Manufacturing Innovation Highlights 2007

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A B C D E G I J L M N O P R S T U V W X

ADA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to develop advanced ultracapacitors for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). The proposed research combines the unique properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes with those of environmentally friendly ionic liquid electrolytes to develop ultracapacitors possessing high performance (energy and power densities) and long life for HEVs. The proposed research will focus on optimization of CNT materials, production of selected CNT electrodes on a larger scale, and fabrication and evaluation of packaged prototype ultracapacitors. Advanced vehicular ultracapacitrs are extremely useful in achieving better fuel economy, decreasing harmful emissions, and reducing the nation's reliance on foreign sources of petroleum. More generally, ultracapacitors are essential components in consumer electronics (ex: notebook computers, cell phones, pagers, video cameras), medical electronics (ex: drug delivery units), and military and defense systems (ex: spacecraft probes, missile systsms). In addition to ultracapacitors, research in the proposed project will also have a broad impact on the applications of carbon nanomaterials to other electronic and electrochemical devices.

ADVANCED THERMAL TECHNOLOGIES

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to develop the use of a gas pressure infiltration casting process to manufacture graphite-metal billet materials that would be used to produce components for high power electronic device packaging. The heat dissipation rate of electronic devices has increased dramatically as a result of advances in semiconductor materials, faster switching speeds, compression of circuit physical architecture, and miniaturization of device envelops. These market trends are expected to continue and there is a critical need for advanced materials with improved thermal conductivity capable of meeting the package heat dissipation requirements of current and future high power electronic systems. In addition the materials will need to have a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that minimizes the CTE mismatch that occurs at the interface between packaging components of different materials. The objective of the Phase II effort is the development and demonstration of cost-effective package assemblies that incorporate graphite-metal components with a thermal conductivity of from 500 to 600 W/m-oK and a coefficient of thermal expansion that can be adjusted between 5.0 and 10 ppm/oC. The markets for packaging products based upon the graphite-metal material technology include: (1) RF power amplifiers for communications systems; (2) switching devices for power conversion systems; and (3) light emitting diode devices for solid state lighting. The research will produce the key knowledge required to enable the production of low-cost, high-volume graphite-metal components to satisfy the packaging requirements for the above applications. The packaging products supported by this manufacturing technology will benefit a broad spectrum of commercial, industrial, and military high power electronics end users. The adoption and wide-spread use of the graphite-metal packaging products for electronic systems will enable commercial electronic devices based upon more efficient higher power semiconductor materials that will provide benefit to society in the form of reduced energy consumption and improved environmental quality.

ALCES TECHNOLOGY, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will research and develop a maskless lithography tool based on the results of the feasibility study. The company has a unique and proprietary approach to achieve higher throughput and lower cost than currently available maskless lithography tools. The approach will employ Line Light Modulator (LLM) to pattern wafers with a linear array of 2048 beams. The patent-pending LLM is a novel and efficient light engine that converts a single light source into a large linear array of beamlets. Using a large array of beamlets increases the power handling capability of the system which increases the exposure throughput. The result is a one to two order of magnitude improvement in throughput compared to existing maskless lithography tools. Our tool also takes advantage of the new 405nm diode laser. The 405nm diode laser offers a combination of power, cost, and speed not available in other UV laser sources. In the feasibility study, we have demonstrated the ability to pattern photoresist with <1um resolution using the LLM. In Phase II, we will develop and fully characterize a prototype tool that will achieve a 1um resolution, 50nm position accuracy, and a throughput of 65mm2/sec (two minutes per 4" wafer). As high volume semiconductor production has mostly moved overseas, the US semiconductor industry relies more on prototyping and initial manufacturing of innovative, cutting-edge technology. Lowering the cost to pattern wafers at these volumes helps keep US companies competitive by enabling rapid and cost-effective innovations. Cost is especially important for the small- to medium-sized companies that neither have the capital for high cost mask sets, nor require the most advanced resolutions of modern conventional lithography tools. The proposed tool addresses this need for fast and cost-effective semiconductor lithography with good throughput, resolution, and seamless integration with current lithography processes. The proposed project will provide researchers with an affordable tool to quickly fabricate new and existing designs. These low cost lithography tools will also be useful in fabrication and MEMS laboratory courses. A maskless lithography tool will make it practical for students to design and fabricate devices instead of simply using masks made for the course.

ALD NANOSOLUTIONS, INC.

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project builds upon the successful Phase I results to develop surface modified boron nitride (BN) filler materials for electronic thermal management applications. Novel Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) nanocoating is used to selectively functionalize edges only or edges/basal planes to improve wetting of BN platelets with resin encapsulants. The improved wetting allows for reduced viscosity of BN/resin mixtures during processing so that increased BN filler particle loadings can be achieved, resulting in higher thermal conductivity electronic packages. These improvements are best realized using an ultra-thin (nm thick), conformal, pin-hole free, chemically bonded silica nanofilm selectively placed on the edges of primary BN platelets. Coating the edges of platelets only provides for a low cost impact since edges being nanocoated represent less than 10% of the available platelet surface area. Higher BN loadings in filled composites allow for improved heat dissipation in electronic packaging materials, particularly in the case of glob top coatings and potting compounds. Proposed Phase II R&D is focused on working with potential customers to develop applications of particle ALD surface modified BN fillers for their specific moulding compound systems. Film chemistry and thickness will be developed for their specific applications. Commercially, the ALD nanocoating of individual ultrafine particles to control their surface chemistry is enabling technology that is unparalleled compared to more conventional CVD, PVD, PE-CVD, or wet chemistry solution processing. The process allows for individual ultra-fine particles to be nanocoated, rather than coating aggregates of ultra-fine particles. It is independent of line of sight and provides for chemically bonded films to the substrate particle surface. It is easily scalable. It is a forgiving process where the nanocoating thickness is controlled by self-limiting surface reactions (not flux, temperature, or time of processing like CVD, etc.). ALD films are pin-hole free and conformal. The potential impact of successful large scale processing extends far beyond this proposed microelectronics packaging application. It is now possible to produce ultrafine particles with designed electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, rheological, or other properties. Markets for such functionalized ultra-fine powders include microelectronics, defense, hardmetals, cosmetics, drug delivery, energetic materials, and polymer/ceramic nanocomposites, among others.

AMETHYST RESEARCH INCORPORATED

This Phase II Small Business Innovation Research project will deliver an innovative hydrogen passivation technique for improving manufacturability and performance of HgCdTe infrared detectors. Photon-Assisted Hydrogenation (PAH) causes the substrate to be hydrogenated by simultaneous exposure to hydrogen gas and ultra-violet (UV) light which allows hydrogen to diffuse into and become a permanent part of the substrate. In Phase I the feasibility of PAH for the fabrication of high-performance near-infrared HgCdTe avalanche photodiode (APD) arrays on large-area silicon wafers was demonstrated. In Phase II PAH will be optimized for fabrication of HgCdTe infrared sensors from a variety of sources. The PAH process will not only create a new product line of high-performance HgCdTe/Si-based APDs, but may also provide a means to effect significantly higher yields, and thus lower costs for all manufacturers of HgCdTe-based detectors. PAH technology will enable all HgCdTe infrared device manufacturers to grow on Silicon wafers, significantly reducing the cost of these high value systems, and making them more generally available for a broad range of currently unaffordable applications, including civil transport, aviation, medical and robotic vision systems. Derivatives of the this technique may be applied to the manufacture of a variety of other optoelectronic semiconductor devices requiring passivation to mitigate defects.

BRIDGEWAVE COMMUNICATIONS INC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research project deals with the ever-increasing burden placed on the microelectronics industry as computational speeds increase. While the number-density-speed of transistors doubles every 18-24 months (a phenomenon known as Moore's Law), the ability to retrieve and store data from external sources is not increasing nearly as quickly. The performance improvement rate of key computing tasks such as simulation, signal processing and database searches is becoming limited by off-chip bandwidth. Approaches such as "flip-chip bumping" are not a panacea, because despite their small size, these structures leak signals to one another; a significant performance detriment. The company has developed a novel MicroCoax interconnect technology to address these problems, utilizing existing semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure. The research objectives are to gain insights into MicroCoax fundamentals and understand application specific issues within market segments that are most impacted by current technological limitations. Research will focus on continuing exploration of MicroCoax material set, process flow, integration, and reliability, along with specific application to three distinct market spaces namely, MMICs, High-speed Digital/Optoelectronics, and high-frequency test. Electronics technology impacts nearly every person on earth in some way. Even folks living in remote places are subject to natural disasters, which may be predicted by atmospheric and geological simulation and warning systems, allowing timely evacuation. Goods distribution and logistics are increasingly dependent on computationally intensive database search and tracking. Medical diagnosis and treatment rely increasingly on signal processing for imaging and therapeutics. High-bandwidth wireless systems allow for recovery of communication infrastructure following floods and hurricanes. All of the aforementioned technologies have high-speed electronic systems at their core, and MicroCoax can affect them all. High-bandwidth systems are quite expensive today, in large part because of interconnects based on machined waveguides and significant labor content associated with such approaches. If successful the proposed technology, MicroCoax, can eliminate much of the cost, making such systems more commercially viable and ubiquitous. While a disruptive technology such as MicroCoax will be invisible to the average user, electronics designers and will be able to expand their application horizons due to elimination of prohibitive cost constraints. Electronics, semiconductor, communications and related industries will stall without continued innovation in packaging and interconnect strategies. The economic implications are significant, as worldwide electronics sales number somewhere around US$1.3 trillion at this time.

CHROMIS FIBEROPTICS, LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance the technology for reliably manufacturing low attenuation, ultrahigh bandwidth, graded-index, perfluorinated polymer optical fibers (GI-POF) by a low cost continuous extrusion process. Currently there is an unmet need for an easy-to-use, rugged medium that allows the migration of data communications to speeds of 10 Gigabits per second, and beyond, in rapidly growing applications such as data centers, supercomputing and consumer electronics. This project will result in a production quality process for manufacturing plastic fibers having bandwidth equal to the best multimode glass fibers, but with a simple "plug-and-clamp" installation process, and tolerance of bend radii fivefold tighter than that allowed by glass fibers. The project will address three areas to develop the technology into commercially viable products: 1) Advanced extrusion process development to greatly improve fiber bandwidth distribution and attenuation, while doubling production speed; 2) Investigation to prove-in new polymers that can increase the fiber operating temperature up to 85 deg C; 3) Investigation and development of a unique, readily manufactured multi-core fiber design that can offer customers almost unlimited bandwidth, as well as greatly improved attenuation in tight bends. If successful the production technologies developed in this project will result in the possible recapturing of American leadership in POF manufacturing while stimulating American-based production of the manufacturing capital equipment used in this industry. Similarly, American companies using POF to develop next-generation short-distance communication systems will also benefit, as they will enjoy better access to information and custom products based on GI-POF. The results of this project will help improve the "ecosystem" for many areas of datacom manufacturing in the US. Also, by enabling a product that makes installation of high-bandwidth cabling much simpler and less expensive, the Phase II project will be of considerable benefit to schools, hospitals, and other institutions which have many needs for high-bandwidth communication, but often do not have large budgets to support such systems. The scientific benefits of the Phase II project are likely to be the simplified and lower-cost construction of massively parallel computing facilities, and increased commercial interest in chemical synthesis techniques for amorphous fluoropolymers and their precursor chemicals.

DISPLAYTECH INCORPORATED

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to exploit novel dimer ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) to develop a new class of materials for electro-optics (EO) and non-linear optics (NLO) that offer previously unobtainable properties. This will enable advanced optoelectronic products across multiple markets, from lasers for projection television to 100GHz integrated electro-optic modulators and switches for optical interconnects and telecommunications. For over 100 years, predominant liquid crystal molecules have been variants on simple rod shapes. This innovation exploits new dimers - a side-by-side pair of conventional rod-shaped FLC molecules connected by a pi-conjugated bridge engineered to be part of a strong NLO chromophore. It is difficult and expensive to build integrated optoelectronic devices using lithium niobate, today's dominant NLO material. Organic poled-polymer NLO materials offer significant advantages for integration, but suffer performance and stability limitations due to being thermodynamically unstable and non-centrosymmetric (required to be NLO active). FLCs are intrinsically non-centrosymmetric and thermodynamically stable, offering an ideal scaffolding for creating high densities of strong, oriented, NLO chromophores. Our Phase II objectives are to develop and demonstrate prototype materials for projection television laser light sources and electro-optic modulation, and to design a product that will be used in projection television lasers. Commercially, this SBIR Phase II project will advance the scientific and technological understanding of a new class of dimer ferroelectric liquid crystals, and will produce the first commercially significant liquid crystals not based on simple rod-shaped molecules. Consumer products will include higher image quality, lower cost, rear projection televisions and practical, bright, micro-projectors for portable electronics. Integrated electro-optic devices enabled by the NLO materials will help to expand the bandwidth of computer and telecommunication networks, and of interconnects within coming generations of faster computers.

EMCIEN, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the impact of product variety on the customer order fulfillment process. It aims to help the manufacturers of highly configurable products with many possible "variants" or "configurations" to maximize product availability and order fill rates. Prior research by Emcien has created a methodology for representing product variants, modeling customer demand, and computing an optimal set of product configurations to maximize margins. These stockers are optimal in the sense of satisfying the most demand while maximizing profitability, but they assume unlimited product inventory. In previous research, Emcien built a prototype simulation model to determine how well these optimal stockers would perform in practice. The prototype simulation model was used successfully by two of Emcien's clients. The Phase II project will turn this prototype into production quality software that will become a part of Emcien's suite of products that address product variety. More manufacturers are moving in the direction of "mass customization", which means allowing each customer to choose the features and options they want. Mass production of a uniform product, or one with a small number of variants, is evolving into flexible production as more and more choices are offered to the customer. But customers not only want to customize their product, they also want to get it quickly. Pure build-to-order systems can result in unacceptably long customer lead times, especially when demand has seasonal ups and downs. This forces manufacturers to build partially finished or fully finished units for inventory, in order to smooth production and reduce customer lead time. This requires a delicate balance between the extra revenue and the extra costs of offering more variety. Emcien's mission is to help manufacturers profit from product variety as a competitive advantage, rather than being overwhelmed by the extra costs of supporting too much variety.

ENDRES MACHINING INNOVATIONS

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research aims to develop and commercialize cutting tools with internal micro-geometric features to provide relatively direct and localized cooling of the tool-chip contact zone. The proposed innovation is (i) incorporation of micro-scale internal features and (ii) a production process that can provide high-volume manufacturing of these modified cutting tool inserts. Conventional approaches of using coatings for effective cooling during machining have limited effectiveness, but the proposed approach is claimed to provide a novel method of providing internal cooling mechanism to machine difficult-to-machine (DTM) materials. If successful, this technology will enable better tool-life during the machining of hard-to-machine materials at finish feeds, which can have tremendous impact for machining of DTM alloys. By requiring minimal coolant use due to effective heat transfer from machining operation, the research will lead to new manufacturing methods with a positive impact on environmental pollution.

ENVIRONMENTAL METROLOGY CORPORATION

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project provides a unique and robust in-situ sensor for detection and control of impurities in microstructures and porous layers associated with manufacturing of semiconductor, MEMS, and emerging nanodevices. Use of impedance as a measure of contamination in bulk fluids is well established. However, applying it in micro-scale features is novel and has many promising applications. The proposed Electro-Chemical Residue Sensor (ECSR) technology is not aimed at developing yet another sensor to measure contaminants in fluids. It is rather aimed at the in-situ, real-time, and low-cost measurement of residual contamination inside and on the sidewalls of micro- and nano- features (the bottlenecks of cleaning, rinsing, and drying). The Phase II proposed plan is to design, fabricate, and test a prototype sensor assembly and develop its interface with process tools for cleaning, rinsing, and drying of micro-features. The first planned application, amounting to annual commercial market revenue of $9M to $30M, will be in rinsing and drying of patterned wafers and porous films in micro-electronics manufacturing. Currently, these operations are often run with no adequate real-time control. Insufficient cleaning and drying have significant negative impact on manufacturing yields and device performance. On the other hand, excessive cleaning and drying results in damage to the micro-structures, increase in cost, and wasting of chemicals, water, and energy. The application of the ECRS technology to wafer rinsing alone is expected to reduce water usage by 40-60%.

GRANDIS, INC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address the critical steps needed to manufacture a fast, non-volatile, magnetic random access memory (MRAM) based on spin transfer torque (STT-RAM). STT-RAM which uses spin polarized current to switch individual bits is predicted to have better scaling properties than conventional MRAM which uses magnetic fields. This Phase II project will focus on sub-100nm device manufacturability, device performance testing, and circuit design to develop a set of results which will enable the creation of a 1 Mb demonstration chip. The STT-RAM test chip is needed to prove the technology for customers. The results obtained from this project will include the development of arrays of sub-100nm bits, with the appropriate thermal stability, read/write characteristics and distributions. Also addressed will be the reliability of reading and writing such small devices. The project will develop processes for manufacturing sub-100nm structures. Finally, a simulation of read and write circuitry based on STT-RAM will be produced allowing for tape-out of a 1 Mb test chip. Commercially, as microelectronics scales to smaller sizes and higher speeds, more features are added to typical consumer electronic devices and the demands on memory continues to grow. These demands and the inherent limitations of existing technologies create opportunities for new memory technologies to fill. As a leading candidate for a future universal memory that incorporates all the desired characteristics; non-volatility, high speed, low power, unlimited rewriting capability, extendibility to future semiconductor nodes; STT-RAM is in a strong position to take advantage of these opportunities.

IMAGINESTICS LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will achieve higher retrieval accuracy for shape-based search for both the web and the enterprise. The proposed work in Phase II is to achieve higher retrieval accuracy supported by three key components: 1) pose determination for 3D models: bridging the space gap between 2D and 3D shapes by finding three intuitive and robust orthogonal orientations for 3D models; 2) 2D orthogonal view generation: representing a three orthogonal views along the pose orientations; 3) similarity measurement between 2D shapes: finding 2D and 3D shapes based on the user's query. A framework will be developed by focusing on three important modules: 1) 2D constraint detection and use of implied constraints with initial application in 2D and 3D views; (2) Enhanced multiple level-of-details in 3D representations, and (3) Human assisted system classification of large datasets. Traditional options of finding part suppliers using catalogs, trade shows and prior business relationship limit the choice of suppliers. Current text-based search to find suppliers face challenges, such as context and language sensitivity, and is inadequate in overcoming the technological challenges posed by variations in how product or part information is specified across a global supply chain. The current effort proposes to use shape, which is the lowest common denominator, to link the OEMs and suppliers. This technology can also aid the current trend among companies in aerospace, automotive, medical equipments and other industries towards 3Ddata standards for fast retrieval, as it can provide a significant leap in terms of accuracy, speed and relevance in the search and retrieval of information. If successful, this technology can contribute significantly to research in areas where shape is important, such as bio-technology and pharmaceutical sectors, where rapid identification of molecules and their docking features help reduce time and cost involved in drug development. For the medical industry due to increased usage of CT scans and 3D imaging technologies, 3D shape search can be used for local feature identification in colonoscopy or other exploratory procedures, brain angiography, reconstruction, projection of malformation or location of polyps and ensure better and rapid diagnosis of disease. Development of methods for automatically parsing human sketches and determining constraints will enable many other research activities and broadly help in a more natural human machine interaction.

INDUSTRIAL OPTICAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project is working toward commercialization of cylinder bore probe inspection technology. During Phase II continued improvements and enhancements to the existing cylinder bore probe technology (in cooperation with the ERC for Reconfigurable Manufacturing at the University of Michigan) will continue. The scientific feasibility of this cylinder bore inspection technology was proven during the Phase I project; continued work on the operation of an automated inspection station with an array of probes working in parallel in a factory environment will be demonstrated during the Phase II project. Enhancing the technology may create opportunities for performing inspections at other locations on the engine block production line and for other cylindrical machined surfaces. The broader impacts anticipated from this inspection process will be improved quality, reduced production costs and improve performance of vehicles used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is also anticipated that this technology could lead to an optimized manufacturing process that would produce engines with reduced emissions, reduced oil consumption, improved efficiency and longer lives. Optimizing surface finish may have a greater effect on diesel engines, which are more efficient than gasoline engines.

INNOVATIVE MICRO TECHNOLOGY

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II SBIR project will develop manufacturing capabilities for MEMS electrical switches with a novel dual substrate design approach. The approach consists of dividing the switch components between two substrates, with the moving portion on an upper substrate, and the stationary contacts on a lower substrate. The moving portion will be formed from a stress-free layer of single crystal silicon, and so has no tendency to warp or distort. Using two substrates allows the contacts to be fully exposed throughout processing, and cleaned just before the substrates are bonded together to form the switch, thereby minimizing the contact resistance of the switch. Because the contacts are exposed, they can be effectively cleaned just prior to sealing in the hermetic seal between the two wafers, thereby reducing the contact resistance of the junctions. This Phase II effort will take the improved design into volume manufacturing to produce higher power, higher frequency, lower contact resistance and/or smaller footprint switches than competing ones while being produced at lower costs. If successful, the approach described here will be used to produce MEMS cantilevered switches for a broad range of applications, from DC power handling applications to RF and radar applications. Because of their high current-carrying, high frequency characteristics with small size and low cost, the MEMS switches may serve as viable replacements for FET switches or micro relays in a wide range of devices. The approach may also be applicable to other sorts of MEMS devices, such as sensors and actuators, which may have a movable component suspended over a substrate which interacts with a fixed component on the substrate. This approach may therefore fundamentally alter how these devices are manufactured, and open up a wide range of applications not presently served by MEMS devices.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project continued development of nano-crystalline tungsten carbide-cobalt coatings by integrating two novel processes: i) a low temperature spray deposition process (kinetic metallization), and ii) a nano-crystalline powder deposition process. The results of Phase I research demonstrated that the two proposed methods can be synergistically combined to synthesize unique new compositions of powders for thermal spray coating process. The Phase II work is focused on the scaling and optimization of the powder manufacture and deposition techniques. If successful, the process and material system can provide an environmentally acceptable replacement for chromium-based coatings. A nc-WC-Co coating system with good fatigue properties will certainly provide an alternative to hard Chrome coatings, if it can be fabricated cost effectively. The environmental benefit resulting from this will be significant. The proposed technique is also claimed to result in a deposition equipment at a lower cost of ownership as compared to curently available equipment. The technique has significant broad applications in a number of key industries, including aerospace, power generation, oil and gas drilling, defense and medical industries.

INTEGRATED PHOTONICS, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the device and market opportunity for in-plane propagation of light in-planar anisotropy magnetic garnet films for high sensitivity, high speed magneto-optic sensors, switches and modulators. Traditional perpendicular propagation devices require perpendicular magnetic fields and magnetization processes. These are limited in speed and sensitivity by the current materials and the energy required to magnetize the garnet in the perpendicular direction. In the plane of the film, there is almost no energetic barrier to domain rotation. In this project, Integrated Photonics, Inc. (IPI) proposes to reduce that barrier to near zero to make devices of unprecedented sensitivity and speed. The goal is to attain pico-tesla field sensitivities in sensors and gigahertz device frequencies. The latter will enable small, low-power magneto-optic light modulators that are truly a disruptive technology by comparison to current large dimension electro-optic technologies. In Phase I, a materials growth and characterization capability was established and limitations on speed and sensitivity were removed by optimizing material parameters. In Phase II the process will be optimized to achieve the highest optical quality for commercial devices and sensor, switch and modulator devices will be realized in collaboration with customer-partners. Commercially, in-plane propagation in planar thick film Faraday rotators would enable unique new devices. High speed magneto-optic modulators open the door to system integration architecture for wideband communications and software defined radios. In-plane propagation materials have much higher switching speeds than conventional perpendicular Faraday rotators and as such would permit a magneto-optical approach to packet switching. Reduced costs would permit wide deployment in FTTP. High speed, low field magneto-optic switches are attractive for military applications. In-plane propagation magnetic field sensors can be optimized to give unprecedented high sensitivity speeds much higher than can be attained with conventional perpendicular propagation. These sensors would have applications such as wheel and turbine rotation, electric power distribution, monitoring, metering and control and battlefield sensors. The electric power application in particular has potential to revolutionize catastrophic failure prevention in the power grid and reduce power costs at a variety of levels by enabling autonomous reconfiguration. The lack of electrical connectors in fiber optic sensors for explosive, flammable and high voltage environments represents a significant improvement in safety. Smart ships and buildings would find utility both for conservation and efficiency.

Invistics Corporation

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will further develop a new Flow Path Management System (FPMS) representing an innovation in manufacturing software that: (1) Extends existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) software by incorporating 'Lean Manufacturing' principles into a set of innovative simulation-based optimization algorithms; (2) Provides millions of dollars in inventory savings to existing and targeted manufacturing customers; and, (3) Is more available to virtual enterprises and smaller manufacturing companies than existing systems in that it can be delivered via the World Wide Web. The focus of this research project is the development of a meta-model-based simulation software for the analysis, prediction and optimization of manufacturing and supply chain processes. This software applies Kriging spatial optimization models - a proven interpolation-based response technique employed successfully in geo-statistics to solve complex and computationally intense manufacturing and supply chain problems. The technology will be commercialized as a new module within the company's existing software suite, called the Flow Path Management System, and sold through three distribution channels: (1) on-site intranet installations at large companies; (2) delivery as a web service via the Internet to smaller companies; and, (3) licensing the algorithms to larger ERP/SCM/MES customers for incorporation in their software suites.

IONIC SYSTEMS INC

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will develop a method for tuning the capacitance of on-chip capacitors. The Phase I effort demonstrated an optical diffractive electrical electrode structure that permits the penetration of deep ultra-violet (DUV) radiation into an underlying dielectric. This was used to precisely tune dielectric constant and capacitance. The DUV radiation incites a photochemical reaction altering the dielectric constant of the spacer material in the capacitor. This project, if successful, will enable compact, precision capacitors embedded on chip to replace external discrete capacitors in electrical circuits. Moving passive components on chip in the same fabrication process is a reduction of manufacturing effort. By precisely trimming electrical values with resistor trimming equipment a significant simplification of the manufacturing process may be achieved. The successful results of Phase II will result in the demonstration of a molecularly engineered nanocomposite for use in millimeter and micro wave monolithic integrated circuits that can be photo-optically tuned for precise value to embed precision capacitors on chip. Incorporation of this technology can result in reduced size and cost for a wide variety of high frequency applications.

JUXTOPIA, LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research project investigates the creation of intelligent instruction systems that exploit adaptive software mechanisms (i.e. intelligent software agents) and augmented virtual reality (AVR) techniques. Since it is common that production-line employees are required to wear goggles, intelligent agents could transfer their instructions via goggle-like wearable computers (i.e. AVR) that overlay the actual visual field with text and computer graphics. The proposed techniques will facilitate the real-time assessment of employees undergoing training and will allow the software agents to automatically and proactively reinforce weaker areas based on these assessments. An overall assessment model of all employees can characterize the entire workforce for a particular facility. For example, this overall assessment can be used to enhance resource management triggered by absenteeism or other factors, allowing planners to use such assessments for optimizing manufacturing processes by refactoring traditional, perhaps obsolete, production processes. The broader impacts of the technology result from the use of intelligent agents to manage and direct the cross-training of employees in typical work environments where absenteeism and workforce turnover are important issues. Additionally, this technology, through workforce training broadly impacts the workforce to become more adaptive and agile with the resulting positive impact on overall product quality and productivity.

LT TECHNOLOGIES

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a unique solid-state microwave technique capable of reaching ultra-high temperature (up to 2150 deg C) and ultra-fast thermal processing of large wide band gap semiconductor wafers. It is widely recognized that the existing post-implant anneal process is a bottleneck limiting the performance and reliability of wide band gap semiconductor devices. This technique lowers the sheet resistance and surface roughness of the implanted semiconductor, enabling the fabrication of higher performance, more power efficient devices at lower cost. As part of the Phase I research, the microwave annealed samples showed a record low sheet resistance and surface roughness in both p-type and n-type implanted SiC. The Phase II research is to extend microwave-based rapid thermal processing (RTP) to other wide band gap materials such as GaN and to allow for RTP of larger sized wafers. The prototype system will be upgraded from a single-heating-head system to a system with an array of multiple heads and multiple sensors. Computer-based automated control will be developed to regulate wafer temperatures uniformity and stability. The research is anticipated to show feasibility of microwave-based RTP in commercial use for large SiC wafers. The technology improves post-implant anneal process to minimize sheet resistance and surface roughness of SiC and GaN, which consequently reduces the device power consumption and lowers the thermal budget. Lower surface roughness improves SiC sub-micron device reliability, consequently improving yield and reducing manufacturing cost. Commercially, this is an enabler technology that will make better and lower-cost compound semiconductor devices in areas such as power devices, light emitting diodes (LEDs), high temperature and high frequency electronics. The societal and commercial impact of the technology can be enormous. LED technology, for example, can potentially reduce the percentage of energy required for lighting in the U.S. from 22% to 7%, saving $17 billion per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 155 million tons. Manufacturers of LED devices are looking for enabler technologies such as RTP to reach this goal. Recognizing the technological and the commercial significance of the research, Cree, GE Research and ARL are supporting the research effort by providing the technological expertise, test wafers, access to equipment, and other in-kind services. Furthermore, the technology can be extended to other applications such as RTP of ultra-shallow junction for nano-scale CMOS devices, wafer bonding, MEMS as well as processing of SiC nano-materials.

LUMARRAY LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is a major step in the development of an optical-maskless lithography technology that is capable of high resolution, high throughput, flexibility, low cost, and extendibility. Current lithography technologies suffer from the problems of high tool costs, high mask costs, and inflexibility in the case of optical-projection lithography, and high tool costs, very low throughputs, and high complexity in the case of scanning electron- beam lithography. The company's Zone-Plate-Array-Lithography (ZPAL) technology will mitigate these issues, while providing unprecedented flexibility in nanopatterning. This project covers two major thrusts: one the manufacture of zone-plate arrays containing over 1000 zone plates, each with a numerical-aperture (NA) greater than 0.85, second the development of a high-accuracy alignment sub-system that can achieve overlay accuracy of 20nm with potential extendibility below 5nm. A successful completion of the first thrust of this project will result in large arrays of high-NA zone plates installed in the prototype lithography system, enabling high resolution and high throughput. A successful implementation of the alignment sub-system in the prototype tool will meet specifications of accuracy unmatched by alternate technologies. It is widely recognized that nanostructures of complex geometries are indispensable to create functionality and enable a nanotechnology revolution. At present, the tools that are available for the creation of such nanostructures are highly limited in flexibility, resolution, cost and throughput. The tools based on ZPAL have the potential to create a new paradigm in the development and manufacture of nanostructures by sharply reducing the development-cycle time and manufacturing costs. Being maskless, this technology provides flexibility by enabling the designers of nanostructures to quickly realize their designs in hardware for prototyping and even low-volume manufacturing. The company's tools have the potential to enable industries in a wide spectrum of industries such as micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMs), nano-electro-mechanical devices (NEMs), nano-electronics, nano-magnetics, integrated optics, photonics, biochips, microfluidics, to name a few. Initial target customers are manufacturers of application-specific-integrated circuits (ASICs), compound semiconductors and photomasks. In the ASIC industry alone, the tools have the potential to enable savings of over $3B per year. Furthermore, this technology can provide the cost-effective, flexible solution required to revive and grow this important segment of the semiconductor industry.

MAYAN PIGMENTS, INC.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will support the commercialization of a novel line of high-performance Mayacrom pigments using a lower cost, solid-state, environmentally friendly one-step manufacturing process. The Mayacrom pigments exhibit superior properties compared with many commercially available pigments and may replace environmentally detrimental pigments such as cobalt and cadmium based colorants. The intellectual merit of the proposed work includes the advancement of knowledge of solid-state reactions in the fields of materials science and engineering. Environmentally, aspects of the proposal include creating a production process that is solvent free, consumes only a modest amount of energy, and releases only water during manufacturing, resulting in no negative ecological impacts. Broader effects include the fundamental understanding of the solid-state thermodynamics and reaction kinetics that affect the physical and chemical properties of the pigments. Results of the influence of mixing intensity on reaction kinetics will also expand the knowledge for other industrial processes. Other broader impacts include continued collaborative research activities at the minority-based University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) to expand the scientific understanding of these hybrid pigments and publish significant findings. If successfully commercialized, the one-step manufacturing process will create jobs in the United States and in the under-utilized El Paso, Texas border region.

MOORE NANOTECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS, LLC

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II project will develop physics based computational models of the glass molding process that accurately predict the shape of the optic from knowledge of the mold geometry, the material properties of the glass, and the molding parameters. The computational models will be developed through systematic characterization of the properties of glasses at high temperatures, and incorporation of the viscoelastic response of the glass with thermal expansions and elastic deflections of the mold and glass. This project will also develop user interface software capable of building the finite element (FE) model directly from user input of coefficients of the industry-standard Asphere Equation and translating results of the FE analysis into Asphere coefficients. The computational tools developed in the proposed research will eliminate the current need for production of more expensive trial mold geometries before discovering the proper mold geometry and processing parameters required to produce in-tolerance optics. The proposed research will allow manufacture of opto-electronic products with superior capabilities compared to those available today. In addition, the project will contribute to the development of science and engineering workforce through training of graduate students at the University of Florida and Clemson University.

NANOCOPOEIA INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is focused on designing, prototyping, and fully qualifying a proprietary manufacturing apparatus capable of applying a range of next-generation coronary stent coatings. First generation drug-eluting coronary stents have significantly improved clinical outcomes for heart patients, while concurrently highlighting the potential for substantial improvements. Next-generation methods are needed for improving the way drugs and other biologics are applied to the stent, as well as for active-agent release from the stent. The company successfully demonstrated in Phase I that its proprietary ElectroNanospray process could reproducibly apply nanocomposite drug/polymer coatings onto the intricate architecture of a coronary stent and could consistently meet preliminary specifications provided by a potential commercial partner. This Phase II project will extend that R&D by producing a manufacturing Apparatus designed to significantly improve process control features and throughput. Rigorous step-wise hardware-qualification experiments will generate test lots of coated stents for further characterization and validation by the same partner. Feedback will guide design iterations needed to optimize this unique manufacturing capability, with the goal of producing an apparatus that coats stents with a broad range of novel nanocomposite coatings and drug-release properties for preclinical testing and meets the stringent performance requirements for commercial manufacturing in a regulated environment. Commercially, sales of drug-eluting coronary stents will exceed $6 billion in 2006. With the first products entering the market in 2003, this represents the fastest market introduction in medical device history. The drug-eluting stent showed that the body's inflammatory and scarring response to the implanted bare metal stent, which resulted in re-blockage of the artery, could be overcome by applying thin layers of drug-releasing polymers to the stent surface. The broader implications are that coatings that enable site-specific delivery of biologically active compounds could improve the clinical performance of a wide variety of medical device implants, not only for cardiovascular indications, but also for use in orthopedic, neurology and tissue engineering applications. In addition, using the drug-eluting stent as an example, they offer the possibility of bringing about the same or improved clinical outcomes as existing therapies, while reducing cost, hospital length of stay, and loss of productivity by the patient. The novel manufacturing apparatus proposed in this research will have the ability to create and apply engineered nanocomposite coatings to device implants that incorporate novel active agents and controlled-release properties not possible with today's conventional coating processes, thereby offering the possibility of improved clinical outcomes for a wide variety of diseases.

NANOMATERIAL INNOVATION LTD.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and scale-up a new group of light-weight, high-strength and fire-resistant polymeric foams by using innovative nanotechnology. The project explores the synthesis of nanocomposites using both plate-like and fiber-like nanoparticles with high carbon dioxide (CO2) affinity. Polymer blends including a minor phase with high CO2 solubility are used as the matrix material. To improve fire-resistance, surfactant-free and water-expandable polymer/clay nanocomposites are also prepared by suspension polymerization of inverse emulsion. Since low molecular weight surfactants are not needed, there is no fire hazard problem. These polymer blend nanocomposites are then used to produce high performance foam products aimed at both insulation and structural applications. The presence of nanoparticles in polymer blends allows better control of cell morphology and foam density in the manufacturing processes. Ultra-low-density foams with thermal insulation properties better than the existing insulation materials and high-density microcellular foams with mechanical properties close to those of solid polymers are achieved. The materials and processing conditions will be optimized to obtain better foamability and mechanical properties of these novel nanocomposites foams. Commercially, nanocomposite reinforced foams have the potential in structural applications to replace solid polymers. The U.S. market for polymer foams was more than 7.4 billion pounds in 2001. Currently, their applications are limited by poor mechanical strength, surface quality, thermal stability and fire retardance. Furthermore, traditional chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) blowing agents cause ozone depletion and will be banned by 2010. As environmentally benign blowing agent CO2 is used to replace CFCs, the success of this project will be extremely valuable for environmental protection. A successful implementation of this novel technology can lead to significant impact on energy saving, material saving, and environmental protection that are critical to our nation's economy and societal health.

NANOMATERIALS AND NANOFABRICATION LABORATORIES

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project intends to finalize commercial production protocols for high quality, highly stable, bio-compatible, bio-accessible, and yet affordable Fe3O4 nanocrystals and related magnetic beads. Current state-of-the-art methodology for making Fe3O4 nanocrystals for biomedical applications has many critical deficiencies including poor ability to control size, broad size distribution, difficult/complicated surface chemistry, high cost and low solubility in solutions. This technology will produce high quality of Fe3O4 nanocrystals. The company's products have excellent control of size and size distribution and offer super stability and friendly surface chemistry so that they are completely dispersible in solutions due to their simple processing and manufacturing technique. Their terminal groups are ready to conjugate various bio-molecules so that they can be used in various biomedical applications. The primary application for this technology will concentrate on the life science research. Specific applications include (1) Magnetic bio-separation, (2) Magnetic resonance imaging (3) Drug delivery, and (4) Biomedical treatment. The biomedical applications related to the Fe3O4 magnetic nanocrystals cover many aspects of biomedical fields, ranging from diagnostics, detection, therapy, separation, and pollution control. The environmentally benign nature of this technology helps to achieve a sustainable environmentally-aware business paradigm.

NANOSCIENCEENGINEERING CORPORATION

This Small Businesss Innovation Reseach (SBIR) project will address a major technological barrier to producing superior nanocomposites by overcoming the difficulty of dispersing nano-fillers uniformly in a host matrix to derive the maximum surface area advantage. When effective filler dispersion is coupled with improved polymer-clay interactions, a significant technological gap in the field of polymer nanocomposites can be addressed. The company, nanoSEC has licensed, developed, and 'validated' (lab scale) a supercritical fluid-based dispersion (SCFP) technology, that produces significant clay dispersion using a simple, versatile, environmentally friendly process that utilizes the unusual properties of supercritical CO2. During Phase I, the clay dispersion conditions were optimized and showed significant property improvements in the resultant nanocomposites that were appreciably better than those in literature. During Phase II, these technical accomplishments will be translated towards commercial success by: (1) producing and benchmarking pilot-scale polystyrene/clay, polyethylene/clay, polypropylene/clay nanocomposites for mechanical and barrier property improvements, with applications in automotive and food packaging industries; (2) scaling up the pilot production process to produce 200 lbs/week of dispersed clay in Year 1, and to produce 1 million lbs/year of polymer-clay nanocomposites (at 10% clay loading) by Year 3; (3) developing specific joint development agreements with business customers for faster adaptation of nanoSEC's technology in actual products. Commercially, nanoSEC's technology addresses a key need in nanocomposites, which could single-handedly revive the packaging technology applications of nanocomposites. Several companies have expressed strong interest in joint development agreements. Working closely with Wayne State, and end users like Ford, Daimler Chrysler, and GE Plastics will enable nanoSEC to advance both on research and commercial sides to produce a revenue of close to $ 8 million by the end of 2008. The Phase II project will enable pilot-commercial scale validation for rapid development and nanoSEC's location in the state-of-the- art NextEnergy building in Detroit, and the familiarity of the participants with the automotive and food packaging industry will enable unique applications to be achieved in a timely manner. The 'top down' strategy to partner with end users will enable fast implementation upon validation.

NANOSYS INC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop an innovative manufacturing technology for inorganic semiconductor nanowires for use in high-performance thin-film electronics products. In Phase I, the company successfully demonstrated the feasibility of this innovative manufacturing method to yield large volumes of high quality, uniform nanowire nanostructures of the quality and quality required to enable the application of these materials in high performance thin-film electronics. Specifically, the company: (1) setup a prototype nanowire manufacturing reactor capable of large-volume production; (2) identified critical process parameters affecting materials quality and methods to optimize them; and (3) established control over the process parameters enabling the precise fabrication of nanowires. Phase II research will build on the knowledge gained in Phase I, and focus on further development and optimization of this system into a fully automated, manufacturing system capable of pilot scale production of nanowires for commercialization in high performance electronics applications including displays and phased array antennas. Commercially, the project represents an innovative approach to a manufacturing process technology for large-scale production of high quality inorganic semiconductor nanowires, and will enable wide-spread production of low-cost high-performance electronics fabricated by roll-to-roll manufacturing. Applications of these materials exist in novel electronic devices and systems including specific uses in displays, RFIDs, phased array antennas and sensors.

NVE CORPORATION

This SBIR Phase II research project is to develop a more secure encryption key for non-volatile memory. Secure ICs often utilize encryption to protect non-volatile memory contents. A clever engineer can recover the key after decapsulating and probing the semiconductor die. NVE intends to produce an innovative non-volatile spintronic cryptographic key memory that will self-erase without data remanence in the event of tampering and without applied power. The main research objectives of this work involve development of a fully integrated 256-bit embedded tamper resistant magnetic random access memory. The technology proposed in this Phase II SBIR program is intended to provide a defense against theft of intellectual property and to protect sensitive data stored in an integrated circuit. Identity theft has become a very large issue for society in general and particularly in the more computerized societies. This is more than a problem of economics, as US military systems have also been reversed engineered by both friendly and unfriendly nations to gain access to US weapons capability. The technology proposed under the Phase II program addresses the need to provide a tighter level of security for data stored on integrated circuit (IC) and IC assemblies. Commercially, this provides an extra layer of protection on IC-based assemblies such as smart cards, cash machines etc. In addition, the proposed program would render a system inoperable in the event of physical tamper. This may be a very useful tool in stemming the tide of fraudulent usage, compromises, and reverse engineering of IC-based instruments as well as certain types of identify theft.

OG TECHNOLOGIES, INC

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop an advanced tonnage signal processing system for the forging industry. This system will utilize advanced signal processing methods and statistical control techniques to distinguish between normal (in-control) and abnormal (out-of-control) tonnage signals, detect faulty process conditions (cold die, die wear, mismatch, improper lubrication, etc), and to conduct real-time process monitoring in the forging process. The use of the advanced tonnage signal analysis system will contribute to reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions, and improved tool (die) life in the forging process. This system also has the potential to be used in other deformation processes including rolling, stamping, extrusion, and drawing. RDG; 6/28/2006

OG TECHNOLOGIES, INC

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II project will develop an inference engine for an intelligent imaging system that can detect and eliminate surface defects in hot rolling operations. These defects account for roughly 50% of steel rejects. The proposed product is an automatic system that generates appropriate corrective actions for defect elimination. It is proposed to further develop the inference engine and validate it on selected industrial cases. The potential value of the research is to reduce material waste by over 200,000 tons of steel, or $120 million in productivity, per year for the US steel industry. It is also expected to deliver benefits in North America with energy savings of 1.14 Tetra W-hr and reduced carbon-equivalent emission of 94,000 tons per year. Other benefits include reduced water usage and more efficient downstream processes. The project carries strong educational implication, with the company working closely with academia and facilitating student interns.

OMAX CORPORATION

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and optimize a flash abrasive-waterjet for precision machining of delicate materials. The use of water in a phase change mode will offer advantages over abrasive waterjets, that can damage delicate materials, and liquid nitrogen abrasive cryogenic jets, that require expensive equipment. The technology will be most useful for manufacturing parts with complex geometries from composites, glasses, laminates and other advanced materials, for use in the aerospace, electronics and defense industries.

OMEGA OPTICS, INC.

This STTR Phase II research project is to develop a commercial board level optical interconnect using bus architecture. Conventional copper links on printed circuit boards fail to provide sufficient bandwidth for data transfer above 10 Gbit/sec. Optical interconnections are widely viewed as an alternative to higher throughput. However, existing photonics-related approaches suffer from issues of packaging, reliability and manufacturing cost. In this project, Omega Optics and the University of Texas at Austin seek to develop a fully embedded board level optical interconnect for enhanced bandwidth, while reducing the difficulties of optoelectronic packaging and device reliability. Phase I results demonstrated 150 GHz bandwidth with 51 cm interconnection distance. Instead of utilizing surface mounted optical components this approach separates the fabrication of the optical layer with the electrical parts and laminates it inside printed circuit boards, between which the interconnection is setup through in-layer vias. This fully embedded technology seals all the optical components and provides a seamless interface with electrical layers, therefore it eliminates the concerns of external optoelectronic devices for end users. The revolutionary breakthrough over copper links sought through this research would benefit the entire computer industry and enable the continued progression of bandwidth and interconnect distance.

ONTO TECHNOLOGIES

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop process conditions, recycled materials, and recycling of new battery technologies. Phase I demonstrated that the innovative recycling process can produce materials for new batteries from spent batteries. The Phase II recycling research objectives will (1) Survey advanced battery technologies (2) Improve process efficiency and (3) Recondition used materials. Starting with spent batteries, the project recovers materials, examines utility, and develops methods for recondition based upon physical or chemical limiting issues. The anticipated result of this development is establishment of the most efficient process to recycle high performance battery materials. The proposed project establishes the most environmentally friendly advanced battery recycling technology as the solution to the next generation's significant environmental challenge. Today's battery recycling options inefficiently bury, burn, or melt spent batteries. This project addresses needs from battery-reliant industries for low-cost recycling with minimal environmental impact; the developed recycling process is the basis for jobs fundamental to the future portable electronics and electrified vehicle markets. The innovation is based upon knowledge from battery life-limiting mechanisms coupled with green-chemical processing techniques. The research actively involves undergraduate researchers at Willamette University in the development and commercialization of energy efficient technologies.

OPTEMA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

This Small Business Technology Transfer ( STTR) Phase II project will develop and commercialize a novel way to construct large, modular objects, such as concrete walls and components used in building a home, using a solid freeform fabrication process. The novelty of the proposed process is that is is capable of producing structures with wall thicknesses which are thickner than other similar methods. The structures can have contoured faces and alignment guides to permit quick assembly of layerwise construction. The proposed research will focus on aerated concrete as the structural materiaol, having proven the basic concept on structural foam in the Phase I research. The method is expected to result in rapid construction of homes with minimal labor and onsight assembly of pre-fabricated components. The broader impacts of this project, if successful, would represent a radical departure in a notoriously conservative industry, leading to the construction of inexpensive, pre-fabricated homes. The technology will address a significant market in the U.S. and developing countries to provide affordable homes to a very large population of low-income consumers. Other applications where this technique could be employed include construction of large objects such as boat hulls (pleasurecraft).

PIXELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to develop a product for a reversible contrast enhancement layer (R-CEL) using semiconductor nanocrystalline materials. The R-CEL technology, if successfully developed, will enable finer resolution optical lithography postponing the need for more expensive techniques such as electron beam or x-ray lithography. R-CEL technology will help to extend the diffraction limit facing optical lithography by enabling double exposure techniques to be used for pattern definition. The use of R-CEL with double exposure will increase the capability of optical lithography thus enabling the extension of Moore's Law without the need to switch to more expensive alternatives. It will also help restore the technological competitiveness of domestic vendors in the lithography industry. The SBIR project will also advance the understanding of semiconductor nanocrystal characteristics including detailed absorption and recombination processes and the effect of nanocrystal surface conditions on dispersion with polymers. This information will be valuable in other semiconductor nanocrystal UV applications including optical storage, UV light sources and detectors.

POSITRON SYSTEMS, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research project will develop a prototype Induced Positron Manufacturing Damage System (IPMDS) to be used to assess initial component quality, and manufacturing damage effects for Ti-6Al-4V and IN738 components. The IPMDS is based on the Induced Positron Annihilation technologies whose capabilities to assess alpha inclusion and fatigue damage effects have been previously demonstrated. The IPMDS is an innovative damage assessment tool that will be developed with support from Precision Cast Corporation (PCC) as a manufacturing quality control and damage assessment tool to be used to reduce costs in place of current destructive methods, which are expensive and do not provide adequate sensitivity to either manufacturing or operational damage effects. The IPMDS will contribute to extended use component designs, cost savings, and efficient operations for the titanium and nickel super-alloy industries. Commercial applications of IPMDS will be targeted at the structural and turbine engine industries, which extensively utilize expensive titanium and nickel super-alloy components. The IPMDS has a high potential for becoming a critical and necessary inspection tool in these industries due to its potential for minimizing manufacturing variability, assessing operational damage, optimizing maintenance requirements, reducing costs, and improving safety. The IPMDS capability is expected to extend inspection applications to a wide range of industries where improved knowledge of manufacturing variability, induced damage effects, minimization of inspection and replacement costs, and component life extension are important.

RENEWABLE ALATERNATIVES, LLC

This SBIR Phase II research focuses on a new type of phase change material(PCM)that can meet performance goals of being fire-retardant, non-toxic, and renewable. This project will advance the state of understanding of fat/oil chemistries. It will also advance our understanding of non-ideal mixture behavior. Applications that will benefit include such things as clothing, building construction and HVAC systems. Fat and oil based PCMs currently produced by the company both out-perform paraffin-based PCMs and cost less. While customers have overwhelmingly accepted these renewable PCMs, they overwhelmingly expressed their desire that fire-retardant phase change materials be developed. The broader impacts of this research includes the incorporation of PCMs into applications that would have impacts for both general public and the military/emergency response personnel. Phase change materials find a range of applications, including clothing, construction materials, and food containers. The introduction of lower-cost fire-retardant phase change materials will have broader impacts through improved utilization in consumer products. Applications not previously pursued will be open to use of these materials because of reduced risk of fire. When used in buildings, the phase change materials can reduce energy costs year-round. An improved understanding of the associated fat and oil chemistry will likely find other applications in the fat and oil industries.

SAGE ELECTROCHROMICS, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has the objective of developing and transfering to the production line laser ablation technology for the manufacture of large area thin-film electrochromic (EC) windows. Shadow masking is commonly used to pattern the electrochromic coatings on glass, but it results in unacceptable edge definition and is expensive. Laser ablation can replace masking to allow precise definition of window areas, regardless of size and shape, and has the potential to significantly reduce manufacturing costs. Broader acceptance of electrochromic windows for commercial and residential buildings will enable significant energy savings, and the laser ablation technology is applicable to non-flat shapes, which could extend use of EC windows to other applications.

SAGE ELECTROCHROMICS, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II research project is to develop full size electrochromic (EC) window glazings with superior performance and durability due to the incorporation of sputtered nanocomposite thin film materials. These window glazings can be electronically darkened to control solar light and heat in buildings and vehicles. The new materials and processes will be tested for prototype glazings followed by the development of a robust manufacturing process with optimum product yield and reliability. Numerical simulation techniques will be used to model how process input variables impact product attributes with a goal of minimizing device variation and optimizing performance. The performance and reliability improvements achievable from this SBIR project are essential for widespread acceptance of electronically tinted windows. The improved transmission properties and more neutral coloration obtainable with nanostructured materials are highly desired commercial features. A successful project will lead to widespread adoption of EC windows and enable annual energy savings of up to 0.7 quad to occur sooner. This corresponds to a reduction in carbon emissions of ~10.5 million metric tons per year. In addition to architectural windows, deposition technologies for nanostructured films can improve the performance of transportation windows, flat panel displays, and alternative gate oxides for advanced CMOS technology.

SENSOR ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result in solid-state high power UV LED based lamps for use in water/air/food sterilization/purification, bio-aerosol detection, bio-medical instrumentation, and laboratory measurement systems. Currently there are no portable, rugged, long-lifetime, non-toxic sources of ultraviolet radiation for integration into increasingly important UV water and air purification (particularly residential), bio-aerosol detection, and food sterilization systems. The predominant sources of UV radiation are low-pressure, medium-pressure and amalgam Hg based lamps. These high voltage lamps are large, non-directional, ozone-producing sources of radiation with radial emission from a tube source. This restricts the design flexibility of purification systems because of the geometrical constraints imposed by the lamp. High power deep UV LEDs require packaging designed to dissipate several watts of power, be stable under UV illumination, reflect UV light, and enhance UV extraction. The team proposes to develop manufacturing innovations in the packaging of high power UV LEDs to extend the range of applications that UV LEDs are suitable for including high power package/LED design, and the manufacturing processes required to fabricate these packages. Deep UV LED based lamps with output powers ranging from 50-100 mW are expected from this developmental effort. If successful these Deep UV LED-based lamps will penetrate existing markets using UV radiation sources as the efficiency of the devices increases, as well as creating new markets previously unattainable due to the inherent limitations of current UV sources. The merits of UV radiation for sterilization/purification applications are beginning to be widely publicized. Several of the primary markets are: 1) Sterilization/Purification for Water, Air, and Food Preparation/Storage, 2) UV Spectroscopic Laboratory Analysis Equipment, 3) Bio-medical instrumentation, and 4) Biological weapons detection using UV fluorescence. This expertise will expand the technology base of the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing sector. In addition, low power point-of-use purification systems enabled by this technology will meet a crucial humanitarian need.

SENSOUND, LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and commercialize a next generation quality control tool to assess the quality of any sound-generating product on a production line. The most significant scientific merit of this new technology is its capability to suppress the interference of background noise and extract the real acoustic characteristics of any target source in a noisy environment. Current measurement devices measure the overall signal, which includes the signal of a target source and background noise. This research is expected to have broad impact on reducing noise pollution and improving workforce capabilities in a manufacturing environment. This technology will help the U.S. manufacturers to compete globally by reducing noise emissions, lowering warranty costs associated with noise related issues, and helping ensure compliance with a growing number of local and federal government regulations and laws on noise pollution.

SINMAT, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop and commercialize a single step chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process for fabrication of next generation of copper based interconnects that join millions of transistors on a chip. The current state of the art copper CMP process is complicated and requires multiple steps to meet the defect quality and planarity requirements. Furthermore, existing processes create high stresses during polishing, which may not be compatible with the fragile low dielectric constant materials are now being introduced by the semiconductor industry. To address these challenges the research team proposes to develop the "soft polishing layer" concept for gentle removal of copper that does not damage the fragile dielectric layer. The use compatible chemistries and nanoparticles in the slurry allows successful development of a flexible, defect-free, single step process to fabricate copper based interconnects that will result in substantial cost savings to the semiconductor chip manufacturers. During Phase II, the company will partner with the leading edge CMP companies and chip manufacturers to address industrial scale integration issues related to development and commercialization of the single step slurry. With the impending introduction of new fragile ultra low k materials, CMP processes are expected to become more complicated and expensive, to achieve the necessary levels of performance. The successful implementation of the single step CMP process is expected to meet or exceed the technical performance levels of the 45 nm manufacturing node while decreasing the CMP manufacturing costs by up to 80% which translates to over $ 4 billion savings for the chip industry (10 X savings for the chip industry for every "X" dollar of slurry revenue). The reduction in costs is largely due to the simplification of the manufacturing process, higher throughput, increased yield, less use of capital equipment and manpower, and reduction in consumable costs. The successful completion of this project will help maintain and grow the country's leadership in nanotechnology, a key area for future health and vitality of the nation. This project will help increase the number and quality of manufacturing jobs in the country.

SINMAT, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and scale-up an industrially robust and low cost chemical mechanical smoothening (CMS) process to produce atomically polished gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon substrates for high power and high frequency applications. As GaN is mechanically hard and chemically inert, traditional surface polishing processes have resulted in significant surface damage which negatively affects the electrical performance. In contrast, the CMS process forms a soft layer on GaN surface which can be removed by nanoparticles. In the Phase II of this project, the company plans to further optimize and scale-up the CMS process. In conjunction with the compound semiconductor chip manufacturers and academic partners, the company's plan is to further validate the polishing technology by fabricating and testing the performance of high electron mobility transistors. The research team members are internationally recognized experts and are in an excellent position to execute the research plan and attain the project goals. The commercialization of the proposed polishing technology is expected to significantly impact GaN based semiconductor technology used for high frequency, high power microwave devices in wireless mobile communication and radar defense systems. This process will accelerate commercialization of GaN on silicon technology by increasing yield and reducing manufacturing costs.

SINMAT, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project focuses on development of a novel high-temperature system for processing of advanced silicon devices. Currently used rapid thermal processing (RTP) systems result in substantial dopant profile broadening because of their relatively large time constants. The development of a novel Hybrid Rapid Thermal Process (HRTP) system which combines the advantages of RTP and laser annealing will be accomplished through this project. The advantages of HRTP anneals was demonstrated in the Phase I of the project. In the Phase II project extensive thermal simulation studies will be performed to understand, optimize and scale up the process. Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) systems are a critical part of semiconductor manufacturing operations and are used to form gate oxides, silicides and annealed ion implanted dopants for formation of ultra-shallow junctions. The market-size for these applications exceeds $500 M/year. With the rapid miniaturization of the devices, there is a strong need to develop higher ramp rate and higher temperature annealing systems to achieve the formation of ultra-shallow junctions. The proposed HRTP system is expected to fill this niche. The HRTP system can also be usedin thermal annealing of wide band gap semiconductors such as GaN and SiC as they require extremely high temperature, which cannot be achieved by traditional systems.

SOLIDICA, INC.

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II project will complete the development of a support material for Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC) direct metal rapid prototyping and demonstrate the ability to build structures with high aspect ratios or overhanging features. This ability to apply UC to more complex shapes will enable engineers to design important parts more rapidly and less expensively. Basic iinformation developed on the mechanical properties of metals experiencing ultrasonic excitation will also be useful in other industrial processes, such as extrusion and ball milling. The project will use the results from Phase I to identify a user friendly, cost effective, environmentally benign and easily removed support material, and demonstrate that its application can be integrated with the commercial UC platform.

SUPERCON INC

This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project is intended to develop a new process for manufacturing tantalum (Ta) metal fibers for use in producing tantalum capacitors, and advance this process to the stage of commercialization. This technology, which has been demonstrated in Phase I, could lead to capacitor products having higher performance and greater volumetric efficiency than any currently available. The use of fibers in place of metal powder allows the production of thin anode bodies leading to improved packing options and component performance. The innovation underlying the technology is bundle drawing of Ta filaments in a copper matrix. A composite consisting of Ta filaments in a copper matrix is drawn is a series of reduction steps until the filaments are less than about 10 microns in diameter. The drawn wire is rolled to produce ribbon-type filaments that are 1 micron or less in thickness. The copper composite matrix is chemically dissolved without attacking the Ta to produce metallic Ta high surface area, ribbon-fibers. The fibers are formed into thin mats, which are sintered to produce porous metal strips from which high surface area capacitor anodes are made. A significant aspect of this approach is that fiber morphology can be varied over a wide of fiber thicknesses unlike powder. This allows the morphology of the fibers to be optimized for the particular voltage rating and use requirements in order to maximize the performance of the capacitor. Commercially, nearly all medical, automotive, military and many consumer electronic devices utilize Ta electrolytic capacitors due to their outstanding performance, reliability and volumetric efficiency. Solid electrolytic capacitors are currently made from Ta metal powder. Several million pounds per year of Ta powder are consumed in manufacturing Ta capacitors for these applications. The trend in electronics is toward high powder components and increased miniaturization. Combined with the need to lower materials and manufacturing costs, these considerations have created an opportunity for new method of producing solid electrolytic capacitors. Fiber metal technology has the potential to both lower manufacturing costs, improve capacitor performance, and improve packaging options, which could enable the development of new product that are either currently very difficult or very expensive to make using current technology base on metal powder.

SYNERGY INNOVATIONS INC

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a high-pressure abrasive slurry jet cutting tool for almost all materials. The key aspect of this innovation is the elimination of nozzle grit erosion by fluid dynamic means. Past attempts to use abrasive slurry cutting tools have been troubled by unacceptable wear of the nozzles by the abrasive, and the associated loss of the abrasive. The successful development of this technology will lead to a new generation of cutting equipment with reduced operating times and costs. This project will also provide internship opportunities for college undergraduates.

TDA RESEARCH, INC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR ) Phase II project will develop biocidal nanocomposites to protect plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Biocides can now be added as a component during the plastic manufacturing process to make it inherently resistant to microbial attack. PVC is a widely used plastic that requires antimicrobial protection in many applications, as it is often used near water (swimming pool liners and shower curtains) or in areas where sterile or clean surfaces are critical (flooring for hospitals or kitchens and bathrooms). PVC is currently protected from microbial attack by arsenic compounds or organic biocides that migrate slowly out of the protected material. Arsenic-based biocides are under increasing regulatory pressure, and an alternative would be welcomed by the industry. Unfortunately, current non-arsenic (organic) biocides leach out of PVC, contaminating the environment and allowing fungi to attack the PVC. TDA Research, (TDA) proposes to increase the permanence of biocides designed to disperse in PVC. Nanoparticle-based biocides would not migrate out of the thermoplastics, prolonging product lifetimes. The project will start by examining several active organic biocides that have been approved and regulated as biocides for thermoplastics. Following this will be tasks related to nanoparticle synthesis; formulation and testing of the nanocomposite; nanoparticle manufacturing scale-up; and performance and economic evaluation. The plan is to develop nonarsenic, non-migratory biocides for PVC. Commercially, the proposed project will improve help eliminate the use of arsenic containing biocides; biocides which are particularly harmful because they persist in the environment. Despite their known dangers and the desire of manufacturers to discontinue their use, arsenic containing formulations continue to be used in several applications where the alternative organic biocides do not provide the needed long term protection. Further, the use of our technology will decrease the release of the organic biocides into the environment as well, keeping them in the polymer where they are needed.

TDA RESEARCH, INC

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to develop a new family of n-type conjugated semiconducting polymers for use in plastic photovoltaics and other organic electronic devices. New n-type semiconducting polymers with good solubility, environmental stability, and high charge carrier mobility are needed to fabricate efficient organic solar cells and other electronic devices. During the Phase I project several n-type semiconducting polymers were fabricated via simple reactions. In Phase II the polymers will be optimized to improve their solubility and charge mobility. Partnership with a major developer of organic photovoltaics will allow the materials to be optimized for use in organic solar cells. The further development of these n-type semiconducting polymers will result in the manufacture and sale of these materials as specialty chemicals to the organic electronic industry for the fabrication of a variety of organic devices including photovoltaic devices, thin film transistors, organic light emitting diodes, and others. The novelty of this chemistry over the chemistry of current n-type organic semiconductors has the potential for significant academic and scientific value and could lead to a cascade of new discoveries and technology advancements, in addition to the primary objective of creating a new business.

TRANSFER DEVICES, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a comprehensive automated nanolithography and alignment system for integrated electronics and photonics manufacturing. Transfer Devices, Inc. is the pioneer, and has significant intellectual property, in transfer lithography. The product driver for this application is the MxL (molecular transfer lithography) template. It is a consumable, one-time-per-use item that forms patterns by bonding patterned resist layers onto a substrate surface, with subsequent water dissolution of the template. MxL is a non-imprint, non-photolithography process that solves the defect propagation problem of contract printing, and is applied for large area, conformal printing at low costs and high throughput. The proposal seeks to optimize the replication of MxL templates, and coordination with an advanced adaptive alignment system, to achieve unprecedented overlay and high resolution patterning for high throughput next generation lithography of integrated circuits and photonic devices. The reason for the success of the proposed solution is a technologically superior solution of that of alternative approaches by combining low-cost, environmentally friendly processing with defect free conformal printing over large areas at high throughput rates. MxL (molecular transfer lithography) is a patent protected unique process using a water dissolvable sacrificial polymer template. This advanced process is coordinated with an adaptive alignment scheme to produce state-of-the-art registration with sub-50 nm features at sub-20 nm placement capability. Commercially, the proposed process and technological solution will significantly advanced the capability to manufacture nano-technological devices for a wide range of applications including integrated circuits, solar wafers, displays, data storage, MEMS, as well as emerging areas in photonics, high brightness LED's, optoelectronics, life sciences, and nanotechnology. The project will be implemented commercially into the lithography marketplace, which by 2009 has a total market size of roughly $20B including equipment technology, masks, and consumables.

TROY RESEARCH CORPORATION

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the development of a new class of materials, namely polymeric nanomaterials with a very high refractive index, which will closely match the refractive index of inorganic semiconductors. The encapsulant materials consist of titania-nanoparticle-loaded silicone and epoxy. Titania (TiO2) has a refractive index of 2.68 and the admixture of TiO2 with a polymer would result in an increase of the refractive index. The well-known problem of excessive optical scattering will be overcome by proper use of surfactants and an encapsulation structure that employs thin films, with a thickness that is less than the average distance between scattering events. If successful the development of a new high-index encapsulant will have a tremendous impact on SSL technology because virtually all SSL devices made of inorganic semiconductors are packaged and encapsulated. A successful completion of the program will result in a worldwide paradigmatic shift in the packaging and encapsulation of optoelectronic devices. The broad deployment of efficient LED technology for general lighting applications would also result in electrical energy savings in the TWh range per year within the United States alone.

UNCOPIERS, INC.

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Project concerns Ultrapure Water (UPW), the life blood of the semiconductor industry. The proposed instrument seeks to satisfy the ITRS requirements on two counts: 1. full flow inspection, and 2. detection of sub-100nm liquid-borne particles. 1. A typical semiconductor fab uses about 3 million gallons of UPW every day, and the ITRS, in its attempt to conserve the precious resource, water, mandates that 90% of UPW be recycled/reused by 2010. The recycled UPW loop will need full flow monitoring, which the proposed Particle Scout will do. 2. The purity of UPW directly affects the chip yield, because the final operation on wafers is UPW rinse and any contaminants present in the UPW contaminate the wafers it rinses. As the industry moves to sub-100 nm nodes the ITRS particle detection requirements fall to sub-50 nm. "Particle Scout" for monitoring in real-time the particulate purity of recycled UPW for use in Semiconductor processing successfully overcomes a critical technological barrier facing the IC manufacturing industry today. Beyond IC manufacturing industry it will find applications in all enterprises where UPW is used: Power generation, Nuclear Reactors, Pharmaceutical industry, Biotechnology, Space exploration, and processing of Advanced high purity chemicals.

VEGRANDIS, LLC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the development of an automated, high-throughput, sensitive and specific assay for the micorelectrochemical detection of malaria parasites. The use of microelectrochemical assay will allow for the detection of malarial parasites with a combination of attributes, such as all four species to the level of one parasite per microliter of blood without sample preparation. This technology will impact the current blood donor screening guidelines that call for the deferral of potential donors for one year following travel to malaria endemic regions. Not only do cases of fatal transfusion-transmitted malaria occasionally occur, but also the availability of the blood supply is reduced. This technology will aid the blood banking industry by providing an inexpensive, high-throughput, low detection limit malaria test as blood donor screening