Award Data

This project will develop a new scientific instrument optimized for the advanced characterization of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles that can exist as left- or right-handed structures (enantiomers). Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are the leading current example of such nanomaterials. Applied NanoFluorescence, LLC (ANF) proposes a novel multi-mode chiroptical spectrometer that can ...

Xidex proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of calibrating a critical-dimension atomic force microscope (CD-AFM) without the use of a reference artifact in such a way that high-precision critical dimensions can be generated independently of changes in probe tip shape. We plan to demonstrate sub-nanometer repeatability for tip-to-tip calibration, and demonstrate single-point critical-dimension me ...

The Direct Digital Phase Noise Measurement Phase 1 SBIR demonstrated the feasibility of the technology to make the measurements required by the commercial marketplace. This new approach to phase noise measurements uses fast digital-to-analog converters to digitize the input RF signal and performs all down-conversion and phase detection functions by digital signal processing. It has several signifi ...

Conventional characterization and test methods are increasingly ineffective when applied to structures less than 100 nanometers, causing challenges across R&D, process control and failure analysis. An increasing number of subtle defects become prominent drivers of failure as device size and operating margins decrease, e.g., processing anomalies in thin gate oxides, substrate problems related to do ...

We will develop a series of object manipulation primitives to pick up and assemble standard mechanical parts such as screws, gears and pulleys that can be configured without any programming skills. Building up on a smart robotic gripper, 3D perception and machine learning algorithms, we will design a graphical user interface for the Universal Robot E-Series that allows an user to label arbitrary 3 ...

Modern Model-Based Enterprise / Engineering (MBE) systems rely on freeform surfaces built as complex combinations of geometric primitives to define engineered objects. Unfortunately, the intersection of freeform surfaces in MBE applications results in highly approximated solutions, degrading models that cost billions annually by US industry to fix. Current technology limits the abilities of users ...

In this Phase I SBIR proposal, SandBox Semiconductor™ proposes to develop an Advanced Manufacturing and Material Measurements software tool called Weave ™ for accelerating and automating SEM image analysis for the semiconductor industry. During the development of a new manufacturing process line for a semiconductor device, tens of thousands of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images are take ...

A semiconductor metrology tool will be developed employing the technique of small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) to measure the critical dimension (CD) of patterned device structures. The feasibility of the SAXS technique to measure CD has been shown using high-power synchrotron radiation facilities which are not of practical use to the semiconductor industry. The ultimate project goal is to produc ...

CAD CAM technologies have had an immense impact on the product development process in the last two decades. Current technologies, however, have limited knowledge representation and computational capabilities to enable collaboration of design decisions beyond commercial Internet based collaboration tools. In the Phase 1 Lateral Eye proposes to develop a new framework for Knowledge Integrated comput ...

We will focus our diode based multiplier technologies toward achieving a source suitable for the NIST imaging system in the 200 ¿ 400 GHz band. To date our best doubler to 200 GHz generates up to 55 mW of (CW) power with 30% efficiency and 15% (3dB) bandwidth. However, the NIST imaging system requires pulsed performance with more than an order of magnitude higher peak input power. Thus, the mul ...