Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs) are a fundamental component of optical devices requiring an optical gain, such as various types of semiconductor lasers. Conventional methods of forming DBRs require high numbers of layers of semiconductor materials to get the desired reflective resolution. This new method of forming DBRs controls the microstructure of the layers and offers improved vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and resonant cavity light emitting diodes (LEDs).

This technology is a method for making a highly reflective interface for distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), which are used in VCSELs and resonant cavity LEDs to generate optical activity. Using Group III-V materials, the interface consists of amorphous layers that contain aluminum, which when oxidized significantly increases the refractive index. As a result, the number of layers needed for the DBR can be reduced from about 30 to 4 or 5. A key element of this technology is that by using a combination of alternating polycrystalline and amorphous materials the layers can be applied to any surface, regardless of the substrate's lattice constant. Therefore, the DBR can be created on any substrate, including glass and silicon, and has a wider range of design possibilities. Additionally, changing the thickness of the layers allows reflectors of different wavelengths to be created. Highly reflective DBRs which reflect in the short wavelength of the visible spectrum and deep into the ultraviolet wavelength can be formed by this method. This technology has been tested extensively with the most common material sets, gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium phosphide (GaP) systems.

Benefits

• Enables fabrication on any surface, even silicon, widening the range of useful materials and designs.
• Decreased processing due to reduced number of layers Increased options for substrate material, including silicon, glass, and other low-cost options.
• Increased design options, particularly when integrating into electronics and optical devices Improved tolerance of temperature variation due to the DBRs more stable characteristics

A power converter circuit to convert multiple direct current (dc) inputs to one or more dc outputs. This dc-dc power converter allows its load to be powered by multiple, different sources of various voltage and current levels (such as solar panels, batteries, fuel cells, etc.). This converter has both buck and boost capability.

This circuit can simultaneously draw power from several dc electrical energy sources of different kinds (such as solar panels, batteries, fuel cells, etc.). The circuit topology is capable of an arbitrary number of input sources of different voltage/current/power levels. There is a single output voltage that can directly supply a load, or can supply another power converter. The default circuit uses an inductor, but it may be substituted with a transformer to provide electrical isolation or multiple output as well. The power flow from each source can be controlled separately in order to optimize the power flow characteristics for cost, environmental protection, or any other performance objective. Low power applications regulate source switching with a control circuit. High power applications regulate and optimize flow characteristics with a digital signal processor (DSP). This circuit contains a minimum number of components which reduce overall complexity and cost when compared to other implementations. In addition, due to efficiency in design, this circuit can be scaled to work across a multitude of power ranges.

Applications:

This technology can be used in any application which uses multiple dc energy sources and in situations where backup or simultaneous alternative energy sources are used. Such sources include solar cells, fuel cells, batteries, and thermoelectric sources. 

Benefits:

• Simple: Designed with minimal parts, allowing for reduced complexity in design and higher reliability.
• Low Cost: Requires fewer inductors and transistors when compared to equivalent dc-dc converters, therefore manufacturing costs are reduced.
• Efficient: Less loss and higher conversion efficiency due to the minimal design parts.
• Adaptable: Easily integrated into existing systems and combined with other converters (i.e. ac-dc).

To license the entire Solar Panels portfolio, click here [5]. 

Developed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this suite of six technologies enhances multiple facets of nanolithography and scanning probe microscopy. The suite features multifunctional, active probe arrays that enable nanoscale and microscale printing with multiple fluids, nanotube micromachining techniques for high-resolution probe tips, fluid dispensing systems for multiple probes, and a simple electrostatic actuation method for independently lifting individual probes in a high-density probe array. Used singularly or combined, the technologies each offer unique qualities and benefits that simplify and enhance both nanolithography and scanning probe microscopy.

Applications

The methods and materials that these technologies utilize can be applied to all types of scanning probe nanolithography as well as scanning probe microscopy.

Applications include:

• Biotechnology: High-density microarrays or biochips for genomics, toxicology, proteomics, and biological and chemical sensing.
• Semiconductors: Microelectronic components, photomask repair, and direct-write nanolithography.
• Imaging: High throughout scanning probe microscopy, mapping surface characteristics, and detecting surface defects.

Benefits

Using essentially the same equipment but with varying probes and software, Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) with nanoscale probes offers great potential for both nanolithography and imaging. The Nanotip Engineering Suite enhances the functionality of SPM equipment, offering benefits in applications ranging from bioscience to semiconductors. Miniaturization of semiconductor chips could be greatly advanced with the use of scanning probe nanolithography. In genomics and proteomics, biochips containing arrays of dots such as DNA fragments allow researchers to study the vast number of interactions of various proteins on a single chip. Like semiconductor chips, the development of nanoscale scanning probes has great potential benefits for the creation and study of biochips. Current scanning probe nanolithography techniques for creating high-resolution patterning have limitations in both resolution and complexity, and they use inefficient processes.

The Nanotip Engineering Suite eliminates many of those limitations and improves the overall process for nanolithography as well as scanning probe microscopy. 

1. Multifunctional Probe Array (TF04157)

Most current scanning probe lithography methods use a single tip or tip array that must be changed if a second "ink" needs to be applied. This probe change also requires calibration in order to maintain alignment and accuracy. Ths step is both time-consuming and inefficient and also often introduces contamination. To address these issues, this technology provides a multifunctional probe array with active probes that can perform direct chemical patterningand imaging sequentially in a singlerun with accurate registration and no need for changing probes. The technology uses actuators to enable individual control of probes for up and down movement as needed. Patterns using different chemicals and ranging from nano- to microscale can be created and then imaged without risk of cross-contamination and while eliminating the inefficiencies of switching probe tips.

Benefits

• More versatile: An active multiprobe array enables the use of probe tips of differing sizes for generating patterns of differing sizes. Redundant probe tips can also carry different chemicals simultaneously for multi-ink lithography.
• Faster: This technology enables patterning and imaging sequentially in a single run, eliminating the need to change probes and recalibrate.
• Eliminates cross-contamination: By patterning and imaging with different probes within the same array, this technology eliminates the problem of cross-contamination.
• Accurate: Because the tip-to-tip distance in the array is known, accurate registration between patterns is easily achieved.
• Precision control: An integrated thermal actuator allows control to raise or lower individual probes.

2. Probe Fabrication Method and Microcontact Printing Technique (TF02082)

Scanning probe microscopes perform measurements using a probe that has a flexible cantilever beam with a sharp tip attached at the distal end. The fabrication methods for these probes have a number of major drawbacks, including time- sensitive and inefficient processes and difficulty in producing uniform sharpness. Because the cantilevers are made of inorganic thin films, high temperatures and multi-step processes are required to produce them. This new method for probe fabrication and microcontact printing eliminates these problems, while producing either a single probe or an array of probes. It uses an efficient process, lowcost materials, and produces a uniform probe profile. This technology also includes a method for microcontact printing using the fabricated probes described above with integrated elastomeric tips and a commercial scanning probe microscope. This method eliminates the costly and timeconsuming need for a photolithography mask by attaching "inks" to the probe tip and creating patterns with connecting dots. This new technique combines the sub-micrometer accuracy and features of the SPM with the chemical versatility and performance advantages of microcontact printing.

Benefits

• Lower cost: By utilizing a substrate and sacrificial layer, probes can be fabricated at lower cost than with current fabrication methods. Additionally, the direct microcontact printing technique lowers costs by eliminating the need for a photolithographic mask.
• Improved efficiency: Reusing substrate templates to fabricate additional probes saves time as well as maintains consistent size and sharpness.
• Improved performance: Because the microcontact printing technique combines the features of the SPM with the chemical versatility and performance advantages of microcontact printing, sub-micrometer accuracy is enabled.

3. Machining Nanotube-sized Tips from Multiwalled Nanotubes (TF04162)

This technology uses an electron beam machining process to sharpen boron nitride nanotubes into fine-tipped probes for use in atomic force microscopes for molecular and nanostructure imaging and surface manipulation. The nanotube probes are of high strength, high Young's modulus of elasticity, and provide high aspect ratios.

Benefits

• High strength: Because they are formed from multi-walled nanotubes, the resulting tips are very strong.
• High aspect ratio: The tip's fine point and nanometer-scale size enable high aspect ratios for viewing at the atomic level, providing a significant improvement.

4. Atomic force Microscopy (AFM) Fluid Dispensing System for Probe Arrays (TF02040)

To meet the need for an arrayed fluid dispensing system for multiple probes, this technology provides fabrication methods for multiple micro-channels connected to an array of fluid wells. This technology allows side-by-side probes to receive individual inks to create high-density arrays, particularly beneficial for studying biochemical substances such as DNA or proteins.

Benefits

• Multiple Inks: Current technologies for inking nanolithography probes do not allow the placement of unique inks on each probe tip. Individual tip inking allows for application in high-density DNA and protein arrays. 

5. Electrostatic Actuators for Controlling Vertical Movement of Probes(TF03110)

Problems with existing electrostatic actuators include complex fabrication methods, low deflection and force generation, large footprints requiring much wafer space and widely spaced probe tips. This design and fabrication method for electrostatic actuators uses the substrate surface as an electrode, simplifying fabrication. It also results in greater deflection and force and a much smaller footprint, enabling ultrahigh density probe arrays with improved performance.

Benefits

• Simplified fabrication: Because this system includes only one electrode (in the probe), fabrication is greatly simplified.
• Smaller footprint: The electrostatic force and probe stiffness are linear functions of the probe width, making the actuation method highly scalable to very small sizes, potentially enabling ultra-high density probe arrays.
• Better performance: High voltage differences can be applied across the electrodes, resulting in high forces and large deflections.

This technology provides a technique for fabricating metallic structures with dimensions considerably smaller than 10 nm and the use of a focused electron beam to locally manipulate nanowires with a resolution of about 3 nm. This is the first technology to use an electron beam and achieve such a high resolution of matter manipulation.

Metallic devices hold promise for miniaturization because the electronic wavelength is much smaller in metals than in semiconductors. This technology allows users to fabricate metallic structures with dimensions around 4 nm. The method is based on the application of single linear molecules. This type of metallic decoration results in a very thin metallic wire. Researchers have discovered that in order to produce continuous homogenous wires without breaks, one has to use amorphous metals and alloys which exhibit a high adhesion to the molecule. This technology also allows the use of a focused electron beam to locally modify the shape and the morphology of nanowires with a resolution of about 3 nm. A high energy focused electron beam is used for this purpose. The beam is available in a standard transmission electron microscope. Additionally, this technology can produce a nanograin small enough that its charging energy is less than room temperature thermal fluctuation energy. Therefore, these grains can act as room temperature, single-electron tunneling transistors. Also, pronounced quantum-size effects can occur at low temperatures.

This technology could potentially lead to single-electron devices smaller than those attainable through conventional semiconductor technology or even to highly integrated quantum computers.

Applications:

• Miniaturization
• Quantum computers
• Nanowire crystallization, etching and melting
• Superconducting devices
• Single-electron devices

Benefits:

Size - The ability to create metallic structures with such small dimensions can be used to improve numerous applications.

The invention is a novel method for manufacturing porous semiconductors, including silicon (Si), gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC). The method involves applying a thin, discontinuous metallic (preferably platinum) layer to a semiconductor wafer, prior to using common wet chemical etchants (e.g., hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen peroxide), to produce porous silicon (PSi) or other porous semiconductors (PGaN, PSiC).

Porous semiconductors are of interest for their novel optical, electronic, and chemical properties, with PSi being of particular interest. This technology applies a thin, discontinuous layer of metal to a semiconductor wafer before using a wet chemical etching process to produce a controlled thickness of porous semiconductor. The process can be adjusted to produce specific morphologies and desired light emission spectral and/or spatial distributions.

This technology introduces a thin, metal catalyst film (a few nanometers in thickness) onto the semiconductor wafer surface, prior to immersion in an aqueous, oxidizing solution of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide (i.e., H2O2 metal-HF etching). This process results in the simple and effective production of porous semiconductor. The simplicity and patterning capability will enable large-scale production. PSi with various morphologies, etch depths, and luminescent properties can be produced by adjusting the type(s) of metal layer deposited (gold, platinum, or gold/palladium) as well as the dopant type and level (p+, p-, or n+) of the silicon.

Current methods for generating PSi use anodic etching. In anodic etching, a silicon wafer with attached electrodes and leads is submerged in a wet chemical bath and an electrical bias is applied to drive the etching process. While PSi is not commonly used today in optical or electrical devices, anodic etching is used routinely to generate PSi used to fabricate silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers for the electronics industry. A drawback of anodic etching is the extra infrastructure and complexity of applying an electrical bias to a thin wafer submerged in an etchant. At a minimum, it requires electrodes, leads, a power supply, and control electronics.

This new technology is an elegantly simple alternative to anodic etching. It is an electroless technique, i.e., external electrical bias is not required, that circumvents all electrical accessories and associated methods. This novel process is also robust, controllable, and even allows flexibility for generating PSi in selected areas rather than across the entire wafer. In addition, this technology provides up to an order of magnitude enhancement in the luminescent properties of PSi compared to those of material produced using anodic etching. Furthermore, researchers may find applications for PSi that would never be possible using anodic etching.

Applications:

• Light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
• Chemical/Biological sensors
• Compliant substrates for heteroepitaxial growth (e.g., nitrides)
• Sacrificial layers for microelectromechanical devices
• Low-dielectric interconnects

Benefits:

• Enhanced Control over Product Properties: Both the morphology and light-emitting properties (spatial profile, wavelength) of the semiconductor can be tailored as a function of metal deposited, semiconductor doping level, semi-doping type, and etch time.
• Simple and Robust Process: By using metal deposition and etching, both simple, accepted processes in microelectronics, this "contactless" technology does not require the presence of electrical contacts or other stimuli/equipment to control etching.
• Directed Area Etching/Luminescence: Selective deposition or patterning of the metal catalyst allows controlled creation of etch variations in substrates below and adjacent to the metal. This method can also create selected areas with unique emission properties.
• Promising Potential Properties: This technology might lead to in situ contacts for porous semiconductors/silicon; have potential for ten-fold better luminescent emission from PSi than that obtained from anodic etching; enhance the emission of other semiconductors beyond silicon (e.g., GaN) or enable compliant substrates for heteroepitaxy; and enable creation of PSi on a variety of substrate shapes and sizes. 

This technology enables the fabrication of microfluidic devices that automatically maintain homeostasis via an organic feedback system. Originally developed to create self-regulating pH systems, this technology can be used to create medical/biological devices that self-govern temperature, light, molecular, and other fluid parameters.

Most microfluidic devices designed to maintain homeostasis use feedback systems based on electronics or other non-biologically compatible actuation methods. To overcome the limitations of those devices, this technology uses a responsive polymeric material hydrogel as the control system. According to its chemistry, the hydrogel expands when exposed to a given condition (e.g., high pH) and constricts in the opposite condition (e.g., low pH). As the hydrogel expands and contracts, it deforms a 30 m polydimethylsiloxane membrane that regulates the feedback stream. The hydrogel's chemistry is selected according to the fluid parameter of interest. In this way, the microfluidic device operates without electronics or external power, allowing it to be used in medical and biological applications. Construction of the device, which involves compression micromolding, layered manufacturing, and in situ liquid phase polymerization, can be completed in one day and is less expensive than other manufacturing techniques for microfluidic systems.

Advantages

These new technologies enable the fabrication of innovative microfluidic devices that address many of the limitations associated with conventional systems:

• Unlike silicon-based devices, the new device is easy to incorporate into medical and biological applications.
• Unlike devices made from a single material (e.g., elastomer-only devices), the new device is capable of performing complex functions.
• Unlike all other devices, the new self-regulating device functions autonomously without electronics or an external power source.
• Unlike traditional microfabrication methods, this technology uses inexpensive methods to produce increased functionality.
• Unlike devices that use expensive microchips in the channels, the new microfluidic device uses surface chemistry to expand its functionality.

In summary, the technology enables the economical, simple, and rapid fabrication of more functionally complex microfluidic devices than are available today.

Applications

• Clinical medicine: Artificial lung, responsive drug (e.g., insulin) delivery, feedback control devices
• Bioproduction: Protein production, assisted reproduction, filtration
• Research: Incubation/maturation, infection, fertilization, chemical or other treatment of biological objects, reaction kinetics, high surface area sensing substrates, feedback control, drug candidate solubility
• Bioanalysis: DNA analysis, sequence determination of proteins

Benefits

This technology dramatically expands the capabilities of microfluidic devices. It enables the economical, simple, and rapid fabrication of more functionally complex systems than are available today.

• Simple: This technology greatly simplifies the fabrication process for microfluidic devices.
• Less expensive: This technology uses less expensive materials and fabrication methods than those conventionally used to manufacture microfluidic devices.
• Fast: This technology enables microfluidic devices to be constructed in minutes, as compared to days or weeks with more traditional fabrication methods.

Better devices: Microfluidic devices made using this technology have enhanced capabilities compared to those made with traditional fabrication methods:

• Greater functionality
• Autonomous operation; no external power supply or electronics are needed
• Flexible design that is useful for medical and biological applications

In one embodiment of the present invention an oxygen iodine laser includes a gas mixing section. Ground state oxygen and a carrier gas are introduced into the first gas mixing section, sometimes separately. The laser includes a discharge region to generate at least said excited oxygen from the flow of the first gas mixing section. A sensitizer gas having a lower ionization threshold than ground state oxygen is also introduced into the first gas mixing section, such that electrons are more easily produced in the electrical generator. The laser system includes introducing a source of iodine into the excited singlet delta oxygen flow to generate a laser-active gas. In another embodiment a conditioner is placed into the gas mixing section to help mix the flow and/or introduce one or more of the aforementioned gases.

Electrohydrodynamic jet printing has been largely ignored in the high resolution graphics and electronics fabrication industries because previous methods used broad and blunt nozzles that did not provide the resolutions and accuracy of other methods. Because e-jet printing also required a high voltage and led to significant positioning errors, it was restricted to use in modest resolution applications. This new approach to e-jet printing produces a higher resolution using nozzles with much smaller internal diameters than previous methods. In former methods, e-jet printing was limited to dot diameters of ~15 micrometers. This new method can produce dots as small as 250 nanometers and line widths as narrow as 700 nanometers.

Details

E-jet printing uses electric fields to create the necessary fluid flows to deliver inks to a substrate. While this approach has been explored for modest resolutions, this new approach deals specifically with high resolution printing. The e-jet uses nozzles have much smaller internal diameters than previous methods. A voltage applied between the nozzle and the metal plate allows for greater accuracy in high resolution printing. This method is now in development with multiple nozzles which will allow for greatly increased printing speed.

Applications

• Inkjet and printed electronics industries, as well as the security, biotechnology and photonics industries.

Benefits

• Small nozzle internal diameters, less than 30 micrometers, coupled with low volt electric charge, allows for very high resolution printing.
• Can print nearly any chemical composition of ink without requiring a specific type of ink for high resolution printing.
• Distribution of electric field lines through low voltage results in minimal lateral variations and greater accuracy in high resolution printing.
• Can be used to print bulk single walled carbon nanotubes, on almost any substrate.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new design for manufacturing stretchable batteries with "self-similar serpentine interconnects" that offers extraodinary stretchability along with high recharging capacity. In addition, their design also includes stretchable inductive coils that allows wireless recharging without any direct physical contact. These batteries will be useful for powering wearble and epidermal electronics, a new class of electronic and optoelectronic technology. This technology was developed in the laboratory of Dr. John Rogers, who has received international recognition for his work on bio-integrated electronics. 

Researchers fromt the University of Illinois have developed a method of identifying and removing the metallic carbon nanotubes in an array without damaging the semiconducting carbon nanotubes. The method is nearly 100% effective and scalable to large arrays. This technology enables the large-scale creation of CNT arrays with a very high I on/I off ratios. A larger ratio means less lost power while off, faster switching time, and lower operating voltage. This technology was developed in the laboratory of Dr. John Rogers, who has received international recognition for his work on bio-integrated electronics.

This technology is a family of metal complexes that can be used for depositing metal compounds.

This invention is a class of low-power smart antennas, operating at millimeter and microwave frequencies, which are controlled by electronically manipulating the direction of an antenna's signal using solid-state technology. These smart antennas are fully compatible with the existing wireless technology, as well as next generation wireless antenna arrays.

Details

This class of reconfigurable antennas consists of three similar antenna designs, each with its own benefits. The antenna types benefit from compact size and low power consumption, the main difference between the antennas being the geometry of the parasitic array and the method for switching microstrip polarity. How it works The three variations each have three equal spaced parallel strips printed on a grounded dielectric substrate. The center strip is driven with an SMA probe feed, and the linerally polarized antenna is matched by moving the probe location along the x-axis of the center strip. The two outer strips are parasitic and each of them contains one load in the center. When the switches are activated, or the varactors tuned, the effective electrical length of the parasitic strip changes and it alters the induced current on the parasitic strip, changing the antenna's effective radiation pattern up to +35.

Applications

• Home/Office networking and Wi-Fi: Wireless LANs and WANs will benefit from increased range with fewer dropped connections and faster connection speeds, while users of related technologies like wireless voice over internet protocol (VoIP) would enjoy greater mobility and signal clarity.
• Bluetooth and other M2M systems: MIMO antenna arrays will be the backbone of countless machine-to-machine devices that rely on intercommunication in order to function. This algorithm would decrease the size of such devices while ensuring continued reliability.
• Handheld devices: The market demands connectivity in handheld electronics. Portable gaming devices, for instance, require access to community forums, and pocket PCs are equipped with internet browsers and multimedia software to communicate with desktop computers and wireless routers.
• GPS systems: A constant signal is imperative for high-accuracy GPS devices. This suite of improved antenna technologies could provide for the incorporation of GPS systems into a range of portable devices, which are currently inhibited by size, power, or portability.
• Cellular communications: These technologies will boost cell phone signal and range, while simultaneously minimizing power consumption and miniaturizing device size.
• Large or phased arrays of smart antennas: Antennas can be constructed on a large scale to improve long distance communication in cell phone broadcast towers and government/military base stations.

Benefits

• Increase Signal to Noise Ratio: By scanning and switching the antenna's radiation pattern, the antenna system can both circumvent noise and suppress multiple path interference while maintaining communication over a single frequency.
• Compact size: Typically, pattern reconfigurability is achieved by using phased arrays. Phased arrays are too large for use in size-sensitive applications such as consumer electronics devices. This antenna's conformal/ planar design is ideally suited for use in these small applications.
• Elegant Control System: Employing a design of two or four switches, this out-of-phase antenna array consumes minimal power and has negligible computing requirements.

The invention improves the process of ion implantation and annealing, which is used to introduce dopants into a semiconductor to make pn junctions. The improvements control the motion of bulk semiconductor defects such as interstitial atoms through control of surface chemistry. This leads to a reduction of the depth and electrical resistance of the pn junction.

Details

The invention concerns process improvements to ion implantation and annealing technology, which is used to introduce dopants into a semiconductor in order to make pn junctions. The improvements control the motion of bulk semiconductor defects such as interstitial atoms through control of surface chemistry. The surface chemistry changes the intrinsic ability of the surface to absorb defects that diffuse to it. The preferential loss of Si interstitials keeps electrically active dopant fixed in the lattice by inhibiting the "kick out" reaction that makes such dopant atoms mobile and inactive. The interstitial loss rate is controlled by the introduction of an additional step in the annealing process. The surface chemistry also changes the interaction of electrically charged defects with charges at the surface by greatly reducing the charge buildup at the surface and therefore reducing the surface repulsion effect, which increases the activated dopant concentration.

Applications

This technology can be applied to almost any product that uses higher end (< 90 nm) integrated circuits. Not relevant to technologies that use lower resolution since current pn junction technology is acceptable.

Examples of such applications include:

• Computers
• Communications
• Electronics

Benefits

• Pn junction with reduced depth and increased dopant activation: Leads to transistor devices with higher performance
• Compatible with current manufacturing technologies: Avoids the large costs associated with paradigm-changing technologies
• Adjusted loss rate of interstitials to the surface: Offers highly controllable mechanism for defect engineering.

A semiconductor laser that includes an active region, claddings and electrical contacts to stimulate emissions from the active region, where a coupled waveguide guides emission. The waveguide includes a broad area straight coupling region that fans out into an array of narrower Individual curved coupled waveguides at an output facet of the laser. The individual curved coupled waveguides are curved according to Lorentzian functions that define the waveguide curvature as a function of position along the device.

The integral length of each individual curved coupled waveguide differs from adjacent individual curved coupled waveguides by an odd number of half-wavelengths. The coupled waveguide array shapes the optical field output of the semiconductor laser such that a large fraction of the power is emitted into a small angular distribution using interference phenomena. A laser of the invention produces high power output with a very high quality, narrow beam shape.

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a method for vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) to provide high-power output with good beam quality. The method use Zn-diffusion to create disordering and filter out high order mode of the laser. As a result, VCSEL with larger aperture, which permits higher power, will still output single mode light with tight focus. This technology provides laser for energy-assisted magnetic recording, which could be used in next generation hard disk drive.

The invention provides in one of the embodiments for either a continuous wave (cw) or pulsed alkali laser having an optical cavity resonant at a wavelength defined by an atomic transition, a van der Waals complex within the optical cavity, the van der Waals complex is formed from an alkali vapor joined with a polarizable gas, and a pump laser for optically pumping the van der Waals complex outside of the Lorentzian spectral wings wherein the van der Waals complex is excited to form an exciplex that dissociates forming an excited alkali vapor, generating laser emission output at the wavelength of the lasing transition.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new laser pumping method which provides efficient and continuous high power (>10W) lasers in the visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared regions in both gas and solid state systems. This method allows cooling of the laser medium while achieving over 100% quantum efficiency. Combined with frequency doubling this laser should yield more than 10 watts of violet (426 or 427 nm), a region of the spectrum in which no powerful sources exist. 

This invention is the world's first light emitting transistor. The HBLET extends the capabilities of light-emitting diodes and could make this transistor the fundamental element in electronics and optoelectronics. 

Details

In a bipolar device there are two kinds of injected carriers, negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes. Some of these carriers, for example, a transistor, recombine rapidly, supported by a base current essential for normal transistor function. In the past, this base current has been regarded as a waste current that generates unwanted heat. However, this technology shows the base current creates light that can be modulated at transistor speed. This recombination process is the same (but enhanced by carrier transport) as the one used in LEDs to produce visible, rather than infared, light. The transistor laser produces infared radiation in phase with its base current, so it can be modulated at a switching speed impossible to attain with an LED. The switching speed obtained is fast enought to operate in fiber optic networks, as well as other applications.

These transistors are made with indium gallium phosphide and gallium arsenide, unlike traditional transistors which have been built from silicon and germanium. The recombination process in indium gallium phosphide and gallium arsenide materials create infared photons, the "light" in the light emitting transistor. This contributes to the device's ability to operate as both a laser and a transistor. The existence of a third port (the photon output) can interconnect optical and electric signals for display or communication purposes. Additionally, electrical and optical qualities are increased by the incorporation of quantum wells into the active region of the transistors. The transistor laser has a unique capability in signal processing and electronic-photonic integrated circuits.

Applications

• Electronics
• Optoelectronics
• Displays

Benefits

• Speed: These transistors produce infared light in phase with their base current, allowing it to attain a switching speed superior to light emitting diodes (LEDs).
• Controlled light emission: Light intensity can be controlled by varying the base current.
• Simultaneous control of optical and electrical outputs: The addition of a third port allows greater control.
• Utilizes base current: Once considered wasteful, the base current is used to create light. 

Researchers at the University of Illinois have improved the performance of a Quantum Well Transistor and Laser. Their invention helps improve the performance of optical communications systems and can also be used to determine the noise figure of semiconductor optical amplifiers.

Overview of the Transistor Laser (from the website of Professor Feng)

Described in the Novermeber 15 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters in 2004, Milton Feng, Nick Holonyak, postdoctoral research associate Gabriel Walter, and graduate research assistant Richard Chan demonstrated operation of the first heterojunction bipolar transistor laser by incorporating quantum well in the active region of light emitting transistor. Just as light emitting transistor, transistor laser was made of indium gallium phosphide, indium gallium arsenide, and gallium arsenide, but emitted coherent beam by stimulated emission, which differed from their previous device that only emitted incoherent photons. Despite their success, the device was not useful for practical purposes since it only operated at low temperatures about minus 75 in Celsius degrees. Within a year, though, the researchers finally fabricated a transistor laser operating at room temperature by using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), as reported in the September 26 issue of the same journal. At this time, the transistor laser had 14-layer structure including aluminium gallium arsenide optical confining layers and indium gallium arsenide quantum wells. The emitting cavity was 2,200nm wide, 0.85mm long, had continuous modes at 1,000nm. Plus, it had threshold current of 40mA and direct modulation of the laser at 3 GHz. 

An apparatus and methods for characterizing the response of a particle to a parameter that characterizes an environment of the particle. A change is induced in the parameter characterizing the environment of the particle, where the change is rapid on a timescale characterizing kinetic response of the particle.

The response of the particle is then imaged at a plurality of instants over the course of a period of time shorter than the timescale characterizing the kinetic response of the particle. The response may be detected by measuring a temperature jump or by measuring correlation and anticorrelation between probe parameters across pixels.

More particularly, the particle may be a molecule, such as a biomolecule, and the environment, more particularly, may be a biological cell. The parameter characterizing the environment of the particle may be a temperature, and change may be induced in the temperature by heating a volume that includes the particle, either conductively or radiatively. The volume may be heated by means of a laser, such as an infrared laser, for example, or by microwave heating.

This technology produces highly spatial and temporally resolved microscopic images of induced relaxation dynamics through the combination of microscopy with a temperature jump in materials and biosystems under observation. 

Compatible with a variety of microscopy techniques, the technology allows for fast and controlled temperature change. Initiation of dynamics can also be achieved in a variety of systems, including chemical, physical, and biological systems. 

This technology can be applied to the observation of real-time temperature dynamics inside living cells. Compared to current options in the market, the technology is cheaper to produce and better for observing the aforesaid conditions. 

A two terminal semiconductor device for producing light emission in response to electrical signals, includes: a terminal-less semiconductor base region disposed between a semiconductor emitter region and a semiconductor collector region having a tunnel junction adjacent the base region; the base region having a region therein exhibiting quantum size effects; an emitter terminal and a collector terminal respectively coupled with the emitter region and the collector region; whereby application of the electrical signals with respect to the emitter and collector terminals, causes light emission from the base region. Application of the electrical signals is operative to reverse bias the tunnel junction. Holes generated at the tunnel junction recombine in the base region with electrons flowing into the base region, resulting in the light emission. The region exhibiting quantum size effects is operative to aid recombination.

This invention provides processing steps, methods and materials strategies for making patterns of structures for electronic, optical and optoelectronic devices. Processing methods of the present invention are capable of making micro- and nano-scale electronic structures, such as T-gates, gamma gates, and shifted T-gates, having a selected non-uniform cross-sectional geometry.

The technology provides lithographic processing strategies for sub-pixel patterning in a single layer of photoresist useful for making and integrating device components comprising dielectric, conducting, metal or semiconductor structures having non-uniform cross-sectional geometries. Processing methods of the present invention are complementary to conventional microfabrication and nanofabrication platforms, and can be effectively integrated into existing photolithographic, etching and thin film deposition patterning strategies, systems and infrastructure.

This invention provides photoablation--based processing techniques and materials strategies for making, assembling and integrating patterns of materials for the fabrication of electronic, optical and opto-electronic devices. Processing techniques of the present invention enable high resolution and/or large area patterning and integration of porous and/or nano- or micro-structured materials comprising active or passive components of a range of electronic devices, including integrated circuits (IC), microelectronic and macroelectronic systems, microfluidic devices, biomedical devices, sensing devices and device arrays, and nano- and microelectromechanical systems.

This invention is a class of micromirrors with high reflectivity dielectric layer coated on top of micromirror that can be tuned to allow transparency or reflectivity of UV or Visible light to meet the needs of the application. Also disclosed is a top-down fabrication process for the assembly of coated micromirrors using polymer structural material. Includes additional features & methods for: phase shift mask, sharp turn off, flexible micromirror arrays, and thermal compensation.

Temperature limits the sensitivity and resolution of every surface electrical potential measurement made by an AFM today. With existing AFM probes, temperature and current cannot be modulated, thus it is difficult to control temperature or to measure electrical potential at the tip. This device uses an integrated resistive heating element and temperature controls to combine temperature applications with voltage measurements to remove the uncertainty of temperature in surface electrical potential measurements.

Using an integrated resistive heating element, the device has the ability to reach 1000 C and can control the temperature of the AFM probe tip to measure the tip's electrical resistance. This device makes nanoscale surface electrical potential measurements that may be a function of temperature. As this technique modulates the temperature precisely, it removes the temperature uncertainty of surface electrical potential measurements. Using multiple probes on a single chip, the device also addresses the slow-throughput of Dip Pen Nanolithography

Applications:

Semiconductor and surface science as well as repair applications in photo-mask and flat panel displays.

Benefits:

The ability to calibrate and control AFM tip temperature within 1C at temperatures greater than 1000 C. Multiple AFM probes that can be manufactured in bulk and can be addressed individually.

The combination of a unique series-input parallel-output (SIPO) circuit configuration and a sensorless current mode (SCM) technique ensures automatic and nearly perfect load sharing of multiple dc:dc converters even during fast dynamic changes.

A power supply in an embodiment of the invention includes a plurality of dc--dc switching power converters, each of which has its input isolated from its output. The power converters are arranged with their respective inputs being series connected and their respective outputs being parallel connected in an embodiment of the invention. In another embodiment of the inputs are parallel connected and the outputs series connected. Each power converter includes an input filter in each of said dc--dc switching power converters and an output filter. Each power converter includes a sensorless current mode control circuit controlling its switching duty ratio.

To license the entire Solar Panels portfolio, click here [5].

A device that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a memory array having a first array of nanotubes, a second array of nanotubes, and a resistive change material located between the first and second array of nanotubes. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Conductivity of a liquid solution provides valuable information about the solution, but commercially available conductivity probes are costly and have diameters greater than 1cm, limiting their potential applications. Microscale thin-film liquid conductivity sensors are a novel application of semiconductor processing methodology and are capable of measuring ion concentrations in nanoliter size samples of liquid. The devices can be readily commercialized for small volume sample analysis or for in-vivo measurement in chemical or biological processes and mesoscale machines. Sensors can be fabricated as part of an integrated circuit and may be integrated with other sensors for multiparameter measurements. These robust, low-cost sensors also have potential for a wide range of commercial and industrial monitoring and control applications.

Current, commercially available liquid conductivity sensors are bulky, expensive and unable to measure small sample volumes or to be used for in-vivo and in-situ applications. A newly developed surface and bulk micromachining technique enables the fabrication of low cost, robust sensor probes with temperature compensation and improved packaging on silicon wafers.

From 200 to 2000 devices (depending on desired size) can be fabricated on a 4" silicon wafer, greatly reducing fabrication cost. Pt-black electroplating reduces the electrode/solution interfacial impedance, maintaining measurement accuracy while significantly reducing operation frequency. Reduction of operation frequency eliminates dependence on expensive measurement electronics.

With the new process and 4-electrode measurement, sensor probes can be fabricated with tip widths much less than 100 microns. To improve device accuracy, an RTD temperature sensor can be integrated on the sensor probe tip to provide local temperature compensation. The bulk micromachining method also allows the thermal mass of the sensor to be reduced, thus improving the response time of the probe.

Applications

• Analysis of chemical and biological fluids.
• In-vivo and in-situ measurements for medical testing.
• Controls for washing machine and dishwasher rinse cycles.
• Monitors to improve the performance and safety of water and ice dispensers and water purifiers.
• Devices for monitoring ultrapure water and measuring seawater salinity.

Benefits

• Sensors can measure electrical conductivity in nanoliter size samples over a wide range of solution conductivity.
• The sensor tip accommodates an integrated temperature sensor that enhances sensor accuracy by measuring local temperature.
• A four-electrode design provides independent measurement of current and voltage.
• The device is hundreds of times smaller than commercially available conductivity probes; future devices may be miniaturized to 100 micron tip width.
• Sensors can be operated at very low current and power consumption and are ideal for low-power or battery-operated applications.
• Sensors can be driven at relatively high electric currents, with the resulting high temperature acting to de-foul the electrodes.
• Because of low fabrications costs, sensors can be disposable.

This technology is a method to eliminate voltage overshoot in cables used to connect AC electric motors and pulse width modulation (PWM) inverters. As a function of cable length and voltage rise time, voltage overshoot occurs when high frequency currents reflect between the motor and source ends of a cable. University of Illinois researchers have devised a compensator that shapes the output of the PWM inverter in order to eliminate these reflections; the method only requires knowledge of the transmission line characteristic impedance and propagation delay. This technique extends the life of motor insulation and protects voltage-sensitive devices.

Voltage overshoot occurs when high frequency currents reflect between the motor and source ends of an electrical cable. Reflective waves of current can build up, causing motor insulation failure as well as damage to voltage-sensitive devices. While there have been techniques developed to compensate for voltage overshoot, many are complex, need load characteristics, and often require the use of bulky and expensive equipment.

The University of Illinois technique provides a mathematically exact solution that modifies the output of the PWM inverter in order to eliminate wave reflection. This technique is designed to eliminate voltage overshoot in the cable that connects alternating current (AC) electric motors to pulse width modulation (PWM) inverters that use insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT). IGBT motor drive cables are particularly susceptible to voltage overshoot due to their extremely fast switching speeds. The compensator, which attaches to either the source or motor end of a cable, is a filter that uses an appropriate linear combination of voltages and currents to transform the transmission line into a pure delay transfer. This prevents wave reflection and thus voltage overshoot. Users do not need to know the motor or drives characteristics; however, they do need to know the transmission line impedance and the propagation delay in order to use this device.

This invention improves on existing solutions to voltage overshoot by providing an exact solution rather than approximation. 

Applications:

The range of applications that use AC motors is vast, examples include:

• Heavy Industrial Machines or Manufacture: Heavy industries including automotive, materials handling, mining operations, plastic and rubber production, ceramics, textile, and utilities.
• Workshops: Metalworking, printing and woodworking shops.
• Chemical Industries: Chemical refining, pharmaceutical production, and plastic fabrication.

Benefits

• Cost-Effective: Eliminates damaging wave reflection, prolonging the usefulness of motors and voltage-sensitive devices.
• Low-Cost and Small: No large or expensive equipment is needed to implement this technology.
• Self-Adapting: Modifies waveform as transmission cable properties change over time.
• Versatile: Can be implemented at either the motor or source side of a cable, allowing users to select the side that is easier to maintain.

This technology describes a fabrication method for multi-channel, multi-layered microfluidic devices, with numerous functional characteristics capable of integration into a lab-on-a-chip platform. The chip allows broader analytical capabilities in point-of-use microfluidic technology than previously possible, and it does so with exceeding strength and stability.

Fabrication of this chip is made possible by a transfer process of labile membranes and the development of a contact printing method for a thermally curable epoxy-based adhesive. This adhesive has bond strengths that prevent leakage, channel rupture and delamination to nearly 6atm. Channels on the chip - 100 m wide and 20 m deep - are contact printed without the adhesive entering the microchannel.

The chip is characterized in terms of resistivity measurements along the microfluidic channels, electroosmotic flow (EOF) measurements at differing pH levels and laser-induced-fluorescence (LIF) detection of green-fluorescent (GFP) plugs injected across the nanocapillary membrane and into a microfluidic channel. The resulting product is a mixed-polymer micro-nanofluidic multilayer chip, which has the electrical characteristics necessary for use in microanalytical systems.

Applications:

• Solution sample clean-up and preparation: Prepare materials for research faster than ever before.
• Automated lab-on-a-chip: Develop high-throughput, fully-automated systems for life sciences research and drug discovery investigation.
• Laboratory-tests-on-a-card or "Lab Cards": Analyze blood and tissue samples on the spot with portable and hand-held devices.

Benefits:

• Built-in NCAMs: The NCAM (nanocapillary-array membranes) acts as an electrostatic "gateway," permitting only compounds of a particular size and charge to pass through. Integration of NCAMs into microfluidic devices increases the chips' sophistication and analytical capabilities by permitting simultaneous sample streams, multiple molecular manipulations, and controlled reactions and optical verification.
• Vertical nanocapillary interconnects: Sandwiching the NCAMs between layers of nanocapillary interconnects increases both scalability and complexity by allowing unique operations such as the separation of analytes based upon molecular size, channel isolation, enhanced mixing, and sample concentration.
• Optically transparent: Inspect fluids within the channels in the near UV and visible light spectrum.
• Incorporate numerous layers: With large arrays of NCAMS and nanocapillary interconnects, the fabrication method enables a wide degree of functional complexity because each layer can be optimized to a particular task.
• Reliable structure: Strong bonding during fabrication produces a high-test chip, whose nanocapillary arrays maintain stability up to nearly 6atm of pressure, even when several arrays are stacked together.

To license the entire Lunch Box Size Portable Gas Chromatograph portfolio, click here [61].  

A method of plasma etching Ga-based compound semiconductors includes providing a process chamber and a source electrode adjacent to the process chamber. The process chamber contains a sample comprising a Ga-based compound semiconductor. The sample is in contact with a platen which is electrically connected to a first power supply, and the source electrode is electrically connected to a second power supply. The method includes flowing SiCl.sub.4 gas into the chamber, flowing Ar gas into the chamber, and flowing H.sub.2 gas into the chamber. RF power is supplied independently to the source electrode and the platen. A plasma is generated based on the gases in the process chamber, and regions of a surface of the sample adjacent to one or more masked portions of the surface are etched to create a substantially smooth etched surface including features having substantially vertical walls beneath the masked portions.

Professors Xiuling Li and Daniel Wasserman have developed an optical architecture which integrates a metallic film with subwavelength apertures into semiconductor material. Unlike other optical architectures, these Buried Extraordinary Optical Transmission structures enhance optical transmission while reducing reflectivity. The "buried" metal film is capable of providing a near-uniform lateral voltage/current distribution over the surface of a device, while also capable of controlling and potentially enhancing the coupling of incident radiation into the device. Because of these properties, the structures have potential for a broad range of next-generation light-emitting and detecting optoelectronic devices.

Inductors

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a novel design of on-chip inductors using multiple turn microtubes based on stain-induced self-rolled-up nanotechnology. This technology would allow nearly 200x smaller footprint compared to conventional planar inductors while achieving significant performance improvements in all aspects.

Transformers

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a novel design of on-chip transformers using multiple turn microtubes based on strain-induced, self-rolled-up nanotechnology. This design allows a nearly 12x smaller footprint compared to conventional planar transformers, while achieving significant performance improvements.

Transmission Lines

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a novel design of on-chip transmission lines using multiple turn microtubes based on strain-induced, self-rolled-up nanotechnology. This design allows transmission lines to operate at Terahertz frequencies with significant performance improvements and reductions in interference and loss. 

Inductors

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a novel design of on-chip inductors using multiple turn microtubes based on stain-induced self-rolled-up nanotechnology. This technology would allow nearly 200x smaller footprint compared to conventional planar inductors while achieving significant performance improvements in all aspects.

Transformers

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a novel design of on-chip transformers using multiple turn microtubes based on strain-induced, self-rolled-up nanotechnology. This design allows a nearly 12x smaller footprint compared to conventional planar transformers, while achieving significant performance improvements.

Transmission Lines

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a novel design of on-chip transmission lines using multiple turn microtubes based on strain-induced, self-rolled-up nanotechnology. This design allows transmission lines to operate at Terahertz frequencies with significant performance improvements and reductions in interference and loss. 

A University of Illinois research team led by Dr. Kimani Toussaint has developed novel, metal, pillar-bowtie nanoantenna array templates on silicon dioxide pillars. The team which includes Brian Roxworthy and Abdul Bhuiya demonstrated that the gap size for either individual or multiple p-BNAs can be tuned down to approximately 5nm, roughly ~4x smaller than what is currently achievable using conventional electron-beam lithography techniques. This technology enables the tuning of the optical response of the nanoantennas down to the level of a single nanoantenna. This could lead to unique spatially addressable nanophotonic devices for sensing and particle manipulations and provides a fertile platform for studying mechanical, electromagnetic and thermal phenomena in a nanoscale system.

This technology is a rapid, simple and sensitive method for detecting the binding or unbinding of biomolecules using a silicon wafer. It is a novel method for detecting when two biomolecules unbind. The target biomolecule is placed on the silicon wafer, and then the partner biomolecules is fluorescently labeled and allowed to bind to target protein. At this point, the fluorescent label is quenched as it is brought into proximity of the silicon substrate. The technology works best for detecting disassociation or unbinding, such as screening for drugs that interfere with protein-protein binding.

Compared to quenching by the common technique of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), the technology yields much larger quenching (signal/background ratio); provides robust signals even on the largest biomolecules complexes; and simplifies labeling since only one protein must be labeled (compared with two labels needed for FRET). Also, position or rigidity of the labeling site is relatively unimportant compared with polarized fluorescence assays. Because silicon is used, photolithographic techniques can potentially be used to miniaturize and integrate excitation, detection, and sample handling. Finally, the technology is fluorescence-based so it is highly sensitive and safe without the need for radioactivity.

Applications

This technology would be highly useful in therapeutic drug screening, and should be of interest to major pharmaceutical companies. High-throughput screening for drug discovery Works best for measuring disassociation/unbinding

Benefits

• Long-quenching range: more efficient at energy transfer than the standard fluoresce resonance energy transfer (FRET), thus larger complexes still receive energy transfer
• Simplified Labeling: acceptor protein does not have to be labeled and is less critical where dye is attached to donor
• Scalable: Possible to miniaturize technology Safe: Technology does not use radioactivity

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Microscopy (ISAM) ISAM offers revolutionary technology advancement in OCT and other microscopy methods. With a single pass, the algorithm is able to extend the range over which devices can scan an image by integrating data taken from non-focal point areas in addition to the focal region. Integration of the ISAM technology into catheters or arterial imaging devices would add significant value above the existing image rendering paradigms.

Benefits

• Produces functional imagery from formerly unusable data
• Maintains quality resolution in high depth-of-field and 3-D applications
• Tolerates errors in defocus
• Employs digital processing to compensate for instrument and user error

The Near-field Volume Scanning Optical Tomography (NVSOT) improves upon the existing Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) modalities by extending the data acquisition to obtain the tomographic information of the sample without multi-directional measurements or multi-angle illuminations. Three-dimensional imaging is a much desired capability in the field of life sciences and nanotechnology; current techniques require multiple image acquisitions and complicated optical set-up.

Measurement of the volume above the sample with a strongly scattering tip in the NVSOT based system induces higher order interactions which contains the tomographic information required to generate a three-dimensional image of the sample.

Near-field Volume Scanning Optical Tomography (NVSOT) enables collection of tomographic data for the reconstruction of three dimensional images of sub-wavelength scale samples in the near-field of a strongly scattering tip. This technology eliminates the need for multi-directional measurements of the scattered field in the illumination mode or multi-angle illuminations in the collection mode. Scanning the three dimensional volume above the sample amounts to acquiring multiple NSOM images, data independence is ensured by the higher order interactions between the probe tip and the sample.

Applications

For optical microscopy and three-dimensional imaging of sub-wavelength scale samples in the fields of:

• Biological Sciences
• Material Sciences
• Nanotechnology

Benefits

• Volume scan of the surface above the sample with a strongly scattering tip enables tomographic reconstruction of the sample.
• Eliminates the need for multi-directional measurements of the scattered field in the illumination mode.
• Eliminates the need for multi-angle illumination for measurements in the collection mode.
• The higher order interaction between the sample and the tip ensure data independence.

The development of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOT) has been driven by the need for an imaging technique that retains the various contrast mechanisms afforded by optical microscopy methods while attaining spatial resolution beyond the classical optical diffraction limit.

NSOT, as an extension of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), amounts to inverting the scattering data collected by the NSOM and reconstructing the sample, instead of taking the raw data as an image of the sample. This invention is a new method to simplify realization of NSOT and reduce mechanical and other noises. This invention also proposes an alternative NSOT modality to improve the experimental feasibility of NSOT.

For ultra-high optical resolution, near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is currently the photonic instrument of choice. Near-field imaging occurs when a sub-micron optical probe is positioned a very short distance from the sample and light is transmitted through a small aperture at the tip of this probe. The near-field is defined as the region above a surface with dimensions less than a single wavelength of the light incident on the surface. Within the near-field region evanescent light is not diffraction limited and nanometer spatial resolution is possible. This phenomenon enables non-diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy of a sample that is simply not possible with conventional optical imaging techniques.

In addition, rather than using multiple observation angles or multiple probes, it is possible to collect data in a third dimension using the spectral degree of freedom. The idea of constructing an image in N spatial dimensions by collecting data in (N - 1) spatial dimensions and a spectral dimension has found application in techniques such as optical coherence tomography and synthetic aperture radar.

Applications

• Any high magnification microscopy, with requirements short of a scanning electron microscope.

Benefits

• This method clarifies the ambiguity between the sample and its NSOM image, and by inverting multiple NSOM images of a three-dimensional sample, a three-dimensional tomography of the sample may be obtained.
• Multiple images corresponding to different wavelengths can be collected from each probe scan and are therefore inherently co-registered. 

The phase contrast microscope is a vital instrument in biological and medical research; it facilitates the observation of living cells by using spatial light modulation to enhance the intrinsic contrast of transparent and colorless components in a cell. It can reveal cell structure without the need of contrast agents. However, the information obtained is only qualitative.

Jones Phase Microscopy (JPM) and White Light Quantitative Phase Microscopy (PC++) of transparent and anisotropic samples are novel interferometric techniques that are quantitative and polarization sensitive. They are capable of quantifying the optical phase delays associated with live cell samples while providing information about the morphology and dynamics.

Quantifying these optical path length shifts allows for nanometer scale measurements with broad applications in nanotechnology and life sciences, e.g. from inspecting semiconductor wafers to studying processes in live cells.

Description/Details

Jones Phase Microscopy (JPM) technique is capable of extracting the spatially-resolved Jones matrix associated with transparent and anisotropic samples. It can provide the quantitative phase image of the cells as well as the intrinsic structure details and dynamics. JPM setup consists of a modified Hilbert Phase microscope; the quantitative phase image is correlated to the sample using a 2D spatial Hilbert transform. The full Jones matrix in each point within the field associated with the transparent sample is extracted and the embedded quantitative information of phase delay is used to reconstruct its image.

The White Light Quantitative Phase Microscope (PC++) interfaces with a commercial phase contrast microscope and transforms it into a quantitative instrument by performing two additional measurements (hence the name PC++). In a conventional phase microscope the additional phase delay is introduced by the phase objective, the PC image is delivered at the image plane and recorded by a CCD. However, in PC++, the optical field at the image plane is further modulated before detection which is equivalent to spatial filtering with three different phase masks and reconstruction of image by addition of fields containing information about the unscattered light (forming the uniform background) and the fine structural details (the contrast). 

Applications

• Optical microscopy and imaging of live cells and thin tissue slices, microorganisms, lithographic patterns, and nanoparticles
• Study of cell dynamics and morphology

Benefits

• These techniques provide improved contrast in unstained biological specimens and can be utilized to examine dynamic events in living cells.
• Quantitative Phase delay information
• Polarization sensitive imaging; while Jones Phase Microscope is a modified Hilbert Phase microscope, the PC++ is an add-on to a commercial phase contrast microscope.

A method using standard, inexpensive components and software to generate ultra-short laser pulses of a quality currently available only from complex, costly systems, such as the Ti:Sapphire laser. Ultra-short laser pulses, shorter than 10 - 15 femtoseconds, are used in many applications including: multiphoton microscopy, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy, and femtochemistry. At this time, such precision ultra-short pulse lasers are largely cost prohibitive in many applications, relatively difficult and expensive to maintain, and tend to be unreliable. This laser system was designed to provide a cost effective alternative to current femtosecond lasers.

Applications:

• Research: multiphoton imaging, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy, femtochemistry, and selective gene transfection
• Medical: skin imaging and pathology using multiphoton imaging

Benefits:

• Ultra-short pulses: this technology allows tunable pulse compression capable of producing pulses ranging from 220 to 8.7 femtoseconds. Due to the simplicity of this system, once configured, the pulses are fully reproducible, need little maintenance and have excellent reliability.
• Size and portability: while Ti:Sapphire lasers require a significant amount of space, this system requires much less (it is roughly the size of a bread box) thereby allowing dramatically improved portability for easier translation to clinical applications, or inter-laboratory sharing and collaboration.
• Cost: at a fraction of the cost of a Ti:Sapphire laser, this invention provides a cost-effective alternative to all other commercially available femtosecond lasers.
• Reliability: the simple elegance of this laser system grants it excellent pulse reproducibility and reliability in contrast to currently available femtosecond lasers which, due to complexity and other factors, suffer from high maintenance costs and unreliability. Additionally, maintenance of this system is comparatively inexpensive because of its off-the-shelf standard components. 

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a method of applying optical parametric amplification technology to enhance ultrweak signals from scattering biological tissue. This method can also be utilized for other types of signals such as fluorescence, parametirc processes, and Raman for tissue analysis in research applications. Although high sensitivity photodetectors exist, this method deals with instances of extremely low-level light signals that w ould otherwise result in long integration time and slow imaging speed. This method solves issues that ussually occur with the current application, i.e. low spatial and temporal coherence and the incompatibility of high intensity/low repition rate lasers with biological samples. 

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a way to shift a laser beam into a broadband of light with lower wavelengths. This technology enables the use of pulsed pump lasers in ultrafast spectroscopy, nonlinear biomedical imaging, and many other imaging fields. 

This invention invention provides photonic crystal devices, device components and methods for preventing transmission of electromagnetic radiation from one or more laser sources or laser modes so as to provide an optical shield for protecting a users eyes or an optical sensor. The invention also provides dynamic photonic crystals and devices incorporating dynamic photonic crystals for optically modulating the intensity of one or more beams of electromagnetic radiation and other optical switching applications.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a portable spectrometer cradle that can be attached to smartphones. The device uses the camera lens and light source of the smartphone to enable the spectrometer assembly in the cradle and measure the intensity and wavelength of the light similar to a lab spectrometer. The spectrometer cradle could instead incorporate its own low powered laser within the cradle as well. The smartphone biosensor can be used for various optical sensing applications, such as biosensing, absorption, and fluoresence assays, in the field as opposed to the lab. And since the device is smartphone based, information can be quickly disseminated through wireless means.

Background

Chemical binders used in asphalt paved surfaces are subject to age hardening, resulting in increased stiffness over time, a major cause of cracking and the subsequent need for re-surfacing. Over the last 40 years, treating the binders with some form of anti-oxidant (AOX) has shown some promise in reducing binder stiffness, but it still is prone to softening at higher temperatures, stiffening at lower temperatures or leaching out over time. To ensure long-term durability, a viable AOX treatment should remain dimensionally stable over a wide temperature range and be environmentally and occupationally safe to use.

AOXADUR

Developed by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006, this revolutionary AOX binder treatment consists of three additives to base asphalt: aldehyde, thioester and a caltalyst. A condensation reaction of aldehyde with asphalt to form novolacs, which can act as antioxidants, results in a reduction of age-susceptible polar aromatics in the binder. The thioester serves as a secondary antioxidant, which is highly effective against oxidative degradation of hydrocarbons. Laboratory testing of over 40 binders at the University of Illinois showed that the AOXADUR-modified binder produces the lowest aging index the measurement of asphalt aging potential during service life. Further, the AOXADUR-modified binder showed a dramatic increase in high-temperature stiffness and a substantial decrease in low-temperature stiffness. This improvement in binder properties at both high and low temperatures results in less thermal stress and reduced cracking potential. Finally, the age-fighting characteristics of AOXADUR make it an appealing choice asphalt mixtures containing recycled asphalt pavement (RAP).

With AOXADUR, higher amounts of RAP material can be used, which can lead to a reduction in the amount of new aggregate and asphalt binder required per ton of mixture, leading to economic and environmental benefits and increased sustainability of the roadway materials. 

A method and system for presenting a visual representation of search results relating to information on a computer network. A complex relevance rating scheme for generating a relevance rating for each match of the search results. The display space is defined with a display space relevance profile. A visual representation of the matches is determined and positioned within the display space according to the match relevance rating and the display space relevance profile.

Professor Dana Dlott and Natalia Garcia Rey have designed a spectra-electrochemical cell that is user and environmental friendly. The material used is chemically resistant for cleaning and electrochemical experiments. Previous designs presented a complicated assembly with many different parts, large volume, and a liquid gap between the window and the electrode that could not be controlled. 

Their findings show how important it is to have control of the gap for the ultrafast spectroscopic analysis and for understanding of the electrochemical reactions occurring on the electrolyte-electrode. This design also allows one to move the electrode sample to refresh the solution and repeat the experiment, setting the sample back to the same position with micrometer precision, which is very important in laser experiments and for comparing between results. The design uses commercial electrodes that can be polished, electrochemically cleaned and assembled in the cell. Previous designs use evaporated metallic thin fill on glass, increasing the cost of each experiment, and limitations of the electrodes to study (ie. single crystals). In addition, this design does not require a special sample holder; it can fit a commercially available 2" diameter mirror mount.

Dr. Eden from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has invented a new type of laser capable of creating thousands of near-perfect beams and combining them into one high energy beam. 

This new laser has significant applications in manufacturing, defense, and research.

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Dr. Xiuling Li from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has invented a helical antenna using her self-rolled-up membrane technology that is capable of terahertz transmission and reception. This has the potential to overcome the "terahertz" gap that plagues communications and can greatly increase data transfer rates.

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A necessary function for microfluidic devices used in biology is the ability to "hold" a cell or other object (e.g., embryo) in a known physical location while maintaining the flow around it. This is particularly useful in bioproduction and applications such as incubation/maturation, infection, fertilization, or chemical treatment of a biological object. Although lithographic etching can be used to construct the holding areas (i.e., constriction regions), this method is expensive and complex. This technology uses a simple and inexpensive method -- polymerization -- to construct flow constriction regions. A prepolymer mixture if flowed into the microfluidic channel and polymerized using an ultraviolet source. As it is polymerized, the polymer shrinks, creating a small gap at the top of the channel. This gap allows the fluid flow to continue while the cell/object is held in place. Thus, this technology enables microfluidic devices to be constructed more cost-efficiently.

A computer-implemented method of predicting tie strength between persons within a social media network includes: modeling tie strengths between a user of the social media network and connected persons in the network as a combination of: a plurality of predictive variables, interactions between dimensions of the predictive variables, and network structure of the social media network; altering or filtering a stream of social media content from the connected persons using the tie strength as associated with the respective connected persons according to the modeling; and delivering the altered or filtered stream of social media content to a communications device of the user.

A method for controlling Internet access of a mobile device by using a communication system having a number of access points includes the steps of performing a certificate-based authentication between an authentication access point and a mobile device seeking access to the Internet; transmitting a certificate from the mobile device to the authentication access point; verifying the certificate by the authentication access point; determining whether the authenticating mobile device's certificate has been revoked prior to the expiration of its lifetime; and granting the authenticating mobile device access to the Internet, if the certificate has been verified successfully and not revoked prior to the expiration of its lifetime.

A method for measuring system response sensitivity, using live traffic and an analysis that converts randomly arriving stimuli and reactions to the stimuli to mean measures over chosen intervals, thereby creating periodically occurring samples that are processed. The system is perturbed in a chosen location of the system in a manner that is periodic with frequency p, and the system's response to arriving stimuli is measured at frequency p. The perturbation, illustratively, is with a square wave pattern.

A processor triggers a first advanced execution processing pass to an instruction sequence in response to a first stalled instruction and initiates execution of a further instruction in the instruction sequence that stalls during the performance of the first advanced execution processing pass. A second advanced execution pass is performed through the instruction sequence in which the further instruction is processed again to provide a valid result after stalling. In one form, the first instruction is performed while the processor operates in a normal execution mode and the first and second advanced execution processing passes are performed while the processor operates in an advance execution mode.

A symmetric cryptosystem uses cascaded chaotic maps to encrypt plaintext and decrypt ciphertext. Received plaintext is encrypted using the cascaded chaotic maps to generate a ciphertext. The ciphertext can then be decrypted using the same cascaded chaotic maps in order to retrieve the plaintext.

In the present scalable system routing method, received packets are associating with threads for processing the received packets. While a previously received packet is being processed, arrival of an interrupt is checked. If there is an interrupt, a thread is created associating the interrupt is created. Then, a determination of whether the thread associated with the interrupt has a priority that is higher than the priority of a thread associated with the previously received packet is made. If the thread associated with the interrupt has a higher priority than the previously received packet, the thread associated with the previously received packet is saved in a Shared Arena storage area. However, if the thread associated with the interrupt does not have a higher priority than the previously received packet, the thread associated with the interrupt is queued. Because threads are attached to the packets, the threads can now be suspended and resumed without having to disable interrupts, which includes periods during a context switch. As a result, a more flexible and efficient scheduling routing method can be implemented.

The graphene-on-diamond on-chip power inductor is made though a self-rolled-nanomembrane technology. It has a small footprint along with high power inductance and high heat dissipation. This structure can be arranged into arrays to meet specific power converting needs in a smaller size than current methods.

The invention is a vertical hetero- and homo- junction tunnel FET (TFET) based on multi-layer black phosphorus (BP) and transition metal dichalcogenides. The novel multi-layer structure allows low power and bypassing of current limits by using BP as a channel. Compared to MS2, BP has smaller bandgap, allowing electrons to swim much more easily. In addition, using multi-layer structure allows smaller contact resistance.

This metal-assisted chemical etching (MacEtch) technology can be used to fabricate structure and texture on Ge and β-Ga₂O₃Et. The optoelectronic devices made by this method show improvement in both optical and electrical properties.

• Kim et al., "Scaling the Aspect Ratio of Nanoscale Closely Packed Silicon Vias by MacEtch: Kinetics of Carrier Generation and Mass Transport," Adv. Funct. Mat., 2017

Professor Bahl from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a new RF transmitter capable of transmitting at frequencies below 3 kHz while exploiting the magnetic component of the electromagnetic field. Transmitting at these low frequencies while taking advantage of the magnetic component of the electromagnetic field will allow for transmission of RF signals through conductive material such as water or the ground. Prior technology for transmitting radio signals at such low frequencies required very large antenna structures along with a large power input. The current technology weighs less than 10 kg and fits in a backpack. This technology has applications in the military as well as oil exploration, mining, and anywhere else where data communication is desired underground or underwater.

Drs. David Ruzic and Jason Peck from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new plasma etching process assisted by a polarized pulsed laser. This technology addresses the need of damageless, anisotropic etching for features of 100 nm or less. It is the only known process to etch 3D structures in integrated circuits which lie along one direction, and not etch those that are perpendicular. It will enable making integrated circuits with smaller feature sizes.

Dr. Zhao has developed a new resolution standard for super-resolution microscopes.  Dr. Zhao’s invention allows for resolution to be tested in an environment that accurately reflects biological experimental conditions, unlike current resolution standards that are attached or etched to the surface of a cover glass.  Dr. Zhao’s invention also allows for determination of axial (z) resolution in addition to the lateral resolution (x,y). 

Dr. Paul Braun from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a new design architecture for backlit LCDs.

This technology enables the fabrication of multiple plans of interconnected passive photonic devices with the volume of a silicon wafer. The fabrication technique uses porous silicon as a scaffold for photoresist in a direct laser write process to make graded index (GRIN) optics and photonic elements. This technology has the potential to dramatically improve the speed, density, and energy efficiency in applications like telecommunications, computing, data storage and transfer and consumer electronics.

A novel label-free microscopy modality that quantitatively measures the scatter-induced changes in reflected intensity from a photonic crystal biosensor surface to reveal the kinetic evolution and spatial features of focal adhesions (FA) that form at the cell-surface interface. Compared to a sensing approach in which image contrast is generated by the dielectric permittivity of attached cell components, PROM provides contrast in reflected resonant intensity that is induced by the refractive index contrast of localized protein clusters that occur at the cell-surface interface that comprise FA sites. PROM is expected to be a highly useful tool that can reveal the mechanisms of biological processes that occur near the cell membrane when it is attached to extracellular matrix materials during apoptosis, stem cell differentiation, migration, division, and metastasis.

Dr. Dragic from the University of IL has developed a low-quantum defect fiber-based laser. This invention assists with the management of thermal energy (quantum defect heating) which can lead to failure of an optical fiber when power scaling fiber-based lasers. A Yb-doped multicomponent flurosilicate optical fiber reduces quantum defect heating in the fiber-based laser. Fiber-based lasers have applications in the automotive, medical, and electronics industries.

This technology is a classifier based on a ferroelectric graphene transistor. In contrast to traditional current-mode classifiers based on CMOS technologies (which require 23 transistors per pixel), this classifier requires only one transistor per pixel. The device provides a new solution for image recognition with reduced circuit complexity, enhanced energy efficiency, and faster processing speed. Applications include signal or image processing and recognition.

Professor Gary Eden from the University of Illinois has developed a device that leverages the recent development of efficient, flat vacuum ultraviolet/ultraviolet lamps to perform two or more semiconductor fabrication processes in the same chamber. This invention is expected to significantly lower the cost of manufacturing electronic devices. This invention also introduces a new photolithography process that does not require chemical processing of a photoresist in a separate tool or by wet chemical processing. This process alone will lower the cost of photolithography and make sub-200 nm resolution photolithography accessible to a broader community of users.

Fig: SEMS of patterns formed in acrylic films by irradiating the films through a photomask with a 172 nm flat lamp

Dr. Rohit Bhargava and graduate student Kevin Yeh have developed a new method and device for infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The invention overcomes current limitations in fourier-transform based IR approaches which suffer from high signal-to-noise ratios and slow data acquisition speed. The invention uses an assembly of quantum cascade lasers, point-scanning, and scanning at discrete wavelengths to increase the speed of data acquisition and reduce scan time. The invention takes advantage of the ability to identify and classify a sample without the need to scan a continuous spectral range and perform Fourier Transformation post-acquisition. The technology could be applied to several industries including the pharmaceutical, environmental, and food industries.

Prof. Daniel Tortorelli and Mr. Felipe Fernandez Ayala from the University of Illinois have developed a system and method for optimal toolpath generation for additively manufactured composite structures. With this techniques, it is easy to impose Direct Ink Writing (DIW) manufacturing constraints such as no overlap, no sag of just-printed material, minimum radius of curvature of each toolpath, and toolpath continuity. In addition, to minimize manufacturing cost, the system formulates and solves a travelling salesman problem to obtain the shortest continuous toolpath for each layer that avoids overlap and crossing holes.

360 degree attitude control of satellites is an aerospace technology that allows satellites and spacecraft to achieve arbitrarily large (360°+) rotations in a low- and no-atmosphere environment. This hardware technology achieves attitude adjustment without the use of a consumable propellant or constantly spinning flywheels. Use of propellant exacerbates jitter interferes with satellite function, while spinning flywheels requires failure-prone sliding contacts.

The invention instead features variable-length appendages that utilize transverse oscillations and moment of inertia adjustments to achieve both fine and arbitrarily large rotations. By lengthening the appendage for an “up-stroke” and shortening it for the “down-stroke,” an angular momentum differential is created to allow the satellite or spacecraft to return to its original position/state, but reoriented in a different direction (with respect to a static “space” frame of reference). Repeating the “strokes” allows for arbitrarily large net rotations. The technology was presented at the ASME [159] Conference in September 2019.

Application

360 degree attitude control is applicable to spacecraft and satellite manufacturers that serve primarily consumer industries such as TV, radio, broadband, mobile, and earth observation services.

Prototype model of 360 Degree Attitude Control of Satellites  

 This rotational mechanism for attitude control is repeated as many times as necessary to achieve the desired orientation.

Transient electronic devices belong to a set of technologies, whereby traditional analog electronic circuits and components have been made in new ways. These new electronics exist on a much smaller scale and made of bioinert or biocompatible materials. They are flexible and transient. Transient and bioresorbable technologies are a class of device that have the ability to physically disappear at a programmed rate. Inventions within this suite includedevices and processes with applications rangingfrom medicine to construction, and from defense/securityto indoor/outdoor sensors. These technologies are appropriate for applications where device placement can be costly, invasive, or inconvenient to retrieve. 

Features

• Tunable to dissolve at programmed time
• Bio-compatible
• Soft, curvilinear surface
• Transient battery
• Materials: silicon, magnesium, magnesium oxide    

Benefits

Electronics can now be implanted on surfaces with non-planar contact patches and non-invasive integration on soft, curvilinear surfaces of biological tissues and organs.

Application Areas

Remaking electronics with these capabilities permits for a plethora of new applications, in medicine, environmental research, biological enhancement, digital financial transactions and traceless surveillance.

This geopolymer was developed through a collaboration between Professor Waltraud Kriven at the University of Illinois and the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (an entity of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). The concrete alternative is made from a geopolymer-based flowable binder, the supplementary cementitious materials fly ash and blast-furnace slag, alkali metal silicate, and added water.

Fly ash is a byproduct of coal combustion, while slag is a byproduct of steel manufacturing. Repurposing fly ash and slag, which are considered raw waste materials, reduce emissions of CO2 by reducing the proportion of clinker produced in the Portland cement manufacturing process.  Use of fly ash and blast-furnace slag in this concrete alternative is environmentally friendly and enhances the performance of key concrete properties including strength, set time, and workability.

The geopolymer concrete mixture is ideal for applications requiring a short set time and high strength development, including roadway repair and general construction within warmer climates. This invention is patent pending (application number 16/255,131). 

The flowable geopolymer binder may be deployed and mixed in a drum for increased flexibility in a range of applications.

The flowable mortar is distributed over a bed of coarse aggregate, curing rapidly to create a stronger, more environmentally-friendly concrete alternative.

Benefits

This is a single chip silicon neural probe that can sample live chemicals, store them, and then directly deploy them for analysis. Other neural probes cannot store and deploy these chemical samples, which reduces the temporal resolution of the samples.

Dr. Xiao Su has created a system and method for the electrochemical remediation of mercury using semiconducting polymer electrodes. This system and method is directly applicable to the remediation of mercury from water streams, such as wastewater streams, as well as to downstream chemical processes. The use of semi-conducting polymers highly increases the kinetics and efficiency of desorption, making this adsorption technology highly re-usable. When compared with current techniques this system and method does not require chemically intensive regeneration processes, this minimizes secondary pollution while achieving high ion-selectivity towards mercury even in very small amounts (ppb-range).

This technology leverages the bending stiffness and super lubricity of few-layer materials to create ultra-flexible 2D materials with tunable electronic properties. Applications include MEMS actuators and flexible/stretchable electronics, as well as the miniaturization of a variety of macroscale actuator devices.

Dr. Seok Kim has developed a robotic gripper arm which has potential applications in many fields including aerospace, electronics, manufacturing, logistics, and micro-electromechanical systems industries. This invention improves on current technology because it has unique properties that can pick-and-place interacting only a single surface of a target object, work in a vacuum or porous surface objects and that can be cheaply and simply manufactured.  This design includes improvements to the adhesive's detachment capabilities.

Dr. Flaherty has developed a method for synthesizing zeolites with controlled defect density. By controlling the defect density of the zeolite materials during synthesis, their hydrophobicity can be controlled. This is a first of its kind synthetic technique allows for the physical and chemical properties of a variety of zeolite materials to be finely tuned which may have a significant impact on their performance as catalysts and adsorbents. Moreover, this synthetic technique can be easily implemented into existing process streams with minor or no modifications to existing procedures.

This is a new method for fabricating a self-rolled-up membrane (S-RuM) membrane. The invention allows for the fabrication of high-quality-factor milliTesla- and Tesla-level inductors for high density circuit applications and allows for the precise tuning of the inductor performance by varying the space between subsequent turns (coils), which affects the thickness of the conducting layers within the inductor. Importantly, this method provides tunable three-dimensional inductors with a reduced footprint when compared with conventional planar inductors.

Antibacterial Polymeric Coatings mimic the properties of cicada wings which allows them to induce bacterial necrosis mechanically by tearing the cell membrane. These polymer coatings are a broad-spectrum approach to limiting bio-fouling. Unlike conventional coatings these polymer coatings do not require the use of toxic chemicals or antibiotics which makes them ideal for use as coatings in medical device implants.

Dr. Seebauer from the University of Illinois has developed a method to eliminate oxygen vacancy defects in thin-film metal oxides. The novel method of a liquid environment enables the improvement of these materials without involving a normally difficult manufacturing process. The process enables the control of oxygen vacancies to a certain depth and density. The removal of the defect allows for the metal oxide thin-film to have better photocatalytic properties. This could be useful for sensors and power devices which are a quickly growing market. The filled vacancies also affect subsequent redox reactions by inhibiting the transfer of electrons. 
 

Researchers from the University of Illinois developed a novel method to fabricate patterns on polymer substrate pDCPD and pCOD using frontal polymerization(FP). Unlike traditional polymer manufacturing techniques, this technology does not rely on deterministic methods such as molds, inverse replicas. By introducing thermal instabilities, this invention generates patterns as the polymerization process takes place through FP with a significantly lower energy input and shorter curing process compared to the previously available technique. Notably, the patterning introduced in the polymer using this technology is not limited to the surface. It can also change the mechanical property of the polymer, specifically stiffness, opacity, and absorbance, to create volume patterning as well as color patterning.

This technology can be utilized to introduce unique designs in various applications. Furthermore, it can potentially improve surface functionalities as well as the mechanical function of the polymer used in various products including automotive body panels, aerospace applications, protective films, construction material, and many more.

Researchers from the University of Illinois, along with their collaborators at Eden Park Illumination, have developed a new miniaturized lamp for uses in atomic clocks and environmental sensors. These atomic clocks are highly useful in autonomous vehicles due to the precision and accuracy they provide. While most lamps use direct electron impact, this new lamp takes advantage of atomic excitation transfer to increase the efficiency of the lamp. This process reduces the size, and therefore the cost, of producing the lamp. Utilizing smaller lamps will allow for atomic clocks to be more easily integrated into commercial vehicles. Several iterations of the Hg+ lamp have been tested and can be made as small as 0.25 cm3.

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a unique geometry of an electrodialysis system for enhanced efficiency of water purification. Electrodialysis can be inefficient due to concentration polarization of the ion depleted zone. The unique geometry of this technology increases the flux of purified water by removing current limiting regime in electrodialysis system.

Professor Xiao Su and researchers at the University of Illinois have developed an electrochemical/electrocatalytic system capable of separating PFAS from solution and degrading it in-situ. This electrochemical system is comprised of a redox-polymer working electrode, that that is responsible for electrochemically separating the PFAS (charged or uncharged) from solution, and a counter electrode that is responsible for electrochemically degrading the PFAS. When incorporated into an electrochemical device the redox copolymers presents an exceptionally high adsorption capacity for PFAS (>1500 mg PFOA/g adsorbent) and separation factors (500 vs. chloride), and demonstrates exceptional removal efficiencies in diverse per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and halogenated aromatic compounds. This technique represents the state of the art in PFAS remediation, and is more versatile than activated carbon, less expensive than ion exchange systems, and capable of handling large loads than high pressure membranes.

Dr. Miljkovic has developed microstructured aluminum (Al) tubes with increased heat transfer rates of 240% during refrigerant flow boiling. Highly conformal are generated by a scalable etching technique. The cost-effective techniques used to create etched-Al microstructures stand to significantly reduce manufacturing cost and time required for current enhancement approaches such as extrusion, drawing, and welding. At the same time increased performance is ensured on the thermal side. In addition, the fabricated etched structures are highly durable due to structure formation based on the base metal, and therefore do not suffer from thermal expansion coefficient mismatch issues, as is the case with other enhancements.

Professor Xiao Su and colleagues have developed an electrochemical system for the separation and reutilization of homogenous catalysts including Pt and Pd-cross coupling catalysts and many other noble metal homogenous catalysts. This catalyst recycling system allows for the direct capture of a homogenous catalysts from a reaction mixture, the captured catalyst can then be desorbed into a new reaction mixture. Notably, this catalyst capture and release system operates without chemically altering the catalyst species thus this system maintains the original catalyst activity. This electrochemical system utilizes redox polymer electrodes allowing for the >99% catalyst adsorption within a 5-minute period. The adsorption properties of this system can be easily adjusted by modifying the applied current and electrode dimensions. Furthermore, >99% of the catalyst adsorbed can be released from the redox electrodes resulting in a highly efficient catalyst recycling system.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed ultra-flexible heterostructures made from 2D layers of van der Waals bonded materials. The heterostructures retain the optoelectronic properties of their constituent layers, but offer tunable mechanical properties which can include flexibility rivaling that of lipid bilayers. Applications for this technology include MEMS devices and flexible, stretchable, and conformal circuitry, including reconfigurable 2D devices and folded/curved/crumpled nanostructures.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a three-dimensional high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) architecture that utilizes ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) materials. These structures and devices can be used for high-power, high-frequency applications, where they can confer an order of magnitude higher performance than wide bandgap (WBG) devices, including simultaneously achieving 10x higher power density while operating at frequencies as high as 120 GHz.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a processor architecture that allows for greater efficiency in computing power and energy consumption. The architecture exploits parallelism through thread pipelining and an out-of-order loop system. This process is possible by utilizing more processing elements in the system. This method does create extra cost and is essentially a cost for efficiency trade-off. The system can be used in a variety of embedded systems such as CPUs and GPUs. The decrease in energy consumption can also be applied to servers and other large processing units that consumer a lot of energy and in the process and lot of heat.

A nanoscale infrared absorption tomography method. using AFM-IR measurements that contain infrared absorption signal in two spatial dimensions and a third pulsing frequency dimension which is used to recover the depth. This invention will enable a number of applications such as mapping molecular information of whole cells and tissues, mapping structure of self-assembled polymer blends and composites as well as defect mapping in electronics and crystals.

Capturing polarized and visible light simultaneously is usually achieved by either rotating filters that reduce frame rate and need a static image or using an array of sensors that must be aligned and can be bulkily and expensive. These issues are solved by Dr. Viktor Gruev's invention of a single chip that can detect both kinds of light simultaneously with high resolution and in real time. This sensor can detect 12 bands of visible light and 3 bands of polarized light. Because data is gathered in real time and does not require rotating filters, this sensor has applications in military surveillance, particularly in hazy conditions such as fog or underwater where polarized imaging can reduce background scattering information. Additionally, this sensor can be used in image-guided surgery, such as tumor removal used in combination with injected dyes that bind to cancerous cells that respond to different kinds of light. 

Dr. Kyle Smith and his research group have developed a battery-based alkaline electrochemical cycle that can capture CO2 under concentrated and atmospheric conditions and mineralizing it. This invention has a CO2 capturing efficiency of rates up to 1000 times greater than other similar electrochemical cycling methods. Indeed, a prior test found that using the new approach developed by Dr. Smith, up to 2 mol- CO2 /L were absorbed, while under the traditional approach only 2 μmol- CO2 /L were absorbed. This invention can be applied toward the capture and storage of CO2 from flue gas and also applied towards the capture of CO2 under atmospheric conditions.

Hydrophobic coatings are water-resistant and can be used to condense steam for efficient heat-transfer. Certain applications require ultra-thin coating, which the current coats are prone to delamination upon surface damage. 

In a collaborative effort between the Evans and Miljkovic lab, a new ultra-thin hydrophobic coating has been developed. This coating can be easily applied to existing materials to protect surfaces against water damage. Unlike previous coatings, this invention is capable of self-heal, thus enhancing its durability and lifetime. 

Pictured below: top row is previous coatings, bottom row is this invention.

Can Bayram has designed a process to overcome the limitations of the h-GaN counterpart such as its inability to maintain an acceptable efficiency of light output without increasing costs. Dr. Bayram’s invention takes the form of an industry approved process that yields a large area uniform structure c-GaN array resulting in a GaN semiconductor that would be able to produce photons even under high power density operation. This allows this technology to emit light in the green part of the visible spectrum more efficiently than its h-GaN counterpart that achieves a higher efficiency than even the Department of Energy’s goal efficiency.