) material with an inflatable inner bladder and an outer restraining sk

Recent innovations in diamond and boron nitride field emissive thin film fabrication have yielded materials which may be suitable as replacements for hot filament electron ionizers for mass spectrometers. Our phase I effort will be to fabricate an innovative ionizer structure and implement it in our… More

Recent innovations in diamond and boron nitride field emissive thin film fabrication have yielded materials which may be suitable as replacements for hot filament electron ionizers for mass spectrometers. Our phase I effort will be to fabricate an innovative ionizer structure and implement it in our… More

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I (SBIR) project will test Cesium Iodide cluster ion beams as an alternative to lasers for desorbing bioions from a MALDI ((Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization) matrix. This offers the possiblity of performing the post source decay tandem mass… More

Previous phase II work has resulted in a compact Time-of-Flight mass spectrometer developed for sensitive detection of hydrogen and oxygen leaks prior to and during the few seconds after engine start and before launch of the space shuttle. The main challenges for this application--sensitivity,… More

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses problems of the synthesis and separation of carbon nanotubes for a wide range of nanotechnology applications. We propose to use unique capabilities of Laser Desorption Ionization - Ion Mobility Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposal is focused on the development of a commercial instrument capable of rapid, high-throughput identification of peptides based on matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, ion mobility spectrometry,… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this research program is to develop an infrared laser desorption ionization (IR-LDI ion mobility mass spectrometer (IMMS) for application to the analysis of biomolecules in complex systems such as direct tissue studies and the identification of the… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ion mobility (IM) is a perfect instrumental platform for slowing and separating peptide ions-this innovation has enabled efficient VUV photofragmentation (IM-oTOFMS/MS) to be demonstrated in phase I. VUV photofragmentation yields a near perfect technology for "on… More

An innovative and highly patented Ion Mobility orthogonal Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (IM-oTOF MS) will characterize SWNT (single wall nanotube) growth in a laser oven reactor. Time evolution of the size distributions of carbon and metal catalyst cluster growth (either free or attached to… More

In Phase I we have demonstrated the detection and identification of products of carbon single wall nanotubes (SWNT) synthesis by the laser oven growth process using our unique method of Ion Mobility orthogonal Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (IM oTOF MS). The Phase II will be aimed at the… More

Miniaturization of mass spectrometers is restricted almost exclusively by the ability of small vacuum pumps to remove gas loads during operation of the instrument. Our answer to this dilemma is a specialized interface that focuses a parallel beam of ionized gas molecules through an orifice that is… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The development of an infrared laser desorption ionization ion mobility mass spectrometer (IR LDI IM MS) will be continued. The analysis of test biomolecules such as peptides and proteins in the Phase I of the project h as demonstrated that the new system's… More

The magnitude and dynamic range of data being generated by the NIDA MALDI-IM-o-TOFMS molecular imaging spectrometer demands a new approach to bioinfomatics. We are now able to record the spatial location of most molecules on the surface of bio-sample and a re attempting to develop techniques which… More

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is to develop a secondary electron detector which can be co-axially mounted with a micro-focused ion beam. Backscattered neutral atoms (and ions) and secondary electrons will be analyzed to give a measure both of surface element location and… More

Surface analysis of many classes of large polymers (e.g. non-polar synthetic polymer) by laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) is not possible using existing MALDI matrices. Here, we uniquely address this problem by combining two recent proprietary commercial products available exclusively from… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Within the volume of a single cell, lines an extensive amount of information. The current scope of molecular imaging using mass spectrometry typically swamps the cell volume with organic acid matrix just to get observable signals. Herein lies the problem. Putting… More