Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology articles from May 2001

Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology archives from May 2001

Report on the Development of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
May 1, 2001... In 1997, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to select a symmetric-key encryption algorithm to be used to protect sensitive (unclassified) Federal information in furtherance of NIST's statutory...

Photocurrent Measurement of PC and PV Hg CdTe Detectors.(photoconductive, photovoltaic)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... Novel preamplifiers for working standard photoconductive (PC) and photovoltaic (PV) HgCdTe detectors have been developed to maintain the spectral responsivity scale of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the wavelength...

Treasure of the Past VII.
May 1, 2001... Measurement of the Thickness and Refractive Index of Very Thin Films and the Optical Properties of Surfaces by Ellipsometry [1] (April 11, 1963) The use of the ellipsometer for the measurement of the thickness and refractive index of...

WORKSHOP ON TEXTURE IN ELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS.
May 1, 2001... Gaithersburg, MD October 10-11, 2000 1. Introduction Many components and devices in electronic systems are fabricated from materials that have a preferred crystallographic orientation or texture. The applications in which the...

NIST DEVELOPS SMART SPACE TEST BED.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST is developing a test bed, data transport system, and metrics to support the development by industry of Smart Work Spaces. These will blend sensor-based perceptual interfaces, pervasive computers, flexible networking, and information...

NEW FINGERPRINT STANDARD APPROVED.(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2001... NIST revised the standard and managed the ANSI approval procedures for the Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial, & Scar Mark & Tattoo (SMT) Information, ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000. The new version consolidates two previous standards...

NIST'S BIOMETRIC DATA FORMAT ENDORSED BY INDUSTRY.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In February 2001, the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA) launched the Biometric Standards Registry for Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF) Unique Identifiers to streamline the development of biometric solutions. CBEFF...

NIST'S CRYPTOGRAPHIC MODULE VALIDATION PROGRAM ADDS FIRST PDA DEVICE.(National Instititue of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) achieved another milestone by validating the first Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) device (Certificate #137). This cryptographic kernel firmware securely compresses and encrypts messages with...

NIST DEVELOPS METAL DETECTOR EMULATOR TO STUDY ADVERSE EFFECTS ON MEDICAL DEVICES.(National Instititute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... With the widespread use of metal detectors for security purposes in courthouses, penal institutions, and airports, a risk may exist for users of personal medical electronic devices (PMEDs) because of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the...

NIST-SUPPORTED STANDARD ADOPTED BY RosettaNet E-COMMERCE CONSORTIUM.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST has been involved in the development of standards for the exchange of electronic component information since co-sponsoring the first U.S. workshop on the subject in 1991. NIST has worked with the Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2)...

NEW MICROSCOPY CAPABILITY AT NIST.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST has a new field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) capable of high spatial resolution microstructural characterization of a wide variety of metal, ceramic, and polymer structures. This microscope has accelerating voltages from...

NEW HIGH [T.sub.c] BORON SUPERCONDUCTOR.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The surprise discovery very recently of superconductivity at 40 K in the binary [MgB.sub.2] system has triggered enormous interest in the structural, electronic, and superconducting properties of simple systems in general and this class of...

PARALLEL PROCESSING ENABLES RAPID COMPUTATION OF X-RAY ABSORPTION.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A popular computer code for x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) now runs 20-30 times faster, thanks to NIST. XAS is widely used to study the atomic-scale structure of materials and is currently employed by hundreds of research groups in a...

NIST SCIENTISTS ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF MEASUREMENTS MADE BY THE TRIANA SATELLITE.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Physicists from NIST are working with scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and a private company to ensure the reliability of measurements made by the Scripps Earth Polychromatic...

NEW PUBLICATIONS ON THE FUNDAMENTAL CONSTANTS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Two new publications that give selected subsets of the CODATA 1998 recommended values of the most recent fundamental physical constants are now available. They are NIST Special Publication (SP) 959, a wallet card; and NIST SP 961, a wall chart...

ALGORITHM DEVELOPED FOR MINIMIZING CUMULATIVE TIME-BASE QUANTIZATION ERRORS.
May 1, 2001... Researchers at NIST have developed a new technique for modeling and implementing a method for minimizing the quantization errors that often accumulate in electronically generated time bases. A NIST scientist working with staff from Ohio...

EVALUATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATABILITY (EMC) COMPLIANCE CHAMBERS.(electromagnetic compatability)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST staff presented a paper, Evaluation of an EMC compliance chamber using an ultrawideband measurement system, at the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association meeting in Philadelphia. This technique summarized the results of a joint...

LTCC SUBSTRATES CHARACTERIZED AT HIGH FREQUENCIES.(low temperature co-fired ceramics)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST staff recently completed measurements that resulted in a broadband characterization of the permittivity, loss tangent, and metal-loss of several classes of Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramics (LTCC) substrates. The manufacturers of LTCC...

IEC TECHNICAL COMMITTEE, LED BY NIST, PUBLISHES FOUR NEW SUPERCONDUCTIVITY STANDARDS.(International Electrotechnical Commission; National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Four new international standards on superconductivity were recently published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 90 (TC 90). The documents are: * IEC 61788-3 Superconductivity--Part 3: Critical...

NIST CO-SPONSORS GOVERNMENT-INDUSTRY IT SECURITY FORUM.(National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Security Agency; information technology security)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST and the National Security Agency (NSA), partners in the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), hosted a Government-Industry IT Security Forum in March 2001, at Indiana University. The purpose of the forum was to discuss...

NIST HOSTS WORKING GROUP MEETING ON ITL BIOMETRICS INITIATIVE.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In February 2001, the Biometric Interoperability, Performance, and Assurance Working Group held its second meeting at NIST. Sponsored by NIST and the Biometric Consortium, the group is developing a simple testing methodology to determine the...

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THERMAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMER MELTS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST scientists recently participated in an international round-robin study of the thermal properties of polymer melts, organized by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom. The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sample was...

AT CONFERENCE, THE "P" IN PC STANDS FOR "PERVASIVE".(pervasive computing)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The era of pervasive computing is approaching as researchers find more ways to combine computers, sensors, communications devices and the Internet. NIST sponsored the second annual Pervasive Computing 2001 conference in May 2001, to focus...

PAPER DESCRIBES NIST SUPPORT FOR OPTICAL FIBER INDUSTRY.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In response to rapid changes in fiber optic technology, NIST is developing techniques and standards to support the measurement of optical components and subsystems used in wavelength division multiplexed (known as WDM) optical fiber...

CONFERENCE SEEKS IT ACCESS FOR ALL.(information technology access for the disabled)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Scientists and engineers are developing a variety of ways to make computers and other information age devices easier for people with disabilities to use. Yet advocates for the disabled say that information technology companies and government...

PRACTICE GUIDE ON PARTICLE SIZE CHARACTERIZATION NOW AVAILABLE.
May 1, 2001... The first in a new publication series, the NIST Recommended Practice Guide: Particle Size Characterization, will help industrial and academic laboratories measure particle size and size distribution of ceramic powders in a more reliable and...

PAPER TRACES HISTORY OF NIST REFRIGERANTS PROGRAM.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A new paper traces the history of NIST's research on the thermophysical properties of refrigerants. In 1909, when the agency was only 8 years old, the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers (now the American Society of Heating,...

NEW EXCIMER LASER MEASUREMENT SERVICE AVAILABLE.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST recently has developed a new excimer laser measurement service for small-area detectors like those used in high-resolution semiconductor photolithography systems, and other excimer laser applications. NIST now has the capability to...

THIRD PATENT FOR NIST'S ROLE-BASED ACCESS CONTROL WORK.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... On March 3, 2001, patent #6,202,066 was issued to NIST for "Implementation of Role/Group Permission Association Using Object Access Type." This is the third patent issued to NIST for work in Role Based Access Control (RBAC). The first two are...

NON-LINEAR OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF GALLIUM NITRIDE AIDS MATERIAL IMPROVEMENT.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Gallium nitride and related alloy materials are making enormous economic impact with the realization of semiconductor lasers and light-emitting diodes emitting in the blue for data storage, solid-state lighting, and displays. However, problems...

NIST'S CRYPTOGRAPHIC MODULE VALIDATION PROGRAM ADDS WEB ACCESS FOR SECURITY POLICIES.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In April 2001, NIST updated its Cryptographic Module Validation Module (CMVP) web pages to allow convenient user access to all of the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-1 validated cryptographic module security policies. Making...

NIST WEB METRICS TESTBED RELEASED.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A new NIST Web Metrics Testbed has been released. Release 2.0 includes enhancements to existing tools, Windows versions, and new prototypes. The Web Metrics Testbed project focuses on experimenting with innovative tools to help with rapid,...

NIST ADVANCED RADIOMETER CALIBRATED AND DELIVERED TO NASA.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST staff recently completed a radiometric calibration of an advanced spaceflight instrument for NASA. The instrument, Scripps-NISTAR (NIST Advanced Radiometer), was developed to fly as part of the NASA Triana mission, which will view Earth...

NEUTRONS USED TO CHARACTERIZE A NOVEL LITHIUM-CONTAINING ZEOLITE.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Zeolites are minerals with molecule-sized pores. Different materials have different-sized pores. In the past few decades, chemists have learned to produce new zeolite analogs that incorporate a variety of elements and have a variety of...

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW TRANSIENT THERMAL IMAGING SYSTEM.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST researchers have produced a new system that enables, for the first time, the precise measurement of high-speed transient thermal images. The new system is several orders of magnitude faster than conventional infrared thermal imaging...

QUALIFICATION OF EMC TEST SITES.(electromagnetic compatability)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST has developed a scattering experiment to explore electromagnetic compatability (EMC) test site qualification using double-ridged horn antennas. The test procedure consisted of six steps in which a metal plate was placed in close proximity...

ULTRACOLD NEUTRAL PLASMAS CREATED AT NIST.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... On Earth, most material exists as either a solid, liquid, or gas, made up of electrons and ions bound to each other in neutral atoms and molecules. However, most matter in the universe exists as plasma, in which electrons and ions move as free...

THICKNESS VARIATIONS MEASURED IN SILICON WAFERS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... A NIST scientist completed testing of an IR (infrared) Interferometer to investigate the effect of the 8 mm diameter vacuum holder on the locally measured thickness variation of "free-form" silicon wafers. The combination of wafer thickness...

NEW "MODEL FUNCTION" FOR SEM IMAGES OF DENSE LINES.(scanning electron microscope)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Improved software for constructing predicted scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of line features has been produced. Given a set of parameters describing sample geometry and instrument settings, the software quickly predicts the image...

IMPROVED STATISTICAL ANALYSIS TOOL.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Calibrating the scale factor of the NIST Ultraviolet (UV) Microscope requires determining the regression slope for UV Microscope measurements on a traceable reference standard. The uncertainty of this slope is the Type B uncertainty component...

PRELIMINARY COMPARISON RESULTS OF Nano3 LINE SCALES SHIPPED.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... In a meeting held at Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in June 1998, the Consultative Committee for Length (CCL) and Working Group on Dimensional Metrology (WGDM)-7 decided to conduct preliminary comparisons for five different...

NIST A SPONSOR OF SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON OXIDATIVE STRESS AND AGING.(National Institute of Standards and Technology)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... An international meeting entitled "Second International Conference on Oxidative Stress and Aging: Technologies for Assessment and Intervention Strategies," took place in Maui, HI, in April 2001. This international meeting, part of the Oxidative...

DIGITAL LIBRARY OF MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS PROFILES IN PHYSICS PUBLICATIONS.
May 1, 2001... The April 2001 issues of the two widely circulated physics magazines, Physics Today and Physics World, each have articles referring to the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF) project. Physics World featured a full-page news...

NIST TAKES OVER AS MPEG WEB SITE HOST.(National Institute of Standards and Technology; Moving Picture Experts Group)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... NIST is now hosting the World Wide Web site for the Moving Picture Experts Group (known as MPEG), which develops the most widely used international standards for multimedia, video, music and audio. The current MPEG site has been hosted by a...

JUNE WORKSHOP EXAMINES DRAFT LANGUAGE FOR MATERIALS DATA EXCHANGE.
May 1, 2001... At a workshop scheduled in June 2001, an international working group of materials scientists and engineers will present the draft of new software--Materials Markup Language, or MatML--designed to facilitate the exchange of data on materials and...

GROUP WANTS TO MAKE "E-BUSINESS" AS EASY AS "A-B-C".(National Institute of Standards and Technology, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business work on electronic commerce standard)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Computer scientists at NIST have been participating with the information technology/electronic commerce industry in the development of a set of emerging, global e-commerce standards. These standards comprise electronic business XML (known as...

JUNE SYMPOSIUM SHOWCASES INTERACTIVE DIGITAL TV.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The arrival of interactive digital television is creating exciting opportunities for TV producers, advertisers, broadcasters, consumer electronic manufacturers, the computer industry and more than 24O million American viewers. Interactive...

MICROTESTER "STRESSES" ELECTRONIC PACKAGING.(testing of microelectronic interconnects and thin film devices)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Throughout its 100 year history, NIST has been known as a leader in testing large objects (such as bridges, cars and sections of ship hulls) for stress and strain effects. Now, NIST at Boulder, CO, has added stress and strain testing at the...

DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS ADVANCE.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Back-and-forth exchanges of engineering data within the complex web of makers of market-ready electronics products, contract providers of manufacturing services, and suppliers of components and materials just got easier--as well as faster,...

HISTORY OF PIONEERING NIST FACILITY CHRONICLED.('Automating the Future: A History of the Automated Manufacturing Research Facility 1980-1995 ')(Review)
May 1, 2001... Automating the Future: A History of the Automated Manufacturing Research Facility 1980-1995 (NIST SP 967), recently published by NIST as part of its centennial celebration, chronicles 15 years of collaboration between government, industry and...

HIGH RESOLUTION WAVELENGTH CALIBRATION SRM FOR WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Wavelength calibration references are needed in the 1500 nm region to support wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical fiber communication systems. In a WDM system, many wavelength channels are sent down the same fiber, thereby increasing...