News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Date Published
(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville have invented a new way to deposit thin layers of atoms as a coating onto a substrate material at near room temperatures. The researchers used an ultrasonic atomization technology to evaporate chemicals used in atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD is a three-dimensional thin film deposition technique that plays an important role in microelectronics manufacturing.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense)

Researchers at Purdue University are taking cues from nature to develop 3D photodetectors for biomedical imaging. The researchers used some architectural features from spider webs to develop the technology. The assembly technique presented in this work enables the deployment of 2D deformable electronics in 3D architectures, which may foreshadow new opportunities to better advance the field of 3D electronic and optoelectronic devices.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense)

Researchers at Purdue University are taking cues from nature to develop 3D photodetectors for biomedical imaging. The researchers used some architectural features from spider webs to develop the technology. The assembly technique presented in this work enables the deployment of 2D deformable electronics in 3D architectures, which may foreshadow new opportunities to better advance the field of 3D electronic and optoelectronic devices.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and Michigan Medicine C.S. Mott Children's Hospital have demonstrated that a new liquid biopsy approach, which uses nanopore genetic sequencing technology, overcomes traditional barriers to quickly and efficiently diagnose and monitor high-grade pediatric gliomas. The nanopore system works by measuring changes in electrical current as biological molecules pass through tiny holes in a collection surface; different values correspond to different letters in the genetic code, thus allowing a DNA sequence to be read.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and Michigan Medicine C.S. Mott Children's Hospital have demonstrated that a new liquid biopsy approach, which uses nanopore genetic sequencing technology, overcomes traditional barriers to quickly and efficiently diagnose and monitor high-grade pediatric gliomas. The nanopore system works by measuring changes in electrical current as biological molecules pass through tiny holes in a collection surface; different values correspond to different letters in the genetic code, thus allowing a DNA sequence to be read.

(Funded in part by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have adapted a low-cost optical method of examining the shape of small objects so that it can detect certain types of nanocontaminants smaller than 25 nanometers in height. The researchers originally developed the technique to record the three-dimensional shape of small objects, not to detect nanocontaminants. But by optimizing both the wavelength of the light source and the alignment of an optical microscope, the team produced images with the sensitivity required to reveal the presence of nanocontaminants in a small sample of semiconductor material.

(Funded in part by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have adapted a low-cost optical method of examining the shape of small objects so that it can detect certain types of nanocontaminants smaller than 25 nanometers in height. The researchers originally developed the technique to record the three-dimensional shape of small objects, not to detect nanocontaminants. But by optimizing both the wavelength of the light source and the alignment of an optical microscope, the team produced images with the sensitivity required to reveal the presence of nanocontaminants in a small sample of semiconductor material.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

A research project at Binghamton University has won a three-year, $609,436 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate a new method of producing electronic circuits below 10 nanometers. The researchers use the same technique as an atomic force microscope, which scans samples down to fractions of a nanometer by using a mechanical probe to "feel" a sample and translate the data into images. But this time, instead of "feeling" the surface, the researchers used carbon nanotubes that are around 3.1 nanometers wide to etch the desired circuit patterns onto a material.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)

A research project at Binghamton University has won a three-year, $609,436 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate a new method of producing electronic circuits below 10 nanometers. The researchers use the same technique as an atomic force microscope, which scans samples down to fractions of a nanometer by using a mechanical probe to "feel" a sample and translate the data into images. But this time, instead of "feeling" the surface, the researchers used carbon nanotubes that are around 3.1 nanometers wide to etch the desired circuit patterns onto a material.

(Funded in part by the National Science Foundation)

A team of researchers has demonstrated for the first time a single-molecule electret – a device that could be critical to molecular computers. In an electret, all the dipoles – pairs of opposite electric charges – spontaneously line up in the same direction. By applying an electric field, their directions can be reversed. The researchers inserted an atom of gadolinium inside a 32-sided molecule called a buckyball and put this construct in a transistor-type structure. They observed single-electron transport and discovered that an electric field could be used to switch the structure’s energy state from one stable state to another.