Argonne National Laboratory

Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD) Coating Technology for Advanced Multifunctional Devices

The Ultrananocrystalline Diamond™ (UNCD™) coating technology, invented and developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), captures many natural diamond properties in thin-film form and greatly surpasses other diamond film technologies with commercial potential.

UNCDTM films can be used in a broad and diverse range of applications from macro to nanodevices, such as energy-saving ultra-low friction and wear coatings for mechanical pump seals and tools, high-performance microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS)-based telecommunication devices, the next generation of high-definition flat panel displays, in-vivo biomedical implants, and biosensors. Despite ANL’s many interactions with industry, the nature and maturity of the technology made it unsuitable for licensing directly to established companies. Instead, the novel UNCDTM thin-film technology was successfully transferred to an ANL-founded startup company, Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc. (www.thindiamond.com).

The nominees worked closely with ANL’s Office of Technology Transfer, as well as officials from the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in founding ADT.

The pioneering technology transfer process established by the nominees has been used to create three other ANL startup companies in the past year, and it is being considered as a new model for transferring energy-related and other technologies from DOE laboratories to the private sector.

Contact: Dr. Orlando Auciello, (630) 252-1685, auciello@anl.gov.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

ELITE: Easy Livermore Inspection Tester for Explosives

International terrorist activity has increased markedly in recent years, spurring demand by security agencies worldwide for efficient, accurate explosives detection capabilities. To meet this need, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) perfected a disposable, portable, highly accurate explosives detector. The Easy Livermore Inspection Tester for Explosives (ELITE) is a simple, chemical-based, field useable spot-test to rapidly screen for a broad range of trace explosive materials. The ELITE detection card is highly sensitive to more than 30 explosives, making it one of the most effective detection systems available.

Using colorimetric chemistry, ELITE provides real time analysis for airport screeners, border patrol officers, security agents, and first responders, including firefighters and law enforcement.

The portable design of the ELITE does not require a fixed power source, thus making it ideal for field use. The detection card has been shown to have a high degree of sensitivity toward most explosives, with few false-negative/positive readings. The card includes a unique swipe material, chemical containing ampoules, and a separate heat generator. A first responder need only brush a suspect surface with the disposable swipe and break the ampoules to release chemical reagents onto the swipe. If the swipe changes color, explosives are present. The design of the card is uncomplicated, allowing use even in very tumultuous environments.

The ELITE detection technology was developed and tested in LLNL’s Forensic Science (FSC) and Energetic Materials Center and was transferred to Field Forensics, a small Florida company that develops tools to serve first responders and lab technicians who require rapid testing results. Field Forensics is manufacturing 500 ELITE cards for DHS and began delivery in October 2005. In autumn 2005, Field Forensics introduced the ELITE detection card and associated technology to a broader audience at an annual security conference attended by many state law enforcement agencies.

Contact: Dr. John Reynolds, (925) 422-6028, reynolds3@llnl.gov.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

PowerFactoRE

Who could imagine that Procter & Gamble (P&G), one of the nation’s largest consumer product manufacturing enterprises, would turn to one of the nation’s most eminent—and secretive—weapons design labs for help with its diaper production line? But this is precisely what happened. The outcome of this surprising collaboration is known as PowerFactoRE, a comprehensive approach to reducing operating costs and minimizing capital expenditures for manufacturing operations. PowerFactoRE enables manufacturers to predict, prevent, and reduce reliability losses, equipment failures, and repair downtime. Adopted throughout P&G’s global manufacturing network, PowerFactoRE has saved more than $1 billion in operating costs since its implementation. In 2003, R&D Magazine selected PowerFactoRE for an R&D 100 Award as one of the world’s 100 scientific and technological advances to show the greatest commercial potential in the preceding year. In 2004, PowerFactoRE received a Council for Chemical Research Award for government/industry collaboration.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) weapon engineers were excited by the challenges posed by a huge commercial manufacturing production line—one with hundreds of real-world variables for testing their computational and analytical prowess. And while they came from vastly different worlds, LANL and P&G discovered they spoke a common language—reliability engineering. LANL produces nuclear deterrents that must work perfectly. P&G must maintain high quality to retain its customers. The two signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to conduct reliability modeling using P&G data and LANL expertise.

PowerFactoRE, the product of this CRADA, comprises a unique toolkit of proven reliability engineering methods, statistical and analytical tools, simulation software, customized procedures, and training to help manufacturing line managers understand reliability losses and prevent problems before they occur.

Using PowerFactoRE, P&G has transformed manufacturing efficiencies on its assembly lines producing consumer products ranging from diapers to detergents. P&G has reduced operating failures in more than 200 plants worldwide. Since implementing the system globally, P&G has increased plant productivity up to 44%; cut controllable costs by as much as 33%; improved equipment reliability between 30% and 40%; reduced line changeover time from hours to minutes; and achieved 60% to 70% faster new product startups. Other manufacturers are realizing the same advantages by licensing the PowerFactoRE toolkit from P&G and its marketing partners, BearingPoint and Zarpac Inc.

Contact: Dr. Harry Martz, (505) 667-2687, hfm@lanl.gov.

National Nuclear Security Administration - Kansas City Plant

Improved Method to Separate and Recover Oil and Plastic

The Kansas City Plant developed a process that uses liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide to blast oil residue off of empty plastic motor oil bottles. With this process, which produces no waste streams, both the residual oil and clean plastic can then be reused.

The Kansas City Plant patented this process and licensed the technology to Itec Environmental Group, which used it to develop a plastics recycling system called the ECO2. Itec has been able to use this system to recycle not only motor oil bottles, but almost every other type of consumer plastic as well. ECO2 has proven to be superior to conventional plastic recycling methods because it produces no waste, generates cleaner and more marketable plastic, and can recover residual oil for recycling, which no other system can do.

Propelled by the Kansas City Plant’s cleaning technology, Itec’s ECO2 system surpasses other methods of plastics recycling for several reasons. Most importantly, the liquid carbon dioxide and special solvent it uses are both reusable, so ECO2 does not create any wastestreams, unlike water-wash systems that collectively discharge 100 billion gallons of contaminated water into the environment each year. And because it has no environmental impact, special waste permits are not required to set up an ECO2 recycling facility, which makes it less costly to start up. Overall, the ECO2 system costs 30% less to operate than traditional water-wash recycling systems, which provides for higher profit margins due to decreased operating costs.

Not only is the ECO2 system more environmentally friendly and less expensive, but it creates a better product. Though originally intended for cleaning used oil bottles, this technology can completely remove glue, labels, oil and dirt from plastic containers as well. It also eliminates all odors, making the plastic cleaner, more marketable and more profitable than plastics cleaned with water-washing. ECO2 generates FDA-approved clean plastics, which are in high demand in the plastics industry, especially for use in produce packaging.

Because of this technology transfer effort, Itec has been able to commercialize the ECO2 recycling method and start up a promising new company that has captured the interest of both the plastics industry and environmental waste management organizations.

Contact: George Bohnert, (816) 997-5069, gbohnert@kcp.com

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Breakthrough Treatment for Prostate Cancer

This technology transfer story epitomizes the value of a national laboratory in enabling a small business to develop its breakthrough cancer therapy technology to the point where it is helping treat and cure cancer patients. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) provided access to equipment and two user facilities in a unique way to transfer its radiological expertise to IsoRay Medical, Inc. (IsoRay) of Richland, Washington, to enable the successful launch of its commercial product. IsoRay is producing a powerful new kind of brachytherapy seed made from cesium-131 (131Cs) for treating prostate and other cancers.

Through access to specialized PNNL facilities, equipment, and expertise under a variety of collaborative agreements between IsoRay and PNNL since 1998, researchers from both organizations contributed to the development of the brachytherapy seed and associated fabrication process. This brachytherapy seed uses 131Cs, which has a low-energy x-ray that effectively provides a cancer-killing dose to a tumor in a short period of time. In the October 13, 2005 Business Wire, IsoRay’s 131Cs brachytherapy seed is described as a “breakthrough” and “the biggest advancement in seed brachy- therapy since the introduction of palladium-103 19 years ago.”

IsoRay, which became a publicly owned company in July 2005, started the effort to produce the seeds commercially using PNNL’s Radiochemical Processing Laboratory (RPL) in May 2004 under the current agreement with PNNL. Such an arrangement provided critical and timely national laboratory support for IsoRay in working toward a commercial production facility of its own. In October 2004, the world’s first 131Cs seed implant was performed at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Since then, approximately 90 patients have been implanted to treat, and hopefully cure, prostate cancer using 131Cs seeds. 131Cs brachytherapy procedures are currently available at 17 treatment centers in 13 states. IsoRay is currently housed in a PNNL- and Department of Energy-sponsored and supported incubator user facility, the Applied Process Engineering Laboratory. The company conducts its production operations under a first-of-its-kind arrangement with PNNL using the RPL to process and purify source material, manufacture its product, and qualify it under stringent Food and Drug Administration standards.

Contact: Dr. Larry R. Greenwood, (509) 376-6918, larry.greenwood@pnl.gov

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Improving Medical Care and Saving Lives with Bioactive Thin-Film Coatings

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed the first-ever water-based process that allows calcium-phosphate thin-film coatings containing controlled-release bioactive therapeutic agents to be deposited on orthopedic devices and other medical implants, such as catheters and stents.

Benefits to the 750,000 implant recipients each year are twofold: 1) the antimicrobial agent in the coating has been proven in tests to kill bacteria or greatly inhibit its growth in the body, helping to prevent dangerous and costly post-surgical infections, and 2) the water-based deposition process coupled with the bioactive antimicrobial agent provides an advanced method for applying thin films containing calcium-phosphate coatings—a natural component of bone—to artificial joints, allowing for enhanced bone bonding and helping to avoid rejection of the implant by the body. The thin-film technology received two patents in the late 1990s, and subsequent animal testing by U.S. Army orthopedic surgeons provided PNNL researcher Dr. Allison Campbell and Commercialization Manager Dr. Eric Jurrus with the preclinical data needed to market the technology to medical device companies. The marketing-to-licensing process encompassed four years of intense effort, dedication, and overcoming obstacles. PNNL ultimately forged a relationship with Bacterin, a medical device testing laboratory for medical implant manufacturers. The technology was licensed in 2004 by Bacterin, which has since made Fortune magazine’s top 25 breakout companies in 2005.

Bacterin recently joined forces with the Department of Defense, receiving a $1.4-million appropriation to coat metal rods and pins with the technology for use in the battlefield. In addition, Bacterin has forged new relationships with three medical device manufacturers—Baxter International, C.R. Bard, and Cook—who have agreed to use the unique coating on their products. Bacterin expects its revenues to rise by $16 million this year, according to Fortune.

Bacterin began production of the technology in 2005 with a handful of coated medical devices now ready for manufacture. This technology will play a major role in dramatically reducing post-surgical infections in implant recipients and wounded military personnel, and will greatly increase acceptance of artificial joints by the body.

Preventing these infections promises billions of dollars of savings to patients and the U.S. government in follow up medical care. In addition, significant cost savings and reduced environmental impact will be realized in the manufacturing process, as the simplified water-based deposition process does not require use of multi-million dollar instruments and uses very few hazardous materials.

Contact: Dr. Allison A. Campbell, (509) 376-6688, allison.campbell@pnl.gov

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Silica (SAMMS) Technology for Mercury Reduction

Mercury contamination poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed an innovative technology that quickly and easily reduces or removes mercury content without creating hazardous waste or by-products, and that can be disposed of as a non hazardous waste. SAMMS is simple, inexpensive and easy to use; it is highly adaptable for use in reducing and removing other contaminants from soil and water; and it has numerous applications, including water treatment, waste stabilization, and metal processing and finishing. It is also significantly faster, more effective, and far less expensive than other mercury removal methods used in the past. The PNNL team has demonstrated innovative research and incredible teamwork in developing the initial technology, and in developing adaptations to expand its applications. PNNL proactively pursued broad transfer of the technology to multiple fields of use based on a “technology portfolio” approach, which provides a source of dedicated support to research staff and management in developing opportunities to enhance or create commercial products from PNNL derived technologies. Various methods of technology transfer are employed, with the ultimate goal to provide broad-based returns from deployment of PNNL intellectual assets.

The team first researched and selected a subset of emerging environmental issues. The strategy then was to develop a portfolio of products based on the basic SAMMS technology. The initial issues selected included treatment of arsenic in drinking water and treatment of mercury associated with industrial processes and wastes. In each area, the team conducted “proof-of-principle” experiments to demonstrate the viability of SAMMS as a potential solution. The results of these experiments were then documented in a variety of ways, including brochures, the SAMMS website, presentations at selected industrial conferences, and technical literature. Then opportunities were sought to present information about the technology to appropriate audiences and relationships with industry partners such as Steward Advanced Materials, Chevron (formerly Unocal), Molycorp, and PECO were developed.

Articles on the technology have been featured in numerous high-profile scientific, technical and trade publications, including Science, Environmental Health Perspectives, TechComm magazine, Environmental Science & Technology, Water and Wastewater magazine, Small Time, and even Business Week. The technology was honored with an R&D 100 award recognizing the 100 most technologically significant products and advancements in the world, and was a finalist in the environmental category in Discover magazine’s annual awards for technological innovation.

Contact: Dr. Richard Skaggs, (509) 375-5900, richard.skaggs@pnl.gov

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Starlight Information Visualization System

The commercialization of the Starlight Information Visualization System has enabled nearly 40 entities to access and interpret information about business intelligence, consumer trends, medical records, current events, and cyber security data and to enhance their operations by exploiting the data to their competitive advantage. Some companies report saving millions of dollars in the process. These companies use Starlight to extract consumer and product information pertinent to their business operations from enormous masses of data that previously were virtually inscrutable.

Starlight is the only software that can integrate many different data types and formats, perform high-speed, high-efficiency analysis, and display the results graphically so that the relationships among the data and their implications can be quickly and easily understood. While other commercial software products support only a few predefined data types, Starlight supports the concurrent analysis of an unlimited variety of information types. Furthermore, the software combines multiple visualization techniques to enable many different aspects of large information collections to be analyzed simultaneously. This flexibility enables Starlight to address a wide range of problems that used to be difficult or impossible to interpret.

Starlight was originally developed for intelligence analysis applications, and its national security uses are still growing. But the astute and innovative researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) who developed Starlight recognized that its capabilities were germane to many enterprises in the commercial marketplace as well and began to direct efforts to successful technology transfer. The PNNL team had a vision for this powerful software tool from the beginning. They started the technology transfer process with invention disclosures in 1997. A market analysis was performed and an aggressive business strategy established in 1999. In 2000, licensing discussions began with commercial entities, and a website was launched to describe Starlight’s capabilities to a wide range of potential customers. Between 2000 and 2005, nearly 40 licenses were issued to enterprises ranging from government offices to academia, from small competitive intelligence companies to large companies such as Toyota and Procter and Gamble.

These customers consistently report that Starlight provides a higher level of visualization analytics capability than any other product on the market today. This product has found enormous success in the commercial sector.

Contact: John S. Risch, (509) 372-6052,john.risch@pnl.gov

Sandia National Laboratories

Robust, Wide-Range Hydrogen Sensor

The emerging hydrogen economy will require a large number of hydrogen sensors for safety and efficiency.

Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) Robust, Wide-Range Hydrogen Sensor is the only one of its kind to offer both low- and high-range hydrogen measurement capability on the same chip, virtually eliminating false readings and making it an ideal candidate for a variety of government and commercial applications.

Existing technologies for detecting hydrogen have numerous drawbacks. They have a limited dynamic range, poor reproducibility and reversibility, are subject to false alarms, and tend to be slow, unreliable, and difficult to use. In comparison, the SNL sensor provides: hydrogen detection over a broader range of concentrations; smaller size to allow monitoring at various points; reliable performance over greater temperature range; chip temperature maintained at constant value; and dependable operation in diverse environments (vacuum, non-oxygen ambient, extreme vibration/radiation conditions).

H2scan Corporation of Valencia, California, has licensed SNL’s sensor technology and, through a formal Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), has developed a small in situ sensor with the capability of detecting hydrogen concentrations between 10 parts per million (ppm) and 100%. Today, H2scan has three retail products in commercial use and has delivered sensors to over 200 government and industry customers, including a classified Department of Energy plant in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

This new technology provides customers with an inexpensive hydrogen sensor that essentially eliminates false readings by detecting the presence of hydrogen, with or without oxygen, against virtually any background gas. The sensor is applicable to the automotive industry, the hydrogen production market, the petrochemical industry, nuclear waste monitoring, government, and companies with an interest in monitoring hydrogen levels in transformers. Four additional patents have been filed by H2scan, including foreign patent protection.

Contact: Dr. Paul Smith, (505) 845-8007, smithpm@sandia.gov

Sandia National Laboratories

SMART: Sensor for Measurement and Analysis of Radiation Transients System

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) have developed a new tool in the fight against terrorism. The Sensor for Measurement and Analysis of Radiation Transients—or SMART—system uses detectors and software to distinguish between normally occurring radioactive materials and potential signatures of terrorist activities. SNL’s proprietary software is the key to the technology’s success. The software helps operators easily and accurately identify the isotopes associated with radiological emissions. The system operates in real time and indicates the level of confidence (low, fair, high) that the material has been correctly identified. A video imager captures an image of the person or vehicle carrying the radioactive material when the detector alarms.

SNL licensed its FitToDB and PASSBY software technology and its GADRAS-LT software to Thermo Electron in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The company is incorporating the software technology into existing Thermo Electron hardware platforms with the plan of delivering third-generation systems to the market. Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) signed in mid-2005, SNL and Thermo Electron also collaborated on refinement of the SNL-developed software for large-scale commercial deployments in Thermo Electron’s advanced spectroscopic portal system.

The SMART system will be a key component in the protection of military assets and the homeland against the threat of dirty bombs and other nuclear devices. The system, when fully commercialized and proven, can be deployed at seaports, airports, border patrol stations, government buildings, military bases, and other environments that could be targets for terrorist radiological attacks.

Contact: Dr. Dean Mitchell, (505) 844-8868, djmitch@sandia.gov

Sandia National Laboratories

SUMMiT V™ Fabrication Process and SAMPLES™ Program

Sandia National Laboratories’ (SNL) Ultraplanar, Multilevel MEMS Technology (SUMMiT™) fabrication process is a MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) batch fabrication process that uses conventional integrated circuit processing tools to achieve high volume, low cost MEMS production. SNL’s SUMMiT V™ technology is unique in that it is the only MEMS technology currently available that offers four levels of structural polycrystalline silicon (poly) and an electrical poly level isolated from the silicon substrate and that is fabricated using traditional integrated circuit processing techniques.

Micromachined polysilicon has excellent mechanical properties—it is stronger than steel, extremely flexible, and does not readily fatigue. The design flexibility in a five-layer technology is staggering. Examples include photonic communications, wireless communications, automotive accelerometers, lab-on-chip systems, and smart sensors for myriad applications, such as chemical- biological sensors and micro-fluidic devices. Additionally, devices for applications that have not yet been imagined are now a possibility.

To facilitate MEMS education and access to its cutting-edge SUMMiT™ process technology, SNL launched the Sandia Agile MEMS Prototyping Layout Tools, Education and Services (or SAMPLES™) Program in 2001. The objective of the SAMPLES™ Program is to enable customers to develop their own innovative MEMSbased products by leveraging advanced design, fabrication (utilizing the baseline SUMMiT IV™ and V™ technologies), and characterization technologies originally developed for federal laboratory applications. Program participants can attend short courses, purchase design and visualization software and, ultimately, have those designs fabricated at SNL through a cost-shared program. This approach reduces cost and risk and thus opens the door to a larger market, facilitating the realization of prototypes and a better understanding of MEMS in general.

To date, the SAMPLES™ Program has enabled the fabrication of 145 individual modules of partner designs using the SUMMiT™ technology. The program has also generated 49 Work for Others agreements and over 75 software licenses related to the SUMMiT™ fabrication processes. Over 800 students representing dozens of companies, universities, and national laboratories have participated in SAMPLES™ classes.

Contact: Harold Stewart, (505) 844-9306, stewarhd@sandia.gov

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