Biden-Harris Administration Awards nearly $5 million to Small Businesses to Bring New CHIPS Technology to the Commercial Market

Department of Commerce Announces Grants Across Nine States Highlight Thriving U.S. Semiconductor Industry

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded nearly $5 million to 17 small businesses across nine states under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The SBIR Phase I awards will fund research projects to explore the technical merit or feasibility of an innovative idea or technology for developing a viable product or service for introduction in the commercial microelectronics marketplace. This is the first award for the CHIPS Research and Development Office. The Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to getting small businesses the resources they need to thrive and promoting competition to level the playing field.

“As we grow the U.S. semiconductor industry, the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to building opportunities for small businesses to prosper. With today’s awards, these 17 businesses will support CHIPS for America’s efforts to grow the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem and support our national and economic security,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

NIST measurement science, or metrology, is at the heart of all the advances we anticipate from American chipmakers in coming years, like smaller, faster, chips that take less energy to make, operate and cool, with more functions at less expense.

The award-winning projects were competitively selected from proposals submitted in response to a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on multiple topics on research projects for critically needed measurement services, tools, and instrumentation; innovative manufacturing metrologies; novel assurance and provenance technologies and advanced metrology research and development (R&D) testbeds to help secure U.S. leadership in the global semiconductor industry.

These are all Phase I SBIR awards, which are meant to establish the merit, feasibility and commercial potential of the proposed research and development projects. All 17 small businesses will be under consideration for a SBIR Phase II award in Spring 2025. Each Phase II award can be funded up to $1,910,000. 

“NIST and CHIPS for America are proud to support these small businesses as they take innovations, scale them for the commercial marketplace, and boost the U.S. economy. We are happy to support the entrepreneurs with great ideas as they seek to build the next great American company,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Director Laurie E. Locascio.

CHIPS Metrology SBIR Awardees

Direct Electron LP (Rancho Bernardo, California)

Develop a novel high-speed camera for high-resolution electron backscatter diffraction and transmission Kikuchi diffraction which will significantly expand the materials properties that can be probed with this technique. This project will benefit U.S. industry using materials characterization for current and next-generation microelectronics devices.

HighRI Optics, Inc (Oakland, California)

Develop cutting-edge technology for calibration of the instrument transfer function of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithographic tools. This project will advance EUV lithography technology for the U.S. semiconductor industry.

Photon Spot, Inc. (Monrovia, California)

Develop an ultra-compact, ultra-low vibration cryogenic system to support time-resolved imaging applications. This project will benefit integrated circuit manufacturers and researchers conducting experiments on quantum technologies.

Photothermal Spectroscopy Corporation (Santa Barbara, California)

Develop a new instrument for high-speed thermal properties analysis and simultaneous chemical characterization with sub-micron spatial resolution. This project will improve thermal management and thermal property characterization for the U.S. semiconductor industry.

PrimeNano Inc (Santa Clara, California)

Develop a measurement technology for in-line metrology, which has applications in materials purity, electrical properties, three-dimensional devices, and next generation manufacturing. This project will benefit the U.S. metrology and advanced packaging industries.

Recon RF, Inc.  (San Diego, California)

Develop next-generation large-signal and high-power transistor modeling techniques to create highly accurate models for Radio Frequency (RF)-Microwave circuit design simulators. This project will benefit researchers and U.S. manufacturers of advanced radar, communications, and satellite technologies.

Sigray, Inc (Concord, California)

Develop a novel linear accumulation x-ray source to achieve an order of magnitude increase in performance over leading x-ray sources for critical dimension scattering. This project benefits researchers and manufacturers of semiconductor transistors.

Vapor Cell Technologies (Boulder, Colorado)

Develop advanced dimensional metrology tools for semiconductor fabrication equipment to minimize the gap in the physical-digital divide and amplifying the accuracy of digital twins. This project will benefit the U.S. microelectronics supply chain. 

Tech-X Corporation (Boulder, Colorado)

Develop a simulation tool for photonic integrated circuits that accounts for manufacturing variations and imperfections. This project will benefit the designers of photonic integrated circuits, who will have faster development times as well as U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and fabrication facilities.

Octave Photonics LLC (Louisville, Colorado)

Develop a new measurement tool to analyze airborne contaminants and toxic gases inside and outside the fab that lead to semiconductor processing defects and safety infringements. This project will benefits U.S semiconductor fabrication facilities.

Virtual EM, Inc. (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Develop a Radio Frequency (RF) channel sounder system to accurately characterize the effects of the wireless environment. This project will benefit microelectronics companies and research institutions focused on communication technologies.

The Provenance Chain Network (Portland, Oregon)

Develop a reference implementation of the Commercial Trust™ Protocol (CTP) to manage verifiable credentials (VCs), metrology, and intellectual property, enhancing hardware security, and provenance tracking of microelectronic components across supply chains.  This project will benefit the U.S. microelectronics supply chain industry.

Tiptek, LLC (West Chester, Pennsylvania)

Develop new high-speed nanoprobes to enhance the ability for semiconductor failure analysis to locate and analyze to detect “soft’ electrical faults that occur on the most advanced semiconductors and are otherwise difficult to detect. This project will benefit researchers and semiconductor failure analysis engineers in the U.S. semiconductor industry. 

Exigent Solutions (Frisco, Texas)

Develop AI-powered software to automate chip design optimization for manufacturability through accelerated lithography simulation. This project will benefit U.S. researchers and industry involve in semiconductor design and manufacturing.

Laser Thermal Analysis, Inc (Charlottesville, Virginia)

Develop hybrid atomic force microscopy instrument that will automatically generate maps of the thermal resistance, thermal boundary interface resistance, and temperature profiles of microprocessors and wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices. This project will benefit devices with thermal management challenges and materials development needs on length scales smaller than 100 nanometers.

Hummingbird Precision Machine Co. dba Hummingbird Scientific (Olympia, Washington)

Develop a transmission electron microscopy in-situ specimen holder that enables real-time imaging of nano-scale electronic devices. The project will benefit manufacturers and researchers of next-generation high-voltage power converters used in a wide variety of industries. 

Steam Instruments (Madison, Wisconsin)

Develop a rapid and accurate high-resolution ion microscopy technology for materials characterization particularly focused on challenges for the semiconductor industry. This project will benefit the U.S. semiconductor industry and researchers.

Learn more about the CHIPS Metrology Program and the seven grand challenges.

About CHIPS for America   

CHIPS for America has allocated over $32 billion in proposed funding across 16 states and proposed to invest billions more in research and innovation, which will create over 115,000 jobs. Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, semiconductor and electronics companies have announced over $400 billion in private investments, catalyzed in large part by public investment. CHIPS for America is part of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s economic plan to invest in America, stimulate private sector investment, create good-paying jobs, make more in the United States, and revitalize communities left behind. CHIPS for America includes the CHIPS Program Office, responsible for manufacturing incentives, and the CHIPS Research and Development Office, responsible for R&D programs, that both sit within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the Department of Commerce. Visit https://www.chips.gov to learn more. 

The CHIPS Metrology Program is building partnerships between researchers and industry to address the microelectronics industry’s metrology grand challenges. CHIPS for America has funded over $190 million across over 40 projects that are helping to develop new instruments, methods, data analysis, and models and simulations.  

Read the full report from the U.S. Department of Commerce: Read More