Presented by R&D Magazine, the R&D 100 Awards recognize the year’s top 100 technology products from industry, academia, and government-sponsored research, ranging from chemistry to materials to biomedical breakthroughs. The Molecular Foundry’s Stefano Cabrini, in collaboration with ALS researchers and Foundry users from ABeam Technologies, won for their “Binary Pseudo-Random Calibration Tool.” In addition, two Berkeley Lab researchers, Alex Zettl and Gao Liu, won for their work that was facilitated through their user projects at the Foundry. In total, the Foundry was central to three of the seven awards presented to Berkeley Lab scientists.
Cabrini and his team developed a new metrological technology that can be used for calibrations of a broad range of optical instruments, including those used for extreme ultraviolet lithography and high-precision visible light optics. Metrology is a multi-billion dollar industry that is an indispensable part of science and manufacturing.
The technology applies a variety of test samples and analytical methods to the evaluation and calibration of advanced metrology instrumentation with resolution from millimeters and down to nanometers. It solves one of the most difficult problems in metrology techniques: the quantitative characterization of the imaging instrumentation, including all the instruments and techniques listed above. The calibration technology has already found several applications at national laboratories.
Alex Zettl from Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and Gao Liu from the Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division won for their work on “Extended Pressure Inductive Coupled Plasma-synthesized Boron Nitride Nanotubes (EPIC BNNTs)” and “High-capacity Anode for Rechargeable Batteries,” respectively.
