Cooperative Agreement R43MH106245

This $1.1 million Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program will fund the acquisition of a magnetic-field-free atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscope at the University of Illinois at Chicago from September 2022 through August 2025. The microscope's novel lens design provides a magnetic-field-free sample region allowing for atomic-resolution imaging and chemical analysis of quantum materials such as magnetic,...

This $100,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program will support the development of a transmission electron microscope specimen holder for imaging quantum matter and other extreme low-temperature applications at the University of Michigan. The specimen holder aims to enable atomic resolution imaging of materials at or near their operating temperatures, including quantum devices and materials used in quantum...

This $600,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) aims to support research that develops a novel approach to metamaterials engineering and manufacturing for emerging optoelectronics. The project at the University of Michigan will utilize a combination of advanced manufacturing tools and focused-ion-beam-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy to pattern and integrate high-purity non-precious metals with high-quality semiconductors. The...

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation provides $779,240 to support research at the University of Notre Dame advancing lithography-free manufacturing techniques for metal nanostructures separated by nanogaps. Specifically, the award funds work through August 2025 to define benchtop fabrication methods for integrating opposing metal surfaces separated by sub-5 nm nanogaps into applications in plasmonics and molecular...

This SBIR Phase II Cooperative Agreement, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program, aims to develop a liquid helium transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample holder for atomic-scale imaging of next-generation materials. The $1,249,999 award to H-Bar Instruments, LLC will enable the commercialization of an ultra-cold cryogenic cooling instrument that can achieve sub-Angstrom resolution TEM imaging, addressing a...

This $280,450 Cooperative Agreement award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the Measurement Science and Engineering (MSE) Research Grant Program (CFDA 11.609) will fund research by Theiss Research, a non-profit organization, to improve the accuracy of scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements of nanometer-scale structures. The research will develop a new computational model based on density functional theory and the Bethe-Salpeter equation to better...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program provides $305,000 to Elektrum Technologies, Inc. to develop an improved manufacturing process for ultra-low-cost, flexible transparent metal-mesh conductive electrodes. The goal is to create a fully additive method of manufacturing these transparent conductive electrodes, which offer superior performance and lower cost compared to existing indium tin oxide-based...

The Allen Institute was awarded $883,701 under a Project Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to develop a robust, low-cost platform for electron microscopy (EM) connectomics. The goal is to establish a widely adoptable system centered on an open source serial sectioning robot implementing a novel collection approach. This will enable EM volumes ranging from 50mm on a side to over 1 cubic millimeter to be routinely sectioned and imaged, making EM connectomics tools available to...

This National Science Foundation project grant of $697,756 will fund research at the University of California, Los Angeles from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025 to develop atomic layer etching processes for layer-by-layer removal of metal films. The research aims to gain a thorough understanding of plasma surface modification and self-limiting surface reaction mechanisms for industrially significant metals such as nickel and copper. The project will integrate computational chemistry modeling with...

This three-year National Science Foundation project grant of $536,195 supports research into abnormal grain growth in ultrafine grained metals under high cycle loading at room temperature. The principal investigators will conduct high-throughput characterization of cyclic-load-induced grain growth in ultrafine grained metal films using scanning electron microscopy with electron backscatter diffraction. Six different metallic films with varying degrees of elastic anisotropy and face-centered...