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6
Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory
53
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54
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
PANEL MEMBERS
David W. Johnson, Jr., Agere Systems (retired), Chair
Katharine G. Frase, IBM Microelectronics Division, Vice Chair
Karla Y. Carichner, Conexant Systems, Inc.
Edmund W. Chu, Alcoa, Inc.
Michael J. Cima, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kenneth L. Davis, Motorola Laboratories
Lisa Dhar, InPhase Technologies
F.W. Gordon Fearon, Dow Corning Corporation
Elizabeth G. Jacobs, Texas Instruments
Sylvia M. Johnson, NASA-Ames Research Center
Thomas X. Neenan, GelTex Pharmaceuticals
Lloyd Robeson, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
King-Ning Tu, University of California, Los Angeles
Robert L. White, Stanford University
Submitted for the panel by its Chair, David W. Johnson, Jr., and its Vice Chair, Katharine G. Frase,
this assessment of the fiscal year 2003 activities of the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory is
based on site visits by individual panel members, a formal meeting of the panel on March 13-14, 2003,
in Boulder, Colorado, and documents provided by the laboratory.
1 Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Ceramics Divi-
sion: FY2002 Programs and Accomplishments, NISTIR 6904, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,
Md., September 2002. Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technol-
ogy, Materials Reliability Division: FY2002 Programs and Accomplishments, NISTIR 6905, National Institute of Standards
and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., September 2002. Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology, Polymers Division: FY2002 Programs and Accomplishments, NISTIR 6906, National
Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., September 2002. Department of Commerce, Technology Adminis-
tration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Metallurgy Division: FY2002 Programs and Accomplishments,
NISTIR 6907, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., September 2002.
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MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LABORATORY
LABORATORY-LEVEL REVIEW
55
The mission of the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory (MSEL) is to work with industry,
standards bodies, universities, and other government laboratories to improve the nation's measurements
and standards infrastructure for materials. MSEL is organized in four divisions: the Ceramics Division,
Materials Reliability Division, Polymers Division, and Metallurgy Division. This chapter provides an
assessment of the laboratory overall, and division-level reviews are provided in Chapter 13. MSEL also
houses the NIST Center for Neutron Research, which is reviewed in a separate panel report at the end of
Chapter 13. The MSEL organization is represented in Figure 6.1.
Major Observations
The panel presents the following major observations from its assessment of the Materials Science
and Engineering Laboratory:
· The Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory continues in its tradition of undertaking and
executing programs of high technical merit and strong relevance and effectiveness.
· The MSEL efforts in homeland security have been exemplary, and the laboratory should now
consider extending those studies into a predictive mode.
· The panel hopes that control of overhead costs will be successful in stopping the erosion of
technical staff and allow the laboratory to maintain its core competencies, its breadth of pursuits that
attract high-quality scientists, and its ability to undertake new areas of research.
· MSEL has been very successful in leveraging its human resources through collaborations. The
panel continues to support judicious use of collaborations, recognizing that many members of the
---rr --- a----------- ---- -- - ------ -------
technical staff are at optimum levels of collaborative efforts.
Materials Science
and Engineering
Laboratory
Ceramics Division
· Electronic and
Optoelectronic
Materials
· Characterization
Methods
· Nanotribology
· Data and
Standards
Technology
· Nanomechanical
Properties
Materials
Reliability
Division
(Boulder)
· Microscale
Measurements
· Microstructure
Sensing
· Process Sensing
and Modeling
Polymers Metallurgy
Division Division
· Characterization · Electrochemical
and Measurement Processing
· Electronics · Magnetic
Materials Materials
· Biomaterials · Materials
· Multivariant Performance
Measurement · Materials
Methods Structure and
· Processing Characterization
Characterization · Metallurgical
· Dental Materials Processing
NIST Center for
Neutron
Research
· Neutron
Condensed
Matter Science
· Research
Facilities
Operations
· Reactor
Operations and
. . .
. ~ngmeenng
FIGURE 6.1 Organizational structure of the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory. Groups are listed
under each division and under the NIST Center for Neutron Research.
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
· Increased staff travel between Boulder and Gaithersburg has paid off in better cooperation be-
tween the two sites. Funding for such travel should be continued.
· The panel is particularly pleased with the effectiveness of efforts in the past year to enhance
laboratory safety.
· The panel encourages the development of innovative methods for the maintenance, acquisition,
and use of capital equipment.
Technical Merit
The technical quality of MSEL continues at a very high level, as evidenced by its quality contribu-
tions and impact on emerging science and technologies, the significant reliance on and use of its
databases, practice guides, and Standard Reference Materials by national and international technical
communities, and the recognition of its technical advances through numerous scientific awards and
publications. The technical competence of staff members remains very high, and their projects often
push the state of the art and its applications.
The level of accomplishment in the laboratory is quite high relative to that of similar organizations.
The laboratory's output is generally excellent in terms of both quality and quantity. The panel continues
to be particularly impressed with the outstanding accomplishments achieved by researchers through
their effective use of available laboratory resources.
The panel noted in particular that the laboratory is making better use of collaborations both within
and outside of NIST. This change has had a positive impact on programs, increasing the depth of
expertise brought to technical problems and thus increasing the sophistication of the experiments and
theory applied to their solutions.
Among the many MSEL programs with high technical merit and/or clear impact on national inter-
ests, the panel was struck particularly by the following contributions from each division:
· The Ceramics Division has provided leadership in maintaining and upgrading crystal structure
databases and associated software tools accepted worldwide as universal standards.
· The Materials Reliability Division has made improvements in Charpy impact testing and stan-
dards that have wide customer support. Significant progress has been made toward setting an interna-
tional standard for Charpy impact testing.
· The Metallurgy Division has had an impact through the lead-free solder program. This program
addresses a worldwide environmental problem and provides the unique and enabling fundamental data
that give the United States a competitive advantage in providing a solution.
· The Polymers Division has made significant advances in low-k dielectric thin-film nanoporous
material characterization. This work supports the pressing needs for electronic materials and standard
measurements.
Accomplishments such as these are of increased value to U.S. industry given that the level of
materials research in industry has been scaled back in recent years.
Program Relevance and Effectiveness
In addition to the divisional highlights mentioned above, there are numerous programs in MSEL
that support the mission and objectives of the laboratory and NIST. Following are examples of such
programs and their relevance:
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MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LABORATORY
57
· World Trade Center Program. This program utilizes core competencies of the laboratory to
build an understanding of the failure mechanisms in the World Trade Center' s Twin Towers collapse.
This understanding of the reaction of building materials to severe conditions and the development of
specifications will be of great value in the domestic and foreign building industry.
· Biomaterials. The NIST biomaterials effort has the potential to occupy a unique and critically
important niche at the interface between materials science and biology, and to be highly relevant in the
development of metrology for both commercial and regulatory practices in biotechnology, pharmaccu-
ticals, and medicine. While the effort is still in the early stages, it is well timed for the development of
several initiatives, and the group's sensitivity toward maintaining integration with its customers is an
important aspect of ensuring success. The panel is particularly impressed with the involvement of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) both as a resource and as an authoritative body in the biological
field. The panel applauds the MSEL initiative to bring together the materials and biological sciences.
The joint NISTINIH postdoctoral program to be initiated this year will serve to strengthen this associa-
tion.
· Standard Reference Materials. The laboratory's relevance and effectiveness continue to be dem-
onstrated through its strong SRM program and the utility that these products find throughout industry.
The panel determined that the laboratory is enhancing its relevance and effectiveness through
reliance on its strategic plan for the allocation of limited resources to a growing set of national needs.
The laboratory is diligent in pursuing its Strategic Focus Areas (SFAs) Nanotechnology, Health Care,
Homeland Security, and Information Management which provide a method of unifying individual
projects toward a greater goal and providing avenues for new collaboration and growth. The panel
commends the laboratory for maintaining a balance between these new focus areas and continued
service to its historical constituency groups. The ongoing evaluation process, to prune programs that
have ceased to be innovative while maintaining core competency, is important and must be continued.
The management team is also encouraged to impart its enthusiasm for these focus areas to all levels of
the organization. There is still some skepticism at the bench level concerning the lasting nature of the
SFAs.
Laboratory Resources
Funding sources for the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory are shown in Table 6.1. In
January 2003, staffing for the laboratory included 169 full-time permanent positions, of which 139 were
for technical professionals. There were also 55 nonpermanent or supplemental personnel, such as
postdoctoral research associates and temporary or part-time workers.
Appropriations for NIST are up about 6 percent this year, but because of required salary increases
this gain once again essentially translates into a flat budget, and the panel is concerned that it could
cause a possible loss of staff. At this point MSEL has the particular expertise that could contribute to the
established NIST SFAs such as Homeland Security (nondestructive evaluation of infrastructure), Health
Care (tissue engineering), and Nanotechnology. However, because of the steady decline in the number
of MSEL staff the laboratory may be unable to step up to these challenges and opportunities. The panel
is encouraged to see that the trend toward loss of technical staff is diminishing as a result of the effective
control of overhead costs.
The laboratory management must remain particularly vigilant in maintaining the expertise and
equipment necessary to respond to important opportunities that can contribute to national goals. The
panel strongly encourages a systematic approach to the write-off of obsolete equipment and the devel-
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
TABLE 6.1 Sources of Funding for the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory (in millions of
dollars), FY 2000 to FY 2003
Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year
2000 2001 2002 2003
Source of Funding (actual) (actual) (actual) (July 2003 estimate)
NIST-STRS, excluding Competence 30.1 31.3 35.6 38.5
Competence 0.1 0.4 1.3 1.1
ATP 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.4
Measurement Services (SRM production) 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.1
OA/NFG/CRADA 3.9 2.8 3.5 4.5
Other Reimbursable 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.8
Totala 38.1 38.7 45.2 48.4
Full-time permanent staff (total~b'C 178 163 162 169
NOTE: Funding for the NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories comes from a variety of sources. The laboratories
receive appropriations from Congress, known as Scientific and Technical Research and Services (STRS) funding. Compe-
tence funding also comes from congressional appropriations but is allocated by the NIST director's office in multiyear grants
for projects that advance NIST's capabilities in new and emerging areas of measurement science. Advanced Technology
Program (ATP) funding reflects support from NIST's ATP for work done at the NIST laboratories in collaboration with or in
support of ATP projects. Funding to support production of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) is tied to the use of such
products and is classified as "Measurement Services." NIST laboratories also receive funding through grants or contracts from
other [government] agencies (OA), from nonfederal government (NFG) agencies, and from industry in the form of cooperative
research and development agreements (CRADAs). All other laboratory funding, including that for Calibration Services, is
grouped under "Other Reimbursable."
aThe funding for the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) is excluded from these totals. Information about the
center's funding is available in the section of this chapter titled "Review of the NIST Center for Neutron Research," which
contains the panel review of that facility.
bNCNR personnel are excluded from these totals. Information about the center's personnel is available in the section titled
"Review of the NIST Center for Neutron Research" in Chapter 13.
CThe number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.
Opment of innovative methods for the maintenance, acquisition, and use of capital equipment. An
example may be that of soliciting and accepting state-of-the-art characterization tools from the manufac-
turers of such equipment. While NIST cannot endorse such equipment, the presence in NIST publica-
tions of footnotes describing the equipment used for experimentation may be an incentive for companies
to donate or significantly reduce the cost of equipment.
Many important MSEL staff members are approaching retirement eligibility; before these individu-
als leave, it is crucial to have mentoring and training of new staff in the skills of retiring staff. Junior
staff at the laboratory report that the presence of a strong cohort of colleagues is a major reason that they
have chosen to work at NIST. If the number of senior personnel continues to decrease, this sense of
being surrounded by the best colleagues will diminish, and the laboratory may find it difficult to attract
and retain researchers with the skills needed to address important emerging areas of science relevant to
NIST's overall priorities. As in last year's report, the panel strongly recommends that management
strategy set a priority on ensuring a viable transfer of expertise in its key areas.
MSEL has some very good examples of leveraging its human resources through collaborations. Its
programs in biomaterials, health care, and homeland security are particularly good examples. These
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MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LABORATORY
59
programs involve collaborations with other laboratories at NIST and with external researchers at other
government agencies and in industry. The programs consequently have the potential for far greater
accomplishment and impact than if MSEL had attempted to enter the areas on its own. The panel
encourages MSEL to continue to use collaborations judiciously to extend the impact of its programs,
and it urges MSEL to look for additional areas in which its resources might be so leveraged.
MSEL has a unique management challenge because a portion of its staff resides in Boulder, Colo-
rado. The laboratory has improved coordination between these sites by imposing few budgetary barriers
to team-building travel between the two sites. Not only has this approach improved collaboration
between the Boulder and Gaithersburg staff, but it also allows the laboratory to make much better use of
the skills resident in Boulder. Some concerns remain within the Boulder community about visibility and
recognition by the Gaithersburg management team, and these concerns warrant attention, although the
recent visit by the NIST laboratory director was very well received. The management team is also
encouraged to find ways to increase the bench scientists' sense of personal responsibility and ownership
of the laboratory activities and to encourage them to suggest solutions to organizational as well as
technical problems.
The panel applauds the decision to hold the 2003 MSEL review meeting in Boulder. This gave the
full panel an opportunity to see the researchers and facilities in the Materials Reliability Division. The
staff of this division is anxious about the future, with the announced pending retirement of the division
chief. The panel noted that the apparent NIST policy or tradition that prevents naming a successor
before a position is vacant prevents real succession planning and leads to lapses of management conti-
nuity and excessive anxiety in the technical staff.
This year has seen efforts to establish closer collaborations between MSEL and KEEL at Boulder.
The Materials Reliability Division has established linkages to the Optoelectronics, Radio-Frequency
Technology, and Magnetic Technology Divisions of KEEL, which in turn is establishing coordinated
efforts with the Ceramics and the Metallurgy Divisions in Gaithersburg. These collaborations have
established broad-based units of expertise that will be well poised for the development of new initiatives
within the NIST mission.
Facilities for the Boulder researchers have improved somewhat but are still problematic and below
standards for laboratory space of this sort. The panel is pleased to hear that some funding has finally
been appropriated to improve the Boulder buildings and hopes that these or other funds will allow for
repairs to prevent the roof leakages that have plagued one of the buildings for a long period of time.
Laboratory Responsiveness
The nanel found excellent MSEL reL~nonLsiveneL~Ls to its nreviouLs renort.2 In fact 1aLst vear the nanel'Ls
_ _
. . . · . . · . . - ~
. ~ _ _ ~ · ~ ~ , ,
report also mentioned the excellent responsiveness of laboratory managers to the panel' s recommenda-
tions and suggestions. For example, senior managers have held sessions concerning nanotechnology and
nome~anct security to Cent methods for support of the NIST SFAs in these areas, offsite meetings
have been held between technical management and selected staff members to improve communication
with respect to the laboratory's priorities, and in almost all cases where specific program focus and
direction had been questioned by the panel, the laboratory reexamined its programs and either adjusted
,
AT ~ ~ ~ ~ A · .
2National Research Council, An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and
Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2002, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 2002.
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ales.
60
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
the focus or terminated the program. The laboratory has also taken a proactive approach to safety in its
laboratory facilities, as evidenced by the installation of new safety equipment and the establishment of
a staff performance plan to encourage routine safety practices. The panel applauds the laboratory on this
responsiveness. Continued attention is needed to more general concerns, such as the potential for
subcritical staffing of important programs and the maintenance of key areas of investigation to secure
the laboratory's role in the strategic mission of NIST.
Similarly, reviewers found the divisions to be very responsive to their previous reports. Responsive-
ness is discussed in the division reports in Chapter 13, but a few examples are as follows:
· The Polymers Division has phased out some programs in order to focus on emerging technolo-
· The Materials Reliability Division has consolidated programs around core competencies and
formed centers of excellence.
· The Ceramics Division has made recommended strategic hires in nanotribology.
· The Metallurgy Division has improved its nanomagnetodynamics program.
The laboratory is encouraged to take a greater role in assessing future industry and national needs and in
identifying the fundamental scientific questions underlying such needs.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
materials reliability
