Current methods of transdermal drug delivery have found success using pulsed lasers.  However, pulsed lasers have been very expensive in the marketplace and have resulted in some treatment options to be cost prohibitive.  Therefore, the healthcare industry has been looking for a low-cost alternative to pulsed lasers to expand the list of treatable pathologies.                                (more...)

Invention Description: University researchers have developed unique nanostructures to enhance surfaces of sports-related or transportation-related apparatus and more generally prevent water, snow or ice accumulation. The methods of the invention produce nanoscale features on surfaces of a broad range of materials, resulting in superhydrophobic or superoleophobic (non-wetting for oil) or superomniphobic (non-wetting for water and oil) properties. The invention includes active as well as passive control of contact surfaces. Novel anti-biofouling coatings to minimize accumulation of marine substances are also disclosed. (more...)

Artificial photosynthesis and water oxidation/reduction can be realized using inorganic semiconductor photoelectrochemistry. This approach could provide a cost-effective and efficient solution to convert solar energy and store it as chemical energy. Continuous research effort and current challenges are to optimize photoelectrodes towards practical photoelectrochemical applications with a broad spectrum of absorption, matching energy band to water reduction/oxidation energy levels, long-term stability in harsh conditions, and most importantly, high photocurrent density in order to reach high photo-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. Engineering stable, non-toxic, efficient and low-cost materials is also important. Heterojunctions obtained from the integration of branches and trunks made of different semiconducting materials allow integration of advantageous properties from each material for improved performances. (more...)

As feature dimensions in semiconductor devices decrease, it becomes increasingly more important to precisely control dopants at the nanoscale level. One method to achieve such precision with homogenous implants is to use high-aspect-ratio structures in resist to serve as implantation masks. The high aspect ratio of these masks reduces lateral ion straggle and helps keep the implanted profiles sharp and well defined. For gradient doping, thermal diffusion is typically used to grade the profile which in practice is very difficult to precisely control at the nanoscale. (more...)

Many crystalline materials can be grown on foreign substrates; but for their intended applications, materials often need to be either free from the substrate or transferred to a different substrate. One such example is where there is a need to obtain a device structure where a direct bandgap semiconductor (e.g., GaAs) is combined on silicon, or to place an optically active material on an optically transparent or a highly thermally conductive substrate. (more...)

First time demonstration of enhanced formation of polymers on nanostructures under X-ray irradiation. (more...)

Rapid, efficient, and low cost detection and identification of microorganisms including pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi is a challenge facing plant and animal health. Current technologies such as Q-PCR rely on multiple assays and amplification methods to identify bacteria and viruses. Traditional optical detection methods also require fluorescent markers. These multiple independent steps and tests increase the processing time and cost for detection and identification. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a technique that uses nanotechnology to electrically detect and identify bacterial and viral RNA sequences without the necessity of using enzymatic amplification methods or fluorescent markers. In cases where microbe densities are particularly low, the technique provides additional sensitivity that allows for the target molecules to be detected in small quantities. Furthermore, the technique may be scaled into large multiplexed arrays for high-throughput and rapid screening. The implementation is further able to differentiate closely related variants of a given bacterial or viral species or strain. This technique addresses the need for a quick, efficient, and inexpensive bacterial and viral detection and identification system. (more...)

Thermoelectric devices are on the whole made from inherently inflexible rigid materials. However, alternative thermoelectric devices which incorporate semiconducting nanowires are able to be rigid and yet be flexible.   Individual nanowires are fairly rigid but can move independently from each other, enabling flexible thermoelectric device designs. The use of rigid or semi-rigid electrodes for flexible thermoelectric devices causes many difficulties including but not limited to stiffening the device, creating stresses in the active material contacts, and fracturing the active material and contacts. Flexible electrodes are requisite but it is advantageous to utilize electrodes which are not only flexible but stretchable or compressible.   This advantage becomes increasingly important as the thickness of the device increases and as the radius of curvature of the intended application decrease.  (more...)

A novel approach for modifying and testing the mechanical response of carbon nanotube arrays post-synthesis using metal oxide nanoparticles.  (more...)

Microshell encapsulation processes have been developed for monolithic packaging of MEMS devices using polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) as a porous encapsulation layer because it can be made permeable to HF when sufficiently thin [1] or electrochemically etched. This reduces release times and penetration of the sealing material. The temperature required to form poly-Si (> 600 oC) is too high for CMOS backend integration, however, precluding the use of this technology in monolithically integrated microsystems. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a low-thermal-budget (CMOS-compatible) process for microshell encapsulation of microstructures or nanostructures. Inkjet-printing of nanoparticle ink is used to form a porous microshell through which sacrificial material can be selectively removed to release the microstructures or nanostructures. A second inkjet-printing process using finer nanoparticle ink is used to seal the microshell. The mechanical strength of a printed microshell (which can be >1 micron thick) is sufficient for encapsulating regions greater than 1 mm in length. (more...)

Immunoassays have a tremendous range of uses in the diagnosis of diseases, pharmaceutical drug development studies, and therapeutic drug monitoring.They are highly popular due to their high specificity and sensitivity for a variety of analytes in biological samples.However, immunoassays can be labor intensive, time consuming, and require expensive reagents.An immunoassay method that is rapid, inexpensive, and highly effective would be practical and may have widespread use.Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a fluoroimmunoassay chip that can be used for improving the detection of low concentration (approx. 1 nM) biological agents.The method is rapid, inexpensive, and provides a fluorescence enhancement that is approximately 30-fold greater than glass.In addition, this method does not use the principle of metal enhanced fluorescence to enhance the signal, so the fluorophore is not distance dependent in order to achieve enhancements. (more...)

A major limiting factor today for high-resolution, three-dimensional patterning of polymers and nanoparticles in large area, high rate methods is the templates for molding the materials. Currently, only poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) has sufficient vapor permeability to accomplish this, and the low modulus of elasticity of this material limits the attainable resolution, alignment, and structural fidelity. To address this challenge, investigators at the University of California have developed a highly rigid, chemically robust, optically transparent and vapor-permeable poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) template. Normally used in gas separation applications, the investigators have nano-patterned this material to create a template. The template has successfully patterned polymers and nanoparticles using the microfluidic molding technique, with very high fidelity pattern replication. Using this mold material, a resolution of better than 350 nm was achieved to date. Patterns resemble those obtainable with photolithographic methods, with as-designed dimensions, completely straight sides and vertical sidewalls. This material substantially extends the capabilities of soft lithographic processes through its increased rigidity and vapor-permeability. Additionally, the properties of this polymer are ideal for roll-to-roll patterning of polymers and nanoparticles for electronics applications. (more...)

Lighting is a major contributor to electricity consumption, accounting for 19 percent of global use and 34 percent in the U.S. The U.S. lighting market is currently dominated by the incandescent light bulb and is only 5percent efficient whereas the fluorescent lamp is 15 to 25 percent efficient. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have a rated lifespan of 6,000 to 15,000 hours whereas incandescent bulbs have a lifespan of only 750 to 1,000 hours. On the other hand, CFLs contain small amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin, which gets released with breakage. Solid-state luminaires, which are typically based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs), have the potential to revolutionize the industry with higher efficiency, lower maintenance, and better quality/safety, possibly leading to a reduction by half of energy consumed by general illumination. (more...)

Solution-processing of semiconductors is being pursued as a more economic route to large-scale production. So far various deposition methods have been attempted such as: electrodepositing, doctor blading, bar coating, and inkjet printing; however, these methods all suffer from small grain sizes in the resulting material that is produced. (more...)

This invention describes a modular approach to build chiral calixarene phosphite and phosphate ligands. The chiral ligands can be used to for a asymmetric catalysis such as reduction, hydroformylation, sulfoxidation, epoxidations, and chiral acid catalysis. The invention also describes a mthod of controlling the reactivity ot metals by coordination with the chiral calixarene-related moities. (more...)

Although silk is commonly known as a fiber, dissolved silk protein has recently received significant attention for its use in creating biocompatible, biodegradable, and mechanically tough materials. These materials have been applied to tissue engineering, biosensors, and microfluidics. Reconstituted silk solutions present a promising alternative to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), currently the most commonly used material in micropatterning and soft lithography. However, it is not clear if this alternative can rectify the main problems associated with PDMS: the difficulty in replicating nano-scale features, and the inability of PDMS to support high aspect ratio structures (such as needles) without collapsing.Researchers at UC Berkeley have used reconstituted silk fibroin (RSF) to make microneedles, proving that RSF is an excellent material for molding of nano- and micro-scale patterned features. They demonstrated feature replication down to 25 nm, and the ability to support high aspect ratio structures up to 3.75 (height to diameter). Theoretical calculations suggest that silk films could support aspect ratios of up to 10. Furthermore, the researchers showed that the RSF films are in an alpha-helical/random coil water-soluble state, but can also be crystallized into a beta-sheet and water-insoluble conformation. Most importantly, they demonstrated the fabrication of silk microneedles that could be used in drug delivery and wound healing. (more...)

Throughout the world, there is a growing need for energy efficient housing solutions. The need is particularly strong in developing countries located in tropical climates, where the cost of energy used for temperature and humidity control is very high. As these climates are often prone to flooding, there is also a need for low-cost, energy efficient emergency housing. The bulk of energy is spent on compensating for heat and cooling losses that occur through the building envelope � the outer shell of a building that protects the indoor environment. Most current building envelopes have separate controls for environmental flows such as humidity, cooling, and light transmission that lack precision and are difficult to calibrate. Climatic self-regulation of building envelopes that can reduce the need for artificial space conditioning is highly relevant to develop. Through a pioneering interdisciplinary collaboration between bioengineering and architecture, researchers at UC Berkeley developed a new sensor technology for external building membranes that can actively respond to environmental changes, and provide automated control of moisture and temperature. The system for Self-Activated Building Envelope Regulation (SABER) is inspired by new understanding of moisture barrier and heat transfer in plants. SABER utilizes optomechanical and hygrothermal sensor/actuator networks build onto a thin film membrane, which can replace the expensive and large mechanical control systems. (more...)

It is highly desirable to replicate a natural silk spinning process in an industrial setting. Natural silk fibers produced by silkworms and spiders have exceptional mechanical properties, which so far have not been matched by artificially produced silk. Furthermore, most of the artificial spinning technologies involve extremely high temperatures and pressures, as well as hazardous solvents. Spider and silkworm silk, on the other hand, is spun at room temperature, low pressures, and uses only water as a solvent. Although a lot is known about the biological mechanisms involved in the natural silk spinning process, a major roadblock toward the creation of a biomimetic spinning system has been the inability to fabricate fluidic structures on the same size scale as the silk gland (10-100 μm in a large spider). Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a biomimetic silk gland using the latest advances in microfabrication and microfluidics. The system captures the geometrical features of the native silk gland, and it uses a porous material allowing mass transport in and out of the silk solution during flow. Similar to the native spinneret, the biomimetic spinneret can alter the pH of a solution flowing through it. This invention opens the way towards replicating natural silk production in an industrial setting, and producing native-quality artificial silk. (more...)

Technological advancement demands new types of transducer materials that can efficiently sense and convert force and energy form one type to another for signal processing and modulation, switching and actuation, sensing and energy harvesting. It is also desirable to have transducer materials that mimic cylindrical outer hair cells and retinal cells and able to detect and convert signals instantly and reliably with exceptionally high coupling efficiency at reduced size. Nanocomposite materials could provide the necessary advantages, but are difficulty to be synthesized with controlled morphology and interface characteristics. The rod-coil copolymer systems have attracted widespread interest in both fundamental understanding of the thermodynamics that control nanoscale self-assembly in polymers, as well as technological implication associated with the unique characteristics of the novel designed systems. With inception of the responsive polymer system designed by the inventors, for the first time, there are opportunities to design materials without the compromises typically found in conventional composites. The rationally synthesized nanomaterials can be processed in a thin film format, which provides a platform for technology innovation. (more...)

High-throughput and low-cost techniques for fabrication at sub-50nm scale on wide area substrates are currently a very active and competitive field of cross-disciplinary R&D. Of the recent crop of nanofabrication technologies, dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) is notable for its success in serving the nanofabrication needs of biotechnology, advanced materials, and nano-scale devices. In DPN, molecules in an “ink” are transferred from a coated atomic force microscopy tip to a substrate, forming a pattern as the tip is scanned. DPN however has the disadvantages of slow processing and patterning of small areas and limited parallelization capabilities. (more...)

The fuel cell is an energy conversion device that produces electricity through the electrochemical reaction of a fuel and oxidative gas. Polymer electrolyte fuel cells, e.g., proton-exchange membrane fuel cells using hydrogen gas as fuel and direct methanol fuel cells, are clean energy sources with high power density and high energy conversion efficiency. They can replace fossil fuels and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Moreover, polymer electrolyte fuel cells can operate at ambient temperature and be miniaturized and sealed. As such they provide an attractive power generation option for vehicles, home use and portable applications in telecommunications, military equipment, medical equipment, space technology, and others. Increasing the energy density of polymer electrolyte fuel cells remains an important technological goal and much work continues towards developing improved electrodes, membranes and fuels. In particular, many attempts have been made to increase catalyst activity – which promote fuel cell chemical reactions – in the electrodes. University researchers have developed advanced electrode materials with very large surface area to increase catalyst activity. The inventive approach is premised on the use of nanocomposites fabricated from aligned carbon nanotubes and dispersed nanoparticles of a metallic catalyst. Alignment of the nanotubes ensures their separation from each other at high densities (up to 1012 nanotubes/cm2), thus increasing the nanotube circumferential surface area that is available for adhesion of catalyst nanoparticles. The surface area can be further increased by growing secondary nanotubes at an angle from the primary nanotubes, and tertiary ones from the secondary, to form tree-like nanostructures. In the invented nanocomposite electrodes, nanoparticles of the metallic catalyst, e.g., Pt, Pd and alloys, are uniformly distributed on the external walls of the nanotubes. The invention provides methods of fabricating the ultra-large surface area carbon nanotubes and the high reaction efficiency nanocomposites. It also provides a fuel cell which utilizes the nanocomposites in its electrodes and delivers improved energy conversion performance. This technology has patents pending and is available for licensing. (more...)

Cleantech is an emerging sector of innovation and deals with products and processes that harness renewable energy sources, minimizes pollution and waste, and reduces the depletion of natural resources, including water supply. There are two different technical approaches for self-cleaning coatings: hydrophobic versus hydrophilic. Both types of coatings clean themselves through the action of water. In the case of the hydrophobic surface, rolling droplets take away the dirt and dust. In the case of the hydrophilic surface, sheeting water carries away dirt. For hydrophobic surfaces, an indicator of their effectiveness is the contact angle of the water on the surface, which measures the amount of surface tension induced by the coating on the water. (more...)

Using the Tacky Dot®, UC San Diego researchers have adapted the technology to the patterning of carbon nanotubes, nanowires, and other types of nano-materials. This technology places the nanomaterials on the surface of the photopolymer, sandwiched with other materials or in layers to form a structure of nanomaterial. The dry method removes both the need for the use of a flux, which is found in wet methods, and the need to anneal the surface to fix the nanomaterials in place. The method is capable of producing patterns whose size is just a few microns. (more...)

Lighting is a major contributor to electricity consumption, accounting for 19 percent of global use and 34 percent in the U.S. The U.S. lighting market is currently dominated by the incandescent light bulb, which is only 5 percent efficient whereas the fluorescent lamp is 15 to 25 percent efficient. Solid-state luminaires, which are typically based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs), have the potential to revolutionize the industry with higher efficiency, better quality, and lower maintenance, possibly leading to a reduction of half the energy consumed by general illumination. For example, 30 percent efficiency has been achieved in a commercially available white LED and 50 percent in a laboratory white LED device. White light in such devices is produced either by combining light from different color LEDs or taking blue or near-UV light from an LED to “pump” a mixture of phosphors. The phosphor approach, when implemented with conventional phosphors, produces cold white light that is not color tunable and has non-optimal efficiency, but has the potential to overcome these shortcomings with the use of advances in materials.The appreciable energy savings derived by converting from incandescent to fluorescent lamps and solid-state lighting has spurred government measures towards phasing out incandescent light bulbs. The general lighting market is predicted to exceed $130 billion by 2011 with the LED-based share forecasted to grow to $1.4 billion by 2012. There is clearly an unmet need and great market opportunity for new energy-efficient lighting devices. (more...)

In the race for achieving miniaturization of useful machines and devices to the microscale and nanoscale, it would be useful to have a means of connecting components to build devices. One-off production of assemblies of components might be made using laser tweezers or microfluidics, yet it would be highly desirable to assemble millions or billions of copies of the same multicomponent device in solution in parallel at the same time. Heretofore, such massively parallel off-chip assembly processes have been only poorly controlled because the interactions have not been strongly dependent on the nature of the geometry and shape of the components. (more...)

Ion beams for manufacturing and analytical applications (e.g.; ion beam milling, focused ion beam micromachining, and 3-D profiling of organic samples via secondary ion mass spectrometry) (more...)

The subject invention details a new surface plasmon-based sensing chip for array-based detection sensors for environmental monitoring; explosive detection; protein-protein interaction for genomics, pharmaceuticals, proteomics, disease discovery, and drug development; and physical parameter detection and monitoring, such as temperature, pressure, and surface deposition thickness (more...)

University researchers have developed an easy one-step approach to pattern uniform catalyst lines for the growth of dense, aligned parallel arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on quartz wafers by using photolithography or polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp micro-contact printing (μCP). (more...)

An ultrathin silicon nitride membrane has been fabricated and tested to be useable in temperatures in excess of 1000 °C with mass flux rates several orders of magnitude greater than existing technlogies. Pore shape and size are also tunable. (more...)

This invention describes device designed to controllably break a fluid into small drops of predetermined size at predetermined locations on device. (more...)

UCSF investigators have developed a variety of organic and inorganic nanostructures for scaffolds in tissue regeneration as well as drug delivery. These nanostructures provide favorable biological integration of implants and have applications in many areas, including orthopedics, cardiovascular medicine, and ophthalmology. Additionally, these nanostructures are capable of delivering drugs in a localized and controlled manner, accounting for the short biological half-life, lack of long-term stability and tissue-selectivity, and potential toxicity of many therapeutic compounds. (more...)

The ability to resist nonspecific protein adsorption (protein resistance) is an indicator of a material's biological inertness or biocompatibility. Protein resistant biomaterials such as the commonly used poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) have been used in a number of applications such as prostheses, contact lenses, implanted devices, microfluidic systems, drug delivery, and substrates for assays. However PEG has two major limitations. First PEG can only be functionalized at the chain ends, and second PEG is not biodegradable. (more...)

At millimeter dimensions or less, conventional mechanical, electrostatic, and magnetic connectors (e.g. buttons, zippers, Velcro, etc) encounter performance and reliability degradation that is problematic for applications that require specific binding of miniaturized components.  Moreover, while universal adhesives (e.g. tapes, glues, and synthetic gecko-inspired adhesives -- see B00-046) enable efficient binding at miniature dimensions, these universal adhesives don't support connector applications that need reversible and specific binding between components (as opposed to permanent and universal binding). To address those needs, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new type of chemical connector based on nanowires.  The nanowire connectors enable highly specific and versatile binding of components, and they have unique properties that are tunable through composition control of the nanowire components.  (more...)

Photolithography is the most widely used micro-fabrication technique as it is a parallel, cost effective, and high throughput process. However, conventional photolithography techniques have a resolution limit that is about half of the illumination light wavelength in free space. To date, various approaches to improve photolithography resolution have developed, but each is flawed. For example, electron-beam lithography, focused ion-beam lithography and dip-pen lithography are slow series processes not suitable for large-area pattern fabrication, and implementing reduced wavelength illumination drastically increases instrument complexity and cost. To address these problems, Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a family of deep-subwavelength photolithography technologies. These novel technologies are based on adding an artificial metal-dielectric structure to conventional photolithography processes to fabricate reduced patterns of the conventional photolithography masks. The technique overcomes the resolution limit of the conventional photolithography and can achieve deep-subwavelength resolution comparable to that of plasmonic nanolithography and near field contact photolithography. Furthermore, it can fabricate large-area uniform patterns while plasmonic nanolithography can not. (more...)

Fluorocarbon (FC) film deposition by plasma techniques has been used in numerous electrical, mechanical and biomedical applications due to the desirable physicochemical properties of FC films (i.e. low dielectric constant, surface energy, friction and wettability) as well as good hemocompatibility. To take advantage of these attributes, researchers at UC Berkeley have investigated the dependence of FC film thickness, surface morphology and chemical behavior on the plasma power. These studies have resulted in the development of a method for synthesizing FC films on biopolymers such as low-density polyethylene. (more...)

The most widely used methods for synthesizing semiconductor nanocrystals are "bottom-up", batch-style approaches. While these methods produce high quality products, they have several drawbacks that limit their efficacy including: (1) The volume of reactants is limited resulting in exorbitant time requirements to produce substantial quantities, and severe limitations on the experimental conditions used to optimize the process. (2) The particle growth kinetics are not always reproducible resulting in the need for post-production processing to achieve the size distributions required for most applications. (3) The local conditions in the bulk solution can't be accurately measured resulting in the inability to comprehensively understand the underlying kinetics. These drawbacks have led to the investigation of continuous flow reactor methods to produce semiconductor nanocrystals. Studies have shown that this approach can produce nanocrystals with quality comparable to batch methods and also precisely control parameters such as temperature, flow, and concentrations -- leading to nanocrystals with tunable sizes. Despite these advantages, there has not been an attempt to investigate the thermodynamics, kinetics, or commercial scale-up of continuous flow approaches. To address these opportunities, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new continuos flow approach and reactor design for producing nanocrystals. These innovations represent a major advancement in the field in that they enable the probing of the underlying process occurring during nanocrystal synthesis, as well as the establishment of conditions capable for manufacturing a variety of particle sizes and morphologies. (more...)

Constructing long, continuous nanofibers and nanotubes has potential applications in many areas such as field-effect transistors, gas and optical sensors, wound-dressing, filtration, and DNA deposition on functional chips. The electrospining process is a promising method for constructing these nanofibers and nanotubes. However, electrospinning relies on the whipping of liquid jets and consequently tends to be unstable -- which is problematic because controllability is critical in these and other applications. To address this problem, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed, demonstrated and characterized a new eletrospinning process for the deposition of long continuous nanostructures. This new process is not only controllable, it also offers lower applied voltages than previous electrospinning approaches. (more...)

Technological advances have allowed computer microprocessors to handle data at an extraordinary rate. However, the electrical interconnects within and between microprocessor chips introduce a severe bottle-neck to the flow of data. A promising architecture for next generation interconnects is high-speed and high-bandwidth optical interconnects, which will require heterogeneous integration of compound semiconductors with Si technologies. Some previously-explored methods for creating the optoelectronic circuitry include epitaxial growth, heteroepitaxial growth, and wafer-bonding. However, epitaxial growth of interconnections can produce large physical mismatches between desirable compound semiconductors and silicon; heteroepitaxial growth is complicated, expensive, and requires high processing temperatures that damage silicon-based circuitry; and wafer bonding is extremely susceptible to misalignments. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are developing advanced structures and methods for integration of compound semiconductors with conventional integrated circuit components to produce various active and passive optoelectronic components for optical interconnects, sensors, semiconductor lasers and other devices. The structures can accommodate quantum wells or quantum dots. The method under development at Berkeley will eliminate problems with alignment and processing temperature that constrain the application of conventional methods for fabricating optoelectronic circuitry. (more...)

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Method for Forming Polymer Brush Patterns on a Substrate Surface (more...)

Polymer precursor of SiCN used to produce ceramic composites which improves creep resistance (more...)

Alumina-Titania Nanocomposites from Plasma Sprayed Aluminum Titanate (more...)

A ceramic composite material with improved thermal, electrical and mechanical properties. (more...)

Preparation of Nanometric Oxides that Exhibit Enhanced Protonic Conductivity at Low Temperatures (more...)