R&D Magazine
honors inventors by identifying the 100 most technologically
significant products and advancements for each year and recognizing the
winning innovators and their organizations. One hundred winners are
chosen from an international pool of contestants from universities,
private corporations, and government labs.
In 2012, Sandia researchers and their collaborators received four
R&D 100 awards. Since 1976, Sandia has received 101 of these coveted
R&D 100 Awards — often referred to as the "Oscars of invention" or "the Nobel Prizes of technology." Sandia wins many of our 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 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 with plaques at a formal
banquet in Chicago in early fall.
2012 winners
Microsystems Enabled Photovoltaics
Sandia developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic (PV) cells that could revolutionize solar energy collection. The crystalline silicon micro-PV cells will be cheaper and have greater efficiencies than current PV collectors. Micro-PV cells require relatively little material to form well-controlled, highly efficient devices. Cell fabrication uses common microelectronic and micro-electromechanical systems techniques. They are 10 times thinner than conventional cells, yet perform at about the same efficiency.
» Watch video | Additional video
Neutristor
The Neutristor is an ultra-compact, disposable, neutron generator 1,000 times smaller than the closest competitor, for use in energy exploration, and medical applications.
» Watch video
Sandia Digital Microfuidic Hub
The Sandia Digital Microfluidic Hub — a droplet-handling router — enables the interconnection of diverse processing and analysis modules to automate complex microliter-scale molecular biology sample-preparation protocols.
» Watch video
Sandia Cooler
The Sandia Cooler is 30-times more efficient than conventional air-cooled heat exchangers and is available for licensing to electronics and solid state lighting cooling manufacturers.
» Watch video
Biomimetic membranes for water purification
Selective, high-flux desalination membranes based on self-assembled nanopores were tuned with atomic-layer deposition to mimic the structures of natural membrane-bound biological channels.
» Download (PDF, 1.7 MB)
» Watch video
Microresonator filters and frequency references
Our miniature acoustic resonators perform RF filtering and frequency synthesis in next-generation wireless devices — offering higher performance in a smaller package with a lower price.
» Download (PDF, 2.9 MB)
» Watch video
Ultra-high-voltage Silicon Carbide Thyristor
This DOE Energy Storage Systems project, managed by Sandia in partnership with GeneSiC Semiconductor Inc., and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), has developed an ultra-high-voltage silicon carbide thyristor. The semiconductor device allows next-generation "smart grid" power electronics system to be built up to 10 times smaller and lighter than current silicon-based technologies. These packaged-power devices are the world's first commercially available, high-voltage, high-frequency, high-current, high-temperature, single-chip SiC-based thyristors. Their performance advantages are expected to spur innovations in utility-scale power electronics hardware and to increase the accessibility and use of distributed energy resources.
» Download (PDF, 2.3 MB)
» Watch video
2010 winners
CANARY: Event Detection Software is a software package that performs online, multivariate event detection from networked sensor data. Employing statistical forecasting and classification algorithms, CANARY continuously analyzes time series signals for anomalous conditions. This unique software enables online contaminant event detection for time-critical decision making in both routine and emergency water quality assessments.
» Download (PDF, 3.5 MB)
» Watch video
Micro Power Source is a compact, highly miniaturized energy-harvesting (self-charging) power source encapsulated in a polymer coating. It functions by integrating a lithium-ion-based, solid-state battery with a thin photovoltaic (PV) collector. It is charged by an energy-harvesting PV device that is 10 μm thick, single-junction, 10-cell, and silicon (Si)-based. The entire system is environmentally sealed using a specially developed polymer coating.
» Download (PDF, 849 KB)
» Watch video
Multifunctional Optical Coatings, a new technology that has been developed for optical coatings, involve the self-assembly of polymers to form nanostructured coatings with tailored properties. The process uses commercially available polymers, which are dispersed in common solvents, enabling easy and cost-effective routes to produce films through spin, dip, or spray coating in ambient conditions. These films possess physical properties approaching those of materials that are typically fabricated using expensive processes such as CVD and sputtering.
» Download (PDF, 2.2 MB)
» Watch video
Solution Deposition Planarization (SDP), Superconductor Substrate Preparation Process This joint LANL-Sandia development prepares the metal substrate used in making superconducting wire. Compared with current manufacturing methods, SDP is simpler and less costly, yet it enables greater power density and increased physical strength. SPD also generates less toxic waste. The primary application of the SDP process will be in the fabrication of superconducting wire for power applications.
» View R&D 100 Award website article
Acoustic Wave Biosensors, Rapid Point-of-Care Medical Diagnostics is an innovative device that is a handheld, battery-powered, portable detection system capable of multiplex identification of a wide range of medically relevant pathogens and their biomolecular signatures — viruses, bacteria, proteins, and DNA — at clinically relevant levels. This detection occurs within minutes — not hours — at the point of care, whether that care is in a physician's office, a hospital bed, or at the scene of a biodefense or biomedical emergency.
» Download (PDF, 1.9 MB)
» Watch video
2009 winners
Ultralow-Power Silicon Microphotonic Communications Platform enables optical data transmission and routing on a silicon platform at nanosecond-switching speeds with up to 100 times less power consumption and 100 times the bandwidth density compared to traditional electronic approaches.
» Download (PDF, 1.4 MB)
» Watch video
Artificial Retina Project offers a retinal prosthesis that can be used to treat age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal disorders, such as retinitis pigmentosa.
» Visit R&D Award website and article
Hyperspectral Confocal Fluorescence Microscope System rapidly finds all emitting fluorescence species of an image.
» Download (PDF, 32.3 MB)
SiCPower Module is a high-temperature silicon carbide power module that more efficiently converts electrical energy from one form to another.
» Download (PDF, 2.7 MB)
» Watch video
NanoCoralTM dendritic platinum nanostructures are an innovative nanotechnology for producing platinum catalysts.
» Download (PDF, 4.4 MB)
» Watch video
Catamount N-Way (CNW) Lightweight Kernel delivers significant improvements in data access performance for today's parallel-computing applications.
» Download (PDF, 2.5 MB)
2008 winners
XyceTM Parallel Electronic Simulator 4.0.2 is the world's first analog tool capable of full simulation of large digital-circuit systems through the use of massively parallel computation, rather than resorting to accuracy-compromising simplifications used by other tools. Xyce, under development at Sandia since 1999, accurately simulates more than 10 million circuit elements on hundreds of processors, far exceeding any other simulation tool.
» Download (PDF, 2.6 MB)
Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Artifact for Mesoscale Measurement Machines was designed to help improve measurement accuracy for miniaturized devices, such as fuel injectors, watch components, and inkjet printer parts. The Sandia MEMS-based three-dimensional physical artifact is 10 times more accurate and much less expensive than the former gold standard and can be used to calibrate a variety of inspection systems.
» Download (PDF, 854 KB)
» Watch video
Superhydrophobic Coating has a transparent coating that is impermeable to water. The coating can be applied by any standard method, including spin-coating, dip-coating, aerosol spraying, and ink-jet printing. Superhydrophobic coating has many potential applications, including preventing corrosion; protecting electronics and antiquities; and providing a new, more efficient surface to collect pure water.
» Download (PDF, 4.3 MB)
Self-Assembling Process for Fabricating Tailored Thin Films is a simple, economical nanotechnology coating process that enables the development of nanoparticle thin films with architectures and properties unattainable by any other processing method.
» Download (PDF, 3.3 MB)
» Watch video
Mode-Filtered Fiber Amplifier is a breakthrough technology that enables the fabrication of practical, high-power, high-beam-quality laser sources that are compact, rugged, and extremely efficient.
» Download (PDF, 2.6 MB)
» Watch video
Novint Falcon and Novint/Sandia 3D-Touch Software (joint) is the first controller that makes high-fidelity, interactive, three-dimensional touch possible and practical for consumer computing applications.
» Download (PDF, 1.4 MB)
ElectroNeedle™ Biomedical Sensor Array is a device that, when pressed against the skin, can make rapid, multiplexed diagnostic measurements in a point-of-care setting.
» Download (PDF, 1.1 MB)
2006 winners
Compute Process Allocator is 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 was licensed to Cray Inc. in 2005.
» Download (PDF, 1.2 MB)
HTSS10V is a solid-state, fluoride-based battery that is safer than traditional batteries in high-temperature applications, such as oil, gas, and geothermal drilling. HTSS10V was developed in conjunction with the High Power Battery Systems Company in Nizhny Novgorod Russia and General Atomics.
» Download (PDF, 642 KB)
