The annual contest attempts to select the best applied new technologies. One hundred winners are chosen from an international pool of contestants from universities, private corporations, and government labs. Sandia often wins many of its awards in partnership with private companies, other labs, or universities. Recent emphasis on technology transfer has boosted the number of joint submissions. The R&D 100 Awards — occasionally referred to by pundits as “the Nobel Prizes of technology” — were first awarded in 1963 as the I-R 100s, in keeping with the original name of the magazine, Industrial Research. The sole criterion for winning, according to a description released by the magazine, is “demonstrable technological significance compared with competing products and technologies.” Properties noted by judges include smaller size, faster speed, greater efficiency, and higher environmental consciousness. Winners are presented plaques at a formal banquet in Chicago in early fall.
Compute Process Allocator (CPA) , a computer algorithm technology that increases processing efficiency on massively parallel supercomputers. Developed in conjunction with colleagues at the State University of New York and the University of Illinois, the CPA’s principal developer is Vitus Leung (1415), along with Kevin Pedretti (1423) and Cynthia Phillips (1415). It was licensed to Cray Inc. in 2005.
The CPA’s principal application is to maximize throughput on massively parallel supercomputers by managing how processors are assigned to particular computing jobs given a stream of computing tasks submitted to a job queue. The CPA assigns each job to a set of processors, which are exclusively dedicated to the job until completion. The CPA obtains maximum throughput by choosing processors for a job that are physically near each other, minimizing communication and bandwidth inefficiencies.
In experiments at Sandia, the optimized node allocation strategy employed by CPA increased throughput by 23 percent, in effect processing five jobs in the time it normally took to process four.
The CPA is scalable to tens of thousands of processors and is currently being used on supercomputers at Sandia (Red Storm), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the US Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center Major Shared Resource Center, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and the Swiss Scientific Computing Center.
HTSS10V, a solid-state, fluoride-based battery that is safer than traditional batteries in high-temperature applications such as oil, gas, and geothermal drilling. The principal developer is Alexander Potanin at the High Power Battery Systems Company in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, working with General Atomics and, at Sandia, Randy Normann (6211), Gloria Chavez (6924), and Richard Smith (retired).
Solid-state fluoride ion batteries have a high energy density while being inherently safe. The battery consists of nontoxic fluoride, and all three battery components of the HTSS10V — anode, cathode, and ionic conductor — are solid, making it the best and safest choice for high-temperature activities such as oil and gas drilling, currently its primary application. Traditional lithium batteries are at risk of exploding or leaking chemicals under high-temperature uses. Solid-state battery technology offers the largest temperature range — room temperature to 500° C — of any battery technology.
Other advantages of solid-state batteries are:
Limited production of the batteries began in 2005 at Russia’s VNIIEF Institute. Under a joint program with Sandia and General Atomics, the batteries will be produced in Sarov, Russia, and in San Diego, Calif., for high-end oil and gas drilling uses.
A New Approach to Tire Design: The search for an all-season tire capable of handling any weather condition is one of the ultimate goals in the tire business. To that end, researchers at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, along with Sandia National Labs developed the Assurance Featuring TripleTred Technology, a tire with three unique tread zones that combines long wear with traction in any weather condition. To design such a tire, researchers realized that a new approach to tire design was needed. The classic methodology of “build, test, repeat” was replaced with a powerful set of simulation tools for design, prototype development, and performance evaluation. By studying the simulated stresses and strains in radically new designs, engineers saw how the virtual tire prototype would perform and were able to focus in on radical solutions more quickly. The result is the Assurance tire with TripleTred Technology with its Water, Ice, and Dry zones. The Ice zone contains volcanic pumice and chopped glass microfibers. As the tire is used, the gritty pumice creates a constantly rough and textured surface that works as tiny traction edges for better grip on slick surfaces. The Water Zone consists of long, diagonal channels that propel water away from the tire’s tread on rain-drenched roads, helping the tire maintain contact with the road. The outer Dry Zone has reinforced shoulders for maneuvering around curves and over potholes and road debris on dry pavement. Listed for special recognition at Sandia on the winning joint application are Martin Heinstein, Sam Key, Mark Blanford, and Ken Alvin (all 9142), Charles Stone (9127), Harold Morgan (9140), Greg Sjaardema (9143), Arlo Ames (15233), Deepesh Kholwadwala and Paul Wolfenbarger (both 15233), Bob Kerr (9226), and John Mitchell (2614).
Global-Link: Sandia used innovative data compression techniques to help physicians consult in real time over MRI pictures, though the amount of data transferred is normally huge and the healers may be thousands of miles from each other. Global-Link allows such rapid transmission of complex data that a doctor in the U.S. can confer with a doctor halfway around the world, viewing and manipulating 3-D MRI imagess in real time directly on each doctor's MRI computer. Similarly, oil team members can confer around the globe on observed data. So can military commanders. Extremely responsive interactions between an event and a remote, secure, high-resolution display are possible using Global-Link across the Internet. Results were achieved in collaboration with Logical Solutions, Inc., which is marketing the product. Involved from Sandia are Perry Robertson (1751), Lyndon Pierson (5616), John Eldridge (9336), Ron Olsberg (5616), Larry Pucket (2993), and Ed Witzke (9336). Results were achieved in collaboration with Logical Solutions, Inc.’s Ross Capen, Kevin Keefe, and Mark Remlin.
Ion-Photon Emission Microscope: Sandia earned a third R&D 100 award for the invention of a patented exploratory ion beam microscope system that does not require costly and complicated forming and focusing equipment. The system was invented and patented by Barney Doyle (1111), jointly with Mike Mellon of Quantar Technologies, which is marketing this invention. The multidimensional, high-resolution analysis system is called the Ion-Photon Emission Microscope (IPEM). It allows scientists and engineers to microscopically study the effects of single ions in air on semiconductors, semiconductor devices, and biological cells without having to focus the beam. The technique determines the position at which an individual ion enters the surface of a sample; thus, focusing a beam is unnecessary. Also included on the award are Paolo Rossi of the University of Padova, Italy, and Floyd Del McDaniel of the University of North Texas, who both worked with Barney during sabbaticals at Sandia on the development of the IPEM. This is Barney’s third R&D 100 award, and his department’s fifth.
TEPIC structural foam: TEPIC is a rigid structural foam developed at Sandia/California that was designed originally to meet certain high-temperature and high-strength requirements for Defense Programs applications. Because it is dimensionally and mechanically stable to temperatures in excess of 200 degrees C, it meets processing requirements to be used as forms for molding advanced composite materials that cure at high temperatures. Formerly, only expensive metal tooling could meet this thermal challenge. Unlike many more conventional tooling materials, it can be processed in thick sections. Cost and weight savings should allow smaller businesses, with less capital investment, to process new composite structures, and in general enable incorporation of advanced structural composites in aerospace, military, automotive, and other consumer product industries. Also included on this award is Scion Industries, one of two licensees of TEPIC. Team members include Steve Goods (8754), and LeRoy Whinnery, Tom Bennett, Pat Keifer, Chris Binns, and Tim Shepodd (all 8762). Also included on this award is Jim Sampson of Scion Industries, one of 2 licensees of TEPIC.
Cantilever epitaxy Colored LEDs are of interest for displays and even higher-power lamps like traffic lights. A national initiative is now underway to develop solid-state sources for high-efficiency white lighting. The cantilever epitaxy process of growing LEDs may help meet those needs. “Our new process eliminates many of the problems that have limited the optical and electronic performances of LEDs, previously grown on sapphire/gallium nitride substrates,” says Carol Ashby, one of the inventors on the project. Over the past several years LEDs have been grown with various combinations of gallium nitride alloys on sapphire substrates. However, the atoms of the two materials do not line up perfectly due to differences in natural lengths of the bonds in their respective crystal lattices. Regions of imperfections, called dislocations, accompany this lattice mismatch. These dislocations limit LEDs’ brightness and performance. The new cantilever epitaxy process reduces the numbers of dislocations, giving the potential for longer-lived and better performing LEDs. It also means that LEDs grown on the patterned sapphire/gallium nitride substrates can produce brighter, more efficient, green, blue, and white lights than previously accomplished. David Follstaedt, another inventor on the project, says that because of the reduction in dislocations, the cantilever epitaxy process shows “great promise for making a superior substrate for light-emitting devices” and has potential for applications to a wide variety of electronic devices and GaN integrated circuit technology. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to determine the amount of dislocations eliminated through the cantilever epitaxy process. The cantilever epitaxy program at Sandia is part of an internal three-year $6.6 million Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Grand Challenge. Funding for the program also comes from a grant from the DOE Office of Building Technologies for a collaborative project with Lumileds Lighting, a joint venture between Agilent Technologies and Phillips Lighting. Inventors: Carol Ashby (11500), David Follstaedt (1111), Christine Mitchell (5932), and Jung Han (now at Yale University). Developers: Andrew Allerman (1126), Katherine Bogart (1126), Karen Cross (1126), Arthur Fischer (1123), Kristine Fullmer (1123), Leonardo Griego (1742-1), Daniel Koleske (1126), Nancy Missert (1112), Michael Morgan (1111), Adam Norman (1111), Andrea Ongstad (1742), Gregory Peake (1742), Paula Provencio (1111), and Jeanne Sergeant (1763).
Trilinos Trilinos is part of a broad effort on the part of national laboratories, industry, and academia to establish high-fidelity computational modeling and simulation as an approach to engineering and scientific understanding so that it becomes an equal partner with the most basic approaches of theory and experiment. Trilinos provides a common enabling solution to one of the most difficult problems in creating these simulations: How can one solve the massive and complex systems of equations required, and do so in a way that “scales” all the way from laptop computers to the most powerful and complex parallel computers in the world? Trilinos has become tremendously successful at addressing this “solver problem” and has become, for example, a critical enabler for the diverse simulation codes that support almost every major engineering discipline within The Department of Energy’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program. Trilinos, led by Mike Heroux, is under development at both Sandia/New Mexico and Sandia/California, with some 24 researchers involved in the project. Trilinos offers what is probably the largest and most complete scalable solver capability in the world, and it is freely available to the public. Meaning “string of pearls” in Greek, Trilinos has an architecture in which object-oriented packages, each of which provides a particular solver capability, are strung together like pearls on a necklace and represent more than the sum of the parts. Trilinos began as 3 packages, has rapidly expanded to 20, and continues to grow. Computational researchers and software developers find Trilinos attractive because they need only focus on those aspects of development that are unique to their package. Each Trilinos package is a self-contained, independent piece of software with its own set of requirements, its own development team, and its own group of users. Because of this, Trilinos is designed to respect the autonomy of packages. Trilinos offers a variety of ways for a particular package to interact with other Trilinos packages. It also offers developers a set of tools for building on multiple platforms, generating documentation, and multi-platform regression testing. Trilinos team members: Michael Heroux (9214), Tamara Kolda (8962), James Willenbring (9214), Roscoe Bartlett (9211), Paul Boggs (8962), Robert Heaphy (9215), Ulrich Hetmaniuk (9214), Robert Hoekstra (9233), Victoria Howle (8962), Jonathan Hu (9214), Richard Lehoucq (9214), Kevin Long (8962), Roger Pawlowski (9233), Michael Phenow, Eric Phipps (9233), Marzio Sala (9214), Andrew Salinger (9233), Paul Sexton, Kendall Stanley (9214), Heidi Thornquist (9214), Ray Tuminara (9214), and Alan Williams (9143).
SnifferStar: “Helping US forces of the future may be an extremely lightweight mobile chemical sensor created by Doug Adkins with George Dulleck, Greg Frye-Mason, Pat Lewis, Richard Kottenstette, Edwin Heller, Ronald Manginell (all Sandians), and Clifford Megerle, formerly a Senior Technical Staff Member at Lockheed Martin. SnifferStar™ mounts on a drone aircraft for remote surveillance of battlefield situations where suspect plumes or clouds are present. The detector’s primary purpose is to save lives by warning soldiers that chemical weapons are present on a battlefield. Developed under a Shared Vision program with Lockheed Martin, the entire module weighs less than a golf ball, operates on less than 0.5 watts, and uses the wind generated by the motion of the craft to collect samples for analysis. SnifferStar is sensitive to both blister and nerve agents. It ignores common interferents and analyzes chemical warfare agents in 20 seconds. The device also has possibilities for use in or near the ventilation systems of buildings, or, with addition of small pumps to force air into the device, on posts surrounding military bases.
Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Full-field Step-Scan System: Editor’s Choice Award, in addition to R&D 100 recognition. The award is “for the Greatest Improvement Upon an Existing Technology” and one of three technologies considered by R&D Magazine editors to be the most outstanding achievements among the 100 selected. More than 50 Sandians and collaborators from Lawrence Livermore (LLNL) and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories were honored for this technological advance that will lead to dramatic improvements in the speed and memory of computer systems. They created the only system that can pattern full chip-size areas on silicon wafers with features as small as 50nm. It is the embodiment of a set of groundbreaking technologies that were considered by many to be impossible as recently as a few years ago. Commercialization of this breakthrough will allow advances in microelectronics to continue into the next decade. In addition to the national laboratory team, the award is also being given jointly to Northrop Grumman Space Technology/Cutting Edge Optronics. The work was done in partnership with an industrial consortium comprising Intel, Motorola, AMD, Infineon, IBM, and Micron. Intel ordered the first production-level instrument based on this technology last year.
ETO: Mitigating electrical network problems: Lightning strikes, equipment failures, or other anomalies in electric powered transmission systems can cause brown-outs or even network failures. But a fast-response semiconductor device developed under the direction of Stan Atcitty (2522) allows a utility to rapidly convert energy stored in a DC device into AC power and minimize the negative effects of such interruptions on electrical devices. Under the auspices of the DOE Energy Storage Systems Program, Stan led researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., in the development of the advanced semiconductor unit. Called an ETO (emitter turn-off thyristor), the three-terminal semiconductor device is similar to a MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor/field effect transistor) but capable of switching greater power at high frequencies. The ETO, rated at 4000A and 4500V, can switch power at 1-3 kHz. The DOE program that supported the ETO development is managed at Sandia by Energy and Transportation Security Center 6200. The ETO R& D 100 application was a joint entry with Solitronics (a Blacksburg small business marketing the ETO), Virginia Tech (ETO inventor), Sandia (which supported the development of the ETO from a concept to an actual product suitable for utility energy storage applications), and the American Competitiveness Institute in Philadelphia (which assisted the team with manufacturing engineering and prototype production of the device).
LEAMS (Low Emissions Atmospheric Metering Separator): The Low Emissions Atmospheric Metering Separator is a family of atmospheric geothermal separators used in the development of geothermal power. The primary function of the LEAMS is to safely contain and clean the atmospheric vented steam of polluting solids, liquids, and noxious gasses. This system is designed to be environmentally friendly, intrinsically safe, and relatively easy to transport and assemble. LEAMS has a wide operating range and can be used in drilling, well testing, and geothermal power plant start-up. The LEAMS technology was supported by work done by Allan Sattler (6113), and was developed by Two-Phase Engineering and Research, Inc., Santa Rosa, Calif. Most fabrication was accomplished by Drill Cool Systems, Inc., Bakersfield, Calif. Allan was in charge of Sandia/DOE support of the project. He provided field and instrumentation support for a separator field test at a large geothermal well in California. Allan consulted, collaborated, and was in constant contact with the designer and fabricator, especially during the design and fabrication phases of most LEAMS units. He and his Sandia colleagues also provided much of the documentation for the project.
Acoustic Telemetry Technology: Acoustic telemetry technology, developed at Sandia in cooperation with Extreme Engineering Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, and with support from DOE, represents the fulfillment of an oil industry quest that goes back to the 1940s. The problem: As oil and gas wells have gone deeper and deeper, the need for better communication between the driller and the drill bit has become more critical. Standing next to a drilling rig, you see a simple well head; beneath your feet, well-casing strings, production tubing, and other drilling equipment extend miles beneath you, often reaching “out” more than “down.” Steering the bit at the end of this serpentine connection has become more and more difficult. Existing MWD (measurement while drilling) communication methods, based on mud-pulse techniques, were revolutionary when introduced in the early 1980s. But mud-pulse is slow — much, much slower than the first-generation telephone modems you used at home. Thus, a process that represented a breakthrough a generation ago has become a bottleneck to the precision drilling needs of the 21st century. Acoustic telemetry technology uses the well-drilling tubing as the data transmission medium and sound waves as the data carrier. Among the advantages compared to existing techniques: a 10-fold improvement in data rates and no blocking of the fluid flow path.
MEMS-Based Adaptive Optics Phoropter: Sandians Steve Eisenbies and Steve Haney (both 8731) contributed to the opto-mechanical design and integration of a compact, transportable adaptive optics system that expands upon traditional devices currently used in optometrists’ offices. In addition to determining correction needed for near-sightedness or far-sightedness and astigmatism, it also determines correction needed for high-order aberrations that can interfere with night vision and can provide a preview of correction to a patient. The effects of aberrations can be compared to distortions seen in a pool due to ripples on the surface. Diminished night vision or a perception of “halos” can sometimes result from aberrations introduced during laser eye surgery. The Adaptive Optics Phoropter is a system that uses MEMS-based deformable mirror technology to correct wavefront aberrations in the eye. It combines technologies from astronomy and micromachining to advance the study and treatment of retinal diseases. Applications for the tool include generation of improved prescriptions for custom contact lenses or laser eye surgery, as well as high-resolution retinal imaging. The award is shared by LLNL, which led the project, Sandia, the University of Rochester, Wavefront Sciences, Boston Micromachines Corp., and Bausch & Lomb.
Isolated Cast-in-Place Microvalves: Brian Kirby (8358), Tim Shepodd (8722), and David Reichmuth (8358) were honored for creating microvalves that allow fluids to be shuttled as easily in microfluidic chips as they are on a traditional laboratory benchtop. For the first time, these valves enable micro-scale systems to combine high-voltage and high-pressure analytical or synthetic techniques. Previous micro-scale systems could not effectively control both electrokinetic and high-pressure hydraulic flow. The new valves are commercially applicable to miniaturization of techniques crucial to drug discovery and evaluation in the pharmaceutical industry — in particular, gradient liquid chromatography analysis. The polymer valves are photopatterned in seconds and moved by pressure to isolate and manipulate fluids in channels. Different analytes can be shuttled from one place to another on a chip where measurements can be made, such as identification of a species or its concentration. The results can then be used to select a path for additional analysis. Miniaturization advantages include greater process speeds using minuscule volumes of reagents, which saves money and minimizes impact to the environment.
Component Analysis Software (Compass): Compass automatically analyzes the chemistry of a micro- or macrostructure. It was developed to automate chemical analysis of micron to sub-micron microstructural features in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The software was submitted by Sandia engineers Paul Kotula and Michael Keenan as a joint entry with Thermo NORAN of Middleton, Wis.
MTR8500 Very Short Reach (VSR) OC-192 Parallel Array Transponder Module: The MTR8500 is the first commercial fiber optic transponder to use 12-channel, 1.25 gigabit per second transceivers coupled to 12-channel fiber ribbon cable for short haul applications. This parallel channel approach, enabled by microsystems inventions in optical transceivers, flexible circuit boards, optical power control, optoelectronic housing & mounting, and optical coupling has resulted in a transponder that can be manufactured for 1/10 the cost of other products. The project, funded by EMCORE Corporation, also impacts Nonproliferation & Materials Control needs. The transponder was submitted by Sandia manager Michael Daily as a joint entry with EMCORE’s Fiber Optics Division of Albuquerque.
Barney Doyle (1111), George Vizkelethy (1111), and Robert Weller (Vanderbilt University): Ion-Induced Electron Emission Microscope (IEEM) system, a new way to perform ion beam analyses without having to focus the high-energy ion beam. The IEEM was a joint entry between Sandia and Staib Instruments, Inc., Langenbach, Germany. Staib is now manufacturing the IEEM, and Berthold Senftinger of Staib is also included in the award.
Polymer Hydrogen Getters — Tim Sheppod (8722) and LeRoy Whinnery (8722): The polymer hydrogen getters permanently remove unwanted hydrogen, an extremely flammable gas with a large explosive range in air. Sealed consumer products, like waterproof flashlights and cameras, can contain explosive hydrogen atmospheres. The getters prevent these explosions by preventing hydrogen buildup by either scavenging hydrogen with carbon-carbon multiple bonds or, when oxygen is present, by safely making water through recombination. In consumer products, the new getters can assure the safe use of sealed battery operated devices without the risk of inadvertent detonation. In industrial products, the getters can remove unwanted hydrogen without temperature activation. Because the new getters are passive and require no activation, they can be used in polymer-vacuum insulating panels and rubber covered sub-sea fiber optic cables.
Solid-State Radiation Detectors —— Eilene Cross (8517), Jay Erickson (former student intern), Ralph James, Richard Olsen (8724), Gomez Wright (former student intern), Walter Yao: Team of researchers developed a new technique of growing large single crystals of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) suitable for radiation detectors. The new solid-state radiation detectors are unique because they can operate at room temperature, detect X- and gamma-ray radiation with high efficiency, and uniquely identify the isotopes responsible for the emitted radiation. The team’s development of an improved technique to grow detector-grade CZT crystals and a new method to reduce the dark current flowing along the crystal surfaces have allowed for major improvements in the signal-to-noise ratio, long-term stability, and yield of single-crystal material. The technique was developed by the Sandia research team; Yinnel-Tech Inc. in South Bend, Ind.; Techion, Israel Institute of Technology; and Fisk University.
Microstructure-Property Model Software Package — Doug Bammann (8726) and team: A material-modeling software program that precisely predicts the stress state and failure during manufacturing processes and mechanical property environments. The team created the materials modeling software to optimize design of automotive parts and reduce waste in heat treatment of gears. Team members include Mark Horstemeyer, Mel Callabresi, Mike Chiesa, Jim Lathrop, Esteban Marin, Vince Prantil, Richard Regueiro, Paul Taylor (current or former Sandians), George C. Johnson (University of California at Berkeley), Mark Lusk (Colorado School of Mines), and David McDowell (Georgia Institute of Technology).
Salvo: Seismic Imaging Software — Curt Ober (9221), David Womble (9222), Louis Romero (9222), Ron Oldfield, and Robert Gjertsen
COMRAD (Field-Portable System for Characterization and Monitoring of Radiation): A low-power, handheld device about the size of a soft drink can, developed to detect and identify X-rays and gamma rays emitted by radioactive materials in order to characterize, monitor, and safeguard them. Development was led by Ralph James, with Richard Olsen, John Van Scyoc, Bruce Brunett, Jim Lund, and Eilene Cross (all 8230), jointly with Radiation Safety Engineering (Chandler, Ariz.), the Center for Photonic Materials and Devices (Nashville, Tenn.), and Ludlum Measurements (Sweetwater, Texas).
Phase ID analysis tool: Can locate and identify imperfections, contaminations, and improvements of crystalline material down to the submicron level; licensed to Noran Instruments Inc. (Middleton, Wis.) Phase ID makes use of an electron microscope and a database of more than 40,000 phases. Joe Michael (1822, Ray Goehner (1822), and Eric Schlienger (1831).
LIVA (Light-Induced Voltage Alteration): Permits the rapid location of a defect in a complex integrated circuit through use of a scanning laser microscope, LIVA is a powerful technique for failure analysis from the back side of the integrated circuit. Ed Cole , Jerry Soden, Dan Barton, Chris Henderson (all 1739) and James Rife.
Semiconductor Bridge (SCB): A semiconductor bridge (SCB) igniter for the ignition of a variety of explosive materials, used in the GEOSEIS mini-hole seismic surface initiation systems. The accurate SCB timing produces cost savings in conducting geophysical and mineral exploration utilizing GEOSEIS, which is shared by Ensign-Bickford, SCB Technologies, and Sandia. Bob Bickes (2523), Al Schwarz, Brendan Welch, David Ewick (Ensign Bickford Company), and Bernardo Martinez-Tovar (SCB Technologies, Inc.).
Aztec, A Parallel Sparse Matrix Solver Library: High-performance storage system transfers files at the rate of billions of bytes per second and can store millions of gigabytes of data. Aztec exhibits great potential to help solve other data-rich problems in engineering, climate modeling, medical, and financial applications being addressed at high-performance computing centers around the country. Ray Tuminaro (9214), Lydie Prevost (9222), Scott Hutchinson (9233), John Shadid (9223), and Charles Tong (8117).
Hierarchical High-Performance Storage System (HPSS): For storing large amounts of data and moving the data rapidly among high-performance computers, clusters of workstations, and storage libraries (developed with LLNL, LANL, & ORNL). Rena Hayes, Mike Cahoon, Marty Barnaby, Hildary Jones, Sue Kelly, Bill Rahe, and Bill Swartz.
Garth Corey (6251), project leader, AC Battery Corporation (East Troy, Wis.), Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, Calif.), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (Tucker, Ga.), Pacific Gas and Electric Company (San Ramon, Calif.), DOE: PQ2000 Power Quality System, a battery-based energy storage and delivery system designed to mitigate the effects of factory-wide power disturbances on sensitive electronic and electrical equipment.
Doug Adkins (9113), Russ Skocypec (9102), Jeff Spooner, Philip Kahle (2338), Suzanne Stanton (2103), Bruce Kelley (1846), Charlie Robino, Gerald Knorovsky, Brian Damkroger, Fred Zutavern (9323), Anthony Russo, and researchers from Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems: CLIP-C (Closed Loop Induction Process Controller), which monitors material as its physical characteristics change during fabrication.
Bill Warren (1812), Peter Winokur (1332), Mike Knoll (1205), Dan Fleetwood, Jim Schwank (1332), Karel Vanheusden (UNM Center for Micro-Engineered Materials), Rod Deving (France Telecom/CNET), and Jeffre Bullington (AMMPEC): Nonvolatile Field Effect Transistor Device, known as the protonic chip, a memory-retentive chip using clunky protons that maintain screen memory by staying where they are if the power is turned off.
Bill Breiland (1126), Hong Hou, Gene Hammons (1314), and Kevin Killeen (formerly 1126, now at Hewlett-Packard): Filmetrics F-30 Optical Probe, which modifies the physical or chemical condition that deposits film as it is being grown. The device works by reflecting visible or near-infrared light from films to measure their growth rates. The technique is based on the principle that different film thicknesses and materials cause different patterns of reflected light.
Paul Gourley (1141) and Anthony McDonald (1141): Biological Microcavity Laser, hand-held device that analyzes blood samples in minutes by using many tiny fingers of laser light to image cells in a drop of blood placed in a small chamber.
Steve Montague, Paul McWhorter (1700), Jeff Sniegowski (1749), James Murray (1735), and Jim Smith (former Sandian): Integrated Micromachine Technology, creating micromachines that "think" and do so on a thumbnail-size computer chip.
Steve Gossage, Michael Vahle, Thomas Pratt, and David Follett, Maria Gutierrez, and Richard Prohaska (GigaNet, Inc.): OC-12c ATM Protocol Engine, designed for the Intel Paragon computer, which dramatically improves parallel supercomputer performance by extending parallelism between clusters of processors without size and distance limitation.
Lyndon Pierson, Joseph Maestas, Luis Martinez, Edward Witzke (4616), and Thomas Tarman (9417): Scalable ATM Encryptor, protects the confidentiality of computerized data, including voice and video, by encrypting it at the place of origin and decoding it upon arrival. It is intended to work across interfaces that operate at vastly different data rates, such as mainframe and tabletop computers, allowing fast and slow talkers to communicate.
Robert Dosch, Norman Brown, James Miller, Dan Trudell (1764) , Linda McLaughlin (1846), Elmer Klavetter (11500), Jim Krumhansl (6118), Howard Stevens, Larry Bustard (6245), and C. D. Holland and C.V. Philip (Texas A& M University): UOP IONSIV Ion Exchanger, called crystalline silicotitanate, an inorganic material particularly useful for separating highly radioactive cesium (byproduct from the production of nuclear weapons) from other wastes.
Richard Brow, Larry Kovacic (14404), and Ron Stone (14192): Sealing Glasses for Hermetic Aluminum Electronic Components, a process of forming glass out of phosphate rather than silicate.
Jeff Brinker (1846), Douglas Smith (UNM), Ravidra Deshpande (Armstrong World Industries), and Sai S. Prakash (University of Minnesota): Low-Temperature/Pressure Process to Produce Aerogels in Bulk and Thin-Film Form, eliminates expensive high-pressure high-temperature processing in favor of standard laboratory glassware, simple procedures, and conventional drying at room temperature and pressure. Method exhibits permanent, stable hydrophobicity, causing aerogels to be unaffected by atmospheric moisture that could otherwise degrade their insulating, optical, and acoustic properties.
Ed Cole, Chris Henderson, Rich Anderson, Jerry Soden, and Bruce Dodd: CIVA (charge-induced voltage alteration), an imaging technique that locates defect sites in complex integrated circuits.
Cecelia Williams (6245) with Science Engineering Associates and Eastman Cherrington Environmental: SEAMIST instrumentation/sampling system, uses an impermeable tubular membrane to deploy sensors or samplers in boreholes for studying subsurface environments or monitoring them for hazardous materials.
Yong Hwang and Pang Chen: SANDROS computer code, motion planner for robotic manipulators. Generally applicable to a variety of types of robots.
David Womble (9214): Parallel Dense Equation Solver, software package, for solving linear systems of equations on parallel computers; provides a highly optimized code for a fundamental computation on hard-to-program parallel computers. This allows computational scientists and engineers to concentrate their efforts on their own specific applications and less time on the details of programming.
Jack Houston (1114) and Terry Michalske (1040): Interfacial Force Microscope, new kind of microscope that uses a force-feedback sensor that eliminates the mechanical instability found on deflection sensors currently used in scanning probe microscopes.
James Gee (6200) with Electric Power Research Institute, DOE, Amonix, Inc., and SunPower Corp.: High-Performance Silicon Photovoltaic Cell, that is more efficient than conventional photovoltaic cells and is amenable to high-volume manufacture by standard integrated circuit processing technology.
Richard Schneider and Jeffrey Figiel (1126) with James Lott (USAF): VCEL, red-light vertical cavity surface emitting laser, a special class of semiconductor laser diode that emits a highly coherent and intense beam of red light perpendicular to the surface of the wafer on which it is grown. The VCEL has many fundamental advantages over conventional red-light-emitting lasers and has a potential for a variety of applications, including optical interconnects, fiber optical communications, and laser printing.
Eric Snyder, Donald Pierce, Scot Swanson (1762), and David Campbell (1736): SHIELD, test chip, a silicon integrated circuit that serves as a "reliability test lab on a chip" by replicating functions normally associated with expensive external reliability test systems. Allows reliability characterization at the full operating frequency of a semiconductor technology using only a few inexpensive direct current components.
Rich Diver (6216) with Cummins Power Generation, Inc., Sunpower, Inc., and Thermacore, Inc.: Dish-Stirling, 7.5-kilowatt solar parabolic system, for converting sunlight into electricity. It's named for its two major components — dish-shaped solar concentrators and a Stirling heat engine.
Bob Hughes (1744), Jose Rodriguez (1735), and Wayne Corbett: Hydrogen Microsensor, detects hydrogen in a wide array of industrial applications.
Jim Sweet (1745), Dave Peterson (1738), and Melanie Tuck (1746): Assembly Test Chips (ACTs), similar to production integrated circuits but loaded with as many as 250 microsensors to detect corrosion, moisture, and other stresses during packaging, assembly, and storage of integrated circuits.
Carol Ashby (1744), David Ginley, and Jon Martens with Nationwide Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): Aqueous Chelating Etch System, a new family of water-based chelating etches using organic acids, used for high-temperature superconducting films and microelectronic devices, offers smaller feature sizes, better surface structures, and greater selectivity than other methods.
Ted Blacker, Ray Meyers, John Biffle, Michael Stephenson and , and Roger Cass (both of Brigham Young University): Paving Mesh Generation Algorithm, an innovative "mesh generation" algorithm that can drastically reduce the time required for computer-aided design of vehicle and other industrial products.
Craig Tyner (6216), Jim Pacheco (5832), Mike Prairie (9112), Larry Yellowhorse (9126), John Holmes (6850), with Nationwide Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): Solar Detoxification System, uses sunlight to destroy organic toxins in groundwater.
John Curro (1834) and Kenneth Schweizer (University of Illinois), with Dana Honeycutt of BIOSYM: PRISM, an integrated user-friendly software system for polymer modeling, is a module of the BIOSYM software package for modeling polymer alloys.
Richard Nygren with Jeff Brooks and Alan Krauss of Argonne Labs: Helium Self-Pumping Concept that could significantly reduce the size and complexity of the systems for vacuum pumping and tritium processing needed in future fusion reactors.
Peter Witze (8362): Ionization-Probe Printed-Circuit-Board Head Gasket, a new diagnostic tool for spark-ignition engines consisting of a multilayer printed circuit board that is made of a high-temperature, glass-reinforced polymide resin.
Ian Fritz, Allen Vawter, David Myers, Gene Hammons, and Tom Brennan: Long Wavelength Reflectance Modulator, compound semiconductor devices using strained layer superlattices, for transmitting and receiving modulated optical signals. Because they can receive and reflect light waves generated from a distant source, these devices have their greatest potential applications in communication systems.
Lyndon Pierson, Joseph Maestas, and Tom Pratt: Cryptographic Synchronization Loss Detector, prevents encoded information from being lost because of improper synchronization between the encryption and decryption processes.
Monte Nichols in collaboration with teams from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Materials Data, Inc.: X-ray Tomographic Microscope, for imaging microstructures of materials without the need for sectioning the material. The microscope can create images with approximately 100 times better resolution than a conventional medical CT (computed tomagraphy) scanner.
Charles Jakowatz, Jr. (5912), Paul Eichel (5912), and Dennis Ghiglia: Phase Gradient Autofocus Algorithm for Synthetic Aperture Radar, a software that provides automatic focusing of images captured by synthetic aperture radar (SAR), an imaging technology with applications in reconnaissance and remote sensing.
Glenn Kubiak (8705), Tim Tooman (8120), Kurt Berger (8231), Todd Felver (8512), and Lawrence Berkely Laboratory team including James Underwood and Michael Hettrick: High-Fluency Laboratory XUV Source, a laboratory instrument that provides a less expensive and more convenient source of intense extreme-ultraviolet radiation (XUV).
Bob Whiteside (8920), Joe Harris, Yale University, and Scientific Computing Associates (New Haven, Conn.): SUPERNET/Linda, software that permits supercomputer-level performance by an existing network of small computers. Linda is a Yale University-developed software package. The Linda approach to parallel processing, designed and developed in joint work between Yale and SCA, is the basis for Sandia's SUPERNET, which lets a single application program use a network of geographically distributed computers.
Robert Benner, Jr. (9224), John Gustafson, and Gary Montry: Parallel Computing Software for Scientific Problems, new mathematical methods and algorithms for parallel computing that can solve complex scientific problems at speedups of more than 1,000 times.
Barney Doyle and Norman Wing: X-MIBA (external micro-ion beam analysis) System, makes possible in situ analyses of catalysis, corrosion, combustion, etching, lubrication, and vapor deposition.
Robert A. Perry: RAPRENOx (Rapid Reduction of Nitrogen Oxides) that uses isocynauric acid (HNCO) to remove nitrogen oxide from exhaust gases or engines, furnaces, and chemical reactors.
Bill Wampler (1111): Carbon-Resistance Particle Analyses that measure fluxes and energies of particles escaping from magnetically confined plasmas in fusion reactors.
J. Pace VanDevender (9400): Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II, a device capable of igniting thermonuclear fuel in the lab and the only inertial fusion approach with sufficient cost- and energy-efficiency for commercial power production.
Jim Chang: Photonic High-Speed Multichannel Data Recorder that records multi-GHz, multichannel photonic data, facilitating study of high-speed, single-shot transient phenomena over distances of several kilometers.
Monte Nichols: Microanalyzer to measure X-ray fluorescence, X-ray absorption, electron density, and X-ray diffraction from one small area of a sample.
Paul Pierce: SANDAC IV Parallel Processor Embedded Computer that supports as many as 16 CPU boards for compute speeds of 8 MIPS in a package no bigger than a shoe box.
Wayne Johnson: Polysiane Self-Developing Photoresists for microlithography applications such as PCBs and ICs and precision manufacturing.
Robert Eagan (6000): Glass-to-Metal-Sealing Glass to insulate the anode and cathode in lithium batteries.
T. A. Allen and Bob Sylvester: Hot-Air Solder Leveler, patented in 1975, that uses superheated compressed air to smooth the soldered surface of a printed wiring board.
(Sandians: If you know about awards that should be listed on this page, please contact Michelle Fleming, meflemi@sandia.gov.)
©2009 Sandia Corporation | Questions and Comments | Privacy and Security