The United States Patent and Trademark Office defines a patent as, “…a property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States…”.
NIST has licensed numerous technologies for multiple industry sectors (e.g., healthcare, homeland security and cybersecurity) and seeks government, industry, and academia to partner and license NIST technologies. Visit the NIST Technology Partnerships Office section to explore the most effective partnering models and technology transfer mechanisms for your organization.
Take a moment now and explore NIST patents and published patent applications and envision what could take your enterprise to the next level. The TPO/NIST Patent and Published Patent Application Database provides access to technologies starting from FY 2018-present. To view all of NIST's patents and published patent applications, visit the NIST pages on the Federal Laboratory Consortium website.
Explore Patents by Topic
Manufacturing (24)
Physics (19)
Nanotechnology (14)
Electron physics (13)
Materials (12)
Optical physics and communications (10)
Electronics (9)
Atomic / molecular / quantum (8)
Information technology (7)
Health (6)
Time and frequency (5)
Bioscience (5)
Spectroscopy (4)
Nanometrology (4)
Thermodynamics (4)
Recent Patents
Icemaker, Process for Controlling Same and Making Ice
NIST Inventors
David A. Yashar
A system to make ice includes a refrigeration unit and an icemaker disposed in the refrigeration unit. The refrigeration unit is configured to be subjected to a refrigeration cycle; the icemaker is configured to be subjected to a freeze cycle; and the system is configured such that the freeze cycle
Authentication Article and Process for Making Same
NIST Inventors
Yaw S. Obeng and Joseph J. Kopanski
An authentication article includes: a substrate including: a first surface; a second surface disposed laterally to the first surface and at a depth below the first surface; and a plurality of indentations including the depth at the second surface of the substrate; and an array disposed on the
Noncontact Resonameter, Process for making and use of same
NIST Inventors
Jan Obrzut, Nate Orloff and Chris Long
A noncontact resonameter includes: a resonator to: produce an excitation signal including a field; subject a sample to the excitation signal; produce a first resonator signal in a presence of the sample and the excitation signal, the first resonator signal including: a first quality factor of the
Phase Shift Detector Process for Making and Use of Same
NIST Inventors
Kin (Charles) Cheung, Jason Ryan and Jason Campbell
The detector senses very small phase shifts in a highly balanced microwave bridge. An electric field optimized microwave probe, in close proximity to a sample, serves to perturb the degree of bridge balance due to a .change in effective dielectric constant of the sample. The major innovation
Next Generation Access Control System and Process for Controlling Database Access
NIST Inventors
Joshua Roberts, Gopi Katwala and David Ferraiolo
A computer-implemented method included: receiving, by an access manager, a query from a source; communicating the query from the access manager to a translator; translating the query into a next generation access control (NGAC) input; communicating the NGAC input to an NGAC engine, the NGAC engine
Massively parallel wafer-level reliability system and process for massively parallel wafer-level reliability testing
NIST Inventors
Kin (Charles) Cheung
The massively parallel reliability (MPR) system is a compact measurement setup to perform highly accurate reliability tests on semiconductor devices. The innovations associated with the MPR system center on the densification and miniaturization of the semiconductor electrical characterization
Hub and Spoke System for Detecting and Locating Gas Leaks
NIST Inventors
Greg Rieker, Ian Coddington, Kuldeep Prasad and Anna Karion
A system for detecting gas leaks and determining their location and size. A data gathering portion of the system utilizes a hub and spoke configuration to collect path-integrated spectroscopic data over multiple open paths around an area. A processing portion of the system applies a high-resolution
Optical Parametric Oscillator
NIST Inventors
John T. Woodward IV
An optical parametric oscillator produces optical parametric light and includes a frequency splitter to produce signal light and idler light; a wavelength selector to select a wavelength of the signal light and to produce optical parametric light from the selected wavelength of the signal light; and
Differential compensator to reduce uncertainty in determination of movement of a structural member
NIST Inventors
Matthew Hoehler and Christopher Smith
A new method has been developed for estimating the thermal expansion of a measurement cable (metallic wire or ceramic fiber thread) that is placed in a high temperature environment with an unknown temperature profile and connected to a moving target. This method is to deploy a second measurement
Resistance Compensator to Reduce Uncertainty in Determination of Movement of a Structural Member
NIST Inventors
Matthew Hoehler and Christopher Smith
A new method has been developed for estimating the thermal expansion of an electrically conductive wire that is placed in a high temperature environment with an unknown temperature profile; i.e. a temperature distribution that varies in location and time. The method is based on a simultaneous