Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchHUMMINGBIRD PRECISION MACHINE CO.
UEI: YL5LGSA9X7N3
Number of Employees: 22
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2005
36
Phase I Awards
22
Phase II Awards
61.11%
Conversion Rate
$5,976,873
Phase I Dollars
$22,004,679
Phase II Dollars
$27,981,552
Total Awarded
Awards
Multiport high-pressure synchrotron x-ray microscopy cell
Amount: $1,100,000 Topic: C51-09a
Multi-mode high-magnification synchrotron X-ray techniques, such as scanning transmission X- ray microscopy (STXM), combined with electron microscopy offer unparalleled insights into material structures and chemical properties at atomic resolution. These capabilities are critical for advancing industrial and energy processes. However, current tools for these techniques lack the ability to replicate real-world conditions, such as pressures above atmospheric levels, which are common in industrial and natural processes. Addressing this gap, the Department of Energy has solicited the development of advanced sample holders and fluid membrane designs that enable in-situ mixing of multiple gases at pressures up to 100 bar. This represents a significant advancement over existing solutions, which are limited to pressures of 1–2 bar and cannot handle complex gas mixtures. Hummingbird Scientific has previously in this project designed, prototyped, and successfully tested a multi-modal high-pressure fluid cell capable of imaging mixed reagents in X-ray microscopes (XRM), transmission electron microscopes (TEM), and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) at pressures >90 bar and elevated temperatures. Testing across multiple platforms has demonstrated the system’s robust characterization capabilities. Additionally, iterative prototype development has proven the feasibility of scaling this product at competitive costs aligned with industry standards. In this Phase IIB effort, we will incorporate essential updates to meet the evolving standards of in-situ microscopy. Specifically, we aim to integrate gas species quantification capabilities and establish synchronized data collection across all experimental components, including the microscope, applied stimuli, and imaging systems. Commercially, we will adapt the system for compatibility with all major microscope OEMs, ensuring comprehensive market coverage. Technical improvements will include optimizing gas volume within the holder and enhancing gas flow resistance to better protect the microscopes. The proposed advancements will empower scientists to explore critical structure-property relationships in materials and interfacial chemistry. Furthermore, this tool will enable a deeper understanding of the interplay between controlled mixing, pressure modulation, and temperature variation, driving innovations in chemical processes and clean energy production.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2025
DOE
Development of an In-Situ High Voltage Biasing Holder for the Transmission Electron Microscope
Amount: $283,500 Topic: 9
This research focuses on creating a groundbreaking transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in-situ specimen holder that allows for high-voltage biasing experiments—up to 1000V—while enabling real-time imaging of nano-scale electronic components. This innovative tool is essential for advancing the development of next-generaon high-voltage power converters, such as Gallium Nitride (GaN) JFETs. Currently, progress is hindered by insufficient observation methods to investigate critical factors like failure mechanisms, defect dynamics, and structural stability during device operation. By utilizing this in-situ TEM holder, researchers aim to dissect failure modes and their underlying causes to enhance the performance of these power converters. Improvements in this area are pivotal for supporting advancements in renewable energy integration, electric vehicles, power transmission and distribution, medical equipment, and consumer electronics. The project is structured in two phases: Phase I focuses on the development, construction, and testing of the high-voltage TEM holder, while Phase II is dedicated to its commercialization through Hummingbird Scientific’s product line. This research promises to pave the way for significant technological advancements, benefiting numerous industries and the public at large.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2024
DOC
NIST-CHIPS
Development of an Instant Freezing Sample Preparation System for Cryo-EM
Amount: $237,305 Topic: 400
Project Summary Project Title: Development of an Instant Freezing Sample Preparation System for Cryo-EM Company Name: Hummingbird Precision Machine Co., dba Hummingbird Scientific Principal Investigator: Norman Salmon Summary: The field of cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has rapidly been gaining traction as a structural characterization technique for proteins. Sample preparation for cryo-EM is advantageous over other proven techniques like x-ray crystallography as proteins do not need to be crystallized for high-resolution structural analysis. While the cryo-EM sample preparation technique keeps proteins in their native form, cryo-EM suffers from a bottleneck in both quality and throughput of samples. Recent advances in the field have focused on increasing sample throughput through automated preparation techniques. However, the more important problem in cryo-EM samples now has become protein damage from the air-water interface. Before vitreous freezing, proteins in the sample droplet collide and stick to the droplet surface, where they denature to form an unraveled monolayer. The more time the sample is exposed before freezing, the more time proteins have time to interact with the surface and denature. Current commercial systems fail to directly address the problems associated with the interface, focusing instead on the automated production of samples with thin, vitreous ice. While these improvements are valuable to the overall goals of reducing ice thickness, they ignore damage to the sample molecules themselves, preventing users from repeatably obtaining high-resolution structures. The proposed project aims to revolutionize sample preparation techniques for cryo-EM by exploring a method of generating higher quality samples that exhibit significantly less damage from the air-water interface. The proposed system aims to limit sample exposure to the air-water interface by reducing the rate of freezing by an order of magnitude. In order to reduce damage from the air-water interface with high quality samples, the system will aim to vitrify samples in less than 10 ms with a large percentage of ice suitable for high-resolution imaging. This “fast freezing” system also is also conceived to populate sample grids with consistently thin ice by reducing the amount of excess water that is frozen on the grid, creating larger areas of uniform ice and biomolecular sample per grid. Hummingbird Scientific aims to develop and test the theory behind the system in Phase I.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2022
HHS
NIH
Multiport high-pressure synchrotron x-ray microscopy cell
Amount: $1,150,000 Topic: C51-09a
Synchrotron soft X-ray based techniques, combined with scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) and electron microscopy can provide material structural and chemical information down to “atomic resolution”. This information is vital to optimizing many industrial and energy. However, there are no tools available for these instruments that allow scientists to observe reactions as they are implemented in many industrial settings or occur in nature. To address this need, the DOE has solicited the development of a sample holder and fluid membrane designs that can support the in-situ mixing of multiple gasses at pressures up to 100 bar. This is a significant leap in capability, as existing in-situ environmental microscopy solutions only allow 1-2 bars of pressure maximum. In Phase I Hummingbird Scientific successfully designed, built, and tested a prototype fluid holder with multiple input lines to pressure greater than 90 bar. This proof-of-concept holder has demonstrated that it is possible to build a miniature gas reaction cell that is electron and X-ray transparent, and the same time can contain very high internal pressure. We significantly improved the operating pressures by designing special reaction cell membranes and developed microfabrication techniques to successfully manufacture them. We designed our prototype holder to be compatible with both x-ray and electron beam imaging systems. Both systems showed that our reaction cell and holder can successfully facilitate high resolution imaging at high pressures. We also showed that multiple gas channels can be fed and mixed into the reaction chamber at this pressure. In Phase II of this project, we proposed to build out the features of our prototype system into a suite of commercial products that fully capture the market need. Specifically, we aim to integrate a heating element into the nanofabricated gas cell design to meet 1000°C at 100 bar reaction conditions, develop a control system and human interface for this device, and develop the core high-pressure cell technology into commercial products for x-ray, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The proposed product is vital for scientists to expand knowledge of structure-property relationships in materials and interfacial chemistry, and specifically the relationship between controlled mixing, pressure manipulation, and temperature variability for chemical and clean energy production.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
DOE
Continuous Rotation Transmission Electron Microscopy Tomography Stage for Imaging/Spectroscopy and In-Situ Characterization of Materials
Amount: $1,150,000 Topic: C49-15c
Electron tomography produces high-resolution three-dimensional views of transmission electron microscopy samples. This microscopy technique is poised to have a leading role in future structural characterization efforts of relevant samples in next-generation electronic and energy storage devices that increasingly rely on small complex 3D geometries to push performance to the next level. Only when one can characterize the materials in 3D space can one understand and optimize their performance as well as the processes that are used to fabricate them. At present, the current limiting factor in the speed and quality of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) tomographic reconstructions is the total runout in the tilt axes on modern transmission electron microscopes. As a result, for every tilt step, one must correct for sample shift, which makes tomographic dataset collection a slow and tedious process. The built-in microscope stage (side-entry goniometer) was simply not designed with the specifications needed to produce high- resolution 3D tomograms quickly and repeatably. Slow acquisition also results in unnecessarily high electron doses which can result in damage to the specimen under observation. In Phase I of this SBIR, Hummingbird Scientific has prototyped a fast, concentric moving (low runout) dedicated tomography sample stage that we intend to commercialize as a replacement internal stage product for any TEM. We have successfully demonstrated the advantages of this approach by retrofitting a working transmission electron microscope with our prototype in Phase I. In Phase II, Hummingbird will design, manufacture, assemble, and beta test this internal tomography stage with a tomography sample loading system and control interface for collecting 180-degree tomograms. The final target is to be able to collect a full tomogram in 60 seconds. Our tomography stage product will take full advantage of the current generation of high-frame- rate electron detectors to collect data of sufficiently high quality as the sample rotates. We will leverage the internal capabilities at Hummingbird Scientific to engineer, build, and test this tomography stage system and to develop the commercial product proposed in this project. We have added a second TEM in our facility dedicated for TEM stage work to enable our technicians to perform routine assembly and testing work on TEM columns to support this project. Materials research groups focused on studying the 3D structure of nano-scale materials would be the main customer of this product. We plan to be in beta testing this product and collecting scientifically relevant data to be used in marketing activities by the end of Phase II
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
DOE
A high precision piezo driven replacement goniometer for cryoelectron microscopy
Amount: $241,587 Topic: 400
Project Summary Project Title: A high precision piezo driven replacement goniometer for cryoelectron microscopy Company Name: Hummingbird Precision Machine Co., dba Hummingbird Scientific Principal Investigator: Joseph Stevick Summary: Biomolecular structures resolved by cryoelectron microscopy (Cryo-EM) have significantly advanced our understanding of life processes, specifically in the areas of drug design, vaccines, and other microbiological health solutions. The technique has been so successful and transformative that it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2017, and more recently was used to solve the structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from the COVID-19 virus. The biochemical models produced by Cryo-EM studies like this one are vital to researching anti-viral drugs and other microbiological solutions in addition to helping shape our basic understanding of molecular machinery. However, there is a significant technology gap in Cryo-EM hardware that has been overlooked. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) side-entry goniometers (sample positioning systems) were designed before the Cryo-EM technique was developed, and cryogenic side-entry holders are unstable and inconvenient. As a result, closed-loop automated of Cryo-EM workflows becomes inefficient and limited to what the positioning system can achieve rather than what is scientifically important. Time consuming image tracking and error correction methods are currently used to compensate for the poor mechanical positioning capabilities of goniometers and side-entry holders. Our solution is to design a modern sample motion control stage and a corresponding sample holder as a purpose-built combination that is optimized for repeatability, accuracy, and stability at cryogen temperatures. The proposed design will improve state-of-the- art Cryo-EM automation by more than an order of magnitude in precision and increase Dewar life by a factor of 5. This improvement is made possible by a unique ground-up design that optimizes the stage, holder, and cryo-system simultaneously. In Aim 1, we will optimize the stage and holder, utilizing an unconventional design that limits coupled motion, and employs modern mechatronic technologies and sensing methods that will dramatically improve the closed-loop precision of our stage in comparison with current goniometers. In Aim 2, we will optimize the cryo-system design for stable -170°C sample temperatures and ease of use in concert with the stage and holder. As a commercial product, this device would act as a simple retrofit replacement to goniometers on thousands of TEMs that are already dedicated to biological research. Our long-term objective is to empower more scientists with the instruments they need to achieve the best possible Cryo-EM results without having to struggle with basic hardware issues.Project Narrative Project Title: A high precision piezo driven replacement goniometer for cryoelectron microscopy Company Name: Hummingbird Precision Machine Co., dba Hummingbird Scientific Principal Investigator: Joseph Stevick Narrative: Cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) is rapidly becoming a primary method for near- atomic resolution structural mapping of biomolecules. Increased accessibility to modernized cryo-EM capability is needed to facilitate a more rapid advancement of research in many areas of molecular biology including structure-based drug design and virology. This new cryogenic TEM stage hardware capitalizes on modifying existing outdated TEM goniometers with automation and cryogenic imaging hardware that can support the future of cryo-EM research.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
HHS
NIH
Ultra-low temperature liquid helium temperature in-situ (S)TEM stage
Amount: $1,100,000 Topic: 15a
(Scanning) Transmission electron microscopy is a primary characterization method used to determine nanoscale features and the local internal structure of materials. Recently, transmission electron microscopy observations of materials at cryogenic temperatures have gathered significant interest, particularly for evaluating materials related to quantum information systems. Only at temperatures below what can be achieved with liquid nitrogen can the magnetic phases, superconductivity, and topological states of these materials be studied, and only transmission electron microscopy can provide nanometer spatial resolution data. Stable, liquid helium temperature cooled samples in the microscope are therefore necessary to study the most relevant quantum phenomena in sufficient detail. However, there is currently no dedicated transmission electron microscope stage solution specifically designed to stably image samples between liquid helium (4K) and liquid nitrogen (77K) temperatures, and that allows high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of samples throughout that temperature range. In Phase I, Hummingbird Scientific successfully designed, built, and tested a liquid helium temperature internal TEM sample motion stage. This proof-of-concept stage has demonstrated that a retrofit internal stage is a viable commercial product and can address the scientific community’s need for high-resolution transmission electron microscope imaging at temperatures below 77K. Our proposed Phase II commercialization work plan focuses on (1) further optimization of the stage performance based on our Phase I performance results, (2) developing the necessary beta tilt, robotic sample handling for sample loading, and biasing capabilities required for a commercial product, (3) build and test each new feature to a beta LHe TEMstage, and (4) preparing the product for launch by beta testing, manufacturing cost reduction, and compatibility with the major original equipment manufacturer transmission electron microscope configurations. When commercialization efforts of this ultra-low temperature in-situ TEM stage succeed as expected, these methods will become widely available to researchers for understanding interactions over a heretofore-unexplored range of materials and temperatures for quantum material systems. This product will be key in allowing scientists to expand the knowledge of structure-property relationships in materials, specifically the relation between temperature and electronic properties, and will allow for the accelerated development of the next generation of quantum-inspired technologies and 2D materials.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2021
DOE
Streptavidin Affinity Grids for the Preparation of Biological Samples for Cryogenic Electron Microscopy
Amount: $249,464 Topic: 31a
Limitations in sample preparation have become increasingly apparent as a significant limitation to the throughput, resolution, and accuracy of micrographs in cryo-EM. Technological advances in cryo-EM have increased the resolution achievable, and in turn, have revealed the extent to which the air-water interface (AWI) damages biomolecular structures. The AWI is the boundary between the aqueous sample surface and the surrounding environment, before vitrification. The AWI causes preferential orientation of sample molecules and damage to the tertiary structure, preventing accurate 3D reconstructions of the native states of biological structures. The streptavidin affinity grids that will be developed in this proposal are used to tether samples to the grid surface and prevent interactions with the AWI, resulting in a higher percentage of samples suitable for high-resolution imaging per sample grid, and subsequently, higher throughput. The surface of the streptavidin affinity grid is spanned by monolayer crystals of streptavidin, providing support for biotinylated sample molecules and preventing travel to the AWI before vitrification. This preparation technique prevents sample damage or the adoption of preferred orientations. In collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where these grids were originally developed, Phase I of this STTR project will demonstrate the feasibility of batch production of the streptavidin affinity grids. The work plan will include prototyping and development of fixtures to process multiple grids at once using the preparation procedure for single grids developed by Dr. Han at LBNL. Additionally, grids will be tested to validate quality, uniformity, and repeatability in the batch preparation process before Phase II manufacturing development and automation of the procedure. Commercial availability of these grids will provide a widely applicable solution to the AWI for cryo- EM laboratories and remove a significant barrier to the throughput of high-resolution 3D reconstructions of biological sample structures. Structural research provides the basis for further research like predicted new bioenergy materials, increasing the efficiency of biomanufacturing, or developing synthetic alternatives. Overall, these improvements are essential to the movement towards cleaner, more efficient energy.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
DOE
Development of an Ultra-Stable and Repeatable Stage for Enabling Transmission Electron Microscopes with Improved Biomolecular Structure Characterization Capabilities
Amount: $250,000 Topic: 31a
Transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) are a cornerstone of directly-resolved information about the structure and dynamics of the atomic world in biological and inorganic materials alike. Cryoelectron microscopy (Cryo-EM) and tomography (Cryo-ET) are techniques that directly support research to “understand, predict, and design biological processes that underpin innovations for bioenergy and bioproduct production,” as stated by the DOE in their recent SBIR solicitation. Furthermore, these techniques are uniquely capable of providing 3D maps of hydrated biomolecules and are therefore critical to our understanding of life processes at the level of molecular structure and physics. As an imaging technique, Cryo-EM is heavily dependent on the autonomous acquisition of large volumes of image data. However, TEM sample motion control stages (goniometers) in modern TEMs are mechanically and thermally unstable. Mechanically, the motion provided by these devices is unrepeatable. Thermally, they are susceptible to temperature gradients, which cause the sample to drift away from the field of view continually. This makes the stage currently one of the most limiting components of the cryo TEM. Our solution is to provide a better stage for Cryo-EM applications that can be retrofitted to a wide variety of TEM columns for widespread access to the best and fastest Cryo-EM workflows. We propose an internal design for a 5-fold improvement in stability by alleviating the adverse effects of temperature and vibration on resolution. The design also features piezo motor technology to reduce mechanical backlash and other errors that plague current designs for a 100-fold improvement in precision, which will dramatically improve automated image acquisition workflows. Our design also lends itself to highly automated multi-sample Cryo-EM workflows for which we will design an integrated, easy-to-use auto sample loading device. As a product, this system will be integrated into a microscope column segment that can be adapted for compatibility with multiple brands and models of TEM. The combination of these features can dramatically lower the barrier to resolving 3D protein complex structures at near-atomic resolutions
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
DOE
Ultra-Low Temperature Liquid Helium Side Entry Electron Microscopy Holder
Amount: $1,100,000 Topic: 15b
To exploit future quantum computing technologies, it is critical to image quantum processes in materials at high atomic resolution and at low temperatures (between 4 and 70 Kelvin) in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Current instruments aimed at performing this task are both lacking the imaging stability to get good high-resolution images and intimidating/complex to use, which has severely limited their accessibility to researchers and subsequently minimized their impact on science. Both the DOE and the research community in the quantum field have expressed a need for an easy-to-use and highly stable liquid helium-cooled TEM sample holder in order for the fundamental atomic-level physics of quantum systems to be understood and exploited. In response to this need, Hummingbird Scientific has successfully developed, prototyped, and tested new liquid helium (LHe) cooled side-entry holder with in-situ biasing capabilities to demonstrate proof-of-concept in Phase I. Our design is aimed at making LHe temperature imaging and in-situ experimentation more accessible by reducing cooldown times, simplifying biasing connections, and improving sample stability, and thus imaging conditions. Our Phase I results demonstrate that our design can successfully deliver the core capabilities of the product, i.e., extended thermal stability at ~10 Kelvin, electrical biasing, and high-resolution imaging stability. Based on these results, Hummingbird Scientific will in Phase II further develop and commercialize this technology into an advanced LHe cryo/biasing TEM specimen holder with the following features and capabilities: (1) an easy-to-use and reliable electrical stimulus to the sample, (2) double-tilt (α-tilt and β-tilt control) mechanism to orient the sample in several crystallographic facets for structural mapping, (3) Stepwise variable temperature control, and (4) long imaging time (> 1 hour) at high atomic resolution imaging mode. When commercialization efforts of these in-situ TEM systems succeed as expected, these methods will become widely available to researchers for understanding interactions over a heretofore-unexplored range of materials and temperatures for these electronic material systems. This will have a direct positive and accelerating effect on commercial electronic device development as well as on the production of next-generation electronic and quantum computing devices.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2021
DOE