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Three Argonne technologies win R&D
100 Awards
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Three technologies recognized
as top by R&D magazine
contest
by Jennifer Wisz
Three technologies developed or co-developed at Argonne have been recognized with R&D 100 Awards.
 NEW MICROSCOPE — Microscopist Nestor Zaluzec is shown with the Scanning Confocal Electron Microscope he developed for studying nanomaterials, particularly the next generation of electronic, magnetic and photonic devices. |
The winning Argonne technologies involve nanomaterials that take advantage of the heightened properties materials take on when they are created with particles just a few molecules across.
This is the 40th year the technology awards have been given by R&D magazine. The awards recognize the 100 most technologically significant new products from the entries they receive.
A new view into the nanoworld
The Scanning Confocal Electron Microscope (SCEM) allows imaging of sub-surface structures in thick, optically opaque materials, which previously required the use of an X-ray microscope. It also enables imaging at large fields of view and resolutions measured in billionths of a meter. The SCEM's main application is in studies of nanomaterials, particularly the next generation of electronic, magnetic and photonic devices. These materials may be used in future high-tech consumer electronics that use multi-layered, high-density integrated circuits. Nestor Zaluzec, a microscopist in the Materials Science Division, developed the SCEM.
Nanotechnology aids eyesight
 3-TIME WINNER — The winner of three R&D 100 awards in 12 years, Ali Erdemir holds a seal coated with the Nanostructured Carbide Derived Carbon technology. |
The Large-Area Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Film and Deposition System (UNCD) is a diamond-film technology and deposition system developed by Argonne and Innovative Plasma Systems. UNCD uses diamond grains only 5 nanometers in size and provides the first-ever affordable large-area diamond film coating, suitable for macro-devices, microelectromechanical systems and nanoelectromechanical system devices, biodevices and biosensors.
The coating has a unique combination of mechanical, tribological, chemical, electron transport, thermal transport and biocompatible properties. UNCD films can be used for hermetic coatings and on electrodes for a microchip-based retinal prosthesis to restore sight.
UNCD developers are the Materials Science Division's Dieter Gruen, Orlando Auciello and John Carlisle, and Hildegard Sung-Spitzl and Ralf Spitzl of Innovative Plasma Systems, Troisdorf, Germany.
SSSliding surfaces
Nanostructured Carbide Derived Carbon (CDC) technology is a coating for sliding and rotating equipment applications. The coating can be grown at rates up to 100 micrometers (millionths of a meter) per hour and is composed of graphite, diamond, amorphous carbon and carbon "nano-onions" - small carbon structures with concentric rings resembling an onion.
 DIAMOND FILM — This diamond film deposition system, shown with Argonne developers (from left) Dieter Gruen, John Carlisle and Orlando Auciello, provides the first-ever affordable large-area diamond film coating. The system was developed with Hildegard Sung-Spitzl and Ralf Spitzl of Innovative Plasma Systems. |
These components vary between 2 and 10 nanometers in thickness (one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). Because of its graded interface, the coating bonds strongly to substrates and does not come free during severe loading or sliding.
CDC has exceptional friction and wear resistance in wet, dry and high-temperature environments. Industrial partners are interested in using the coating to seal water pumps in automotive engines to prevent dry-run failure and extend the engine's lifetime. The development of this coating could save billions of dollars and reduce energy consumption.
Ali Erdemir of the Energy Technology Division developed the technology along with Michael J. McNallan, professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Yury Gogotsi, director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute; and Sascha Welz and Daniel Ersoy, both Ph.D. students at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
This is Erdemir's third R&D award. He received awards in 1991 for a boric acid lubricant and in 1998 for the Near Frictionless Carbon Coating. This year's award winners will receive a plaque at the annual awards banquet in October and a write-up in both the print and online version of the September issue of R&D magazine.
For more information, please contact Catherine Foster (630/252-5580 or cofster@anl.gov) at Argonne.
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