[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 189 (Thursday, September 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 52771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-25420]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Government-Owned Inventions Available for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Government-owned inventions available for licensing.

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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned in whole or in part by 
the U.S. Government, as represented by the Department of Commerce. The 
Department of Commerce's ownership interest in the inventions is 
available for licensing in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 and 37 CFR 
Part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of 
Federally funded research and development.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Technical and licensing information on 
these inventions may be obtained by writing to: National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, Office of Technology Partnerships, Building 
820, Room 213, Gaithersburg, MD 20899; Fax 301-869-2751. Any request 
for information should include the NIST Docket No. and Title for the 
relevant invention as indicated below.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST may enter into a Cooperative Research 
and Development Agreement (``CRADA'') with the licensee to perform 
further research on the inventions for purposes of commercializations. 
The inventions available for licensing are:

    NIST Docket Number: 95-036US.
    Title: X-Ray Lithography Mask Inspection System.
    Abstract: The invention is jointly owned by the U.S. Government, as 
represented by the Secretary of Commerce, and Wisconsin Alumni Research 
Foundation. The Department of Commerce's ownership interest in this 
invention is available for nonexclusive licensing. The invention uses 
an x-ray conversion microscope to form an enlarged image of the actual 
x-ray pattern that an x-ray mask would project onto a resist. Present 
x-ray mask inspection is done by electron microscopes where the image 
produced is representative of the interaction of high energy electrons 
with the features on the mask. The proposed technique would instead 
form images from the x-ray transmission of the mask, the quantity most 
relevant to the mask's performance in the x-ray lithography process.

    NIST Docket Number: 96-045US.
    Title: Electroenzymatic Reactor and Method for Enzymatic Catalysis.
    Abstract: The invention is jointly owned by the U.S. Government, as 
represented by the Secretary of Commerce, and the University of 
California, Los Angeles. Interest in biocatlytic hydroxylation derives 
from its ability to transform organic substrates having no functional 
groups into oxygen-bearing compounds with high regio- or stereo-
selectivity. Use of redox enzymes in these syntheses is hampered by 
intrinsic dependence on stoichiometric amounts of freely dissociated 
cofactors, such as NADH and/or redox partner proteins, which supply 
necessary reducing equivalents. Economic feasibility requires that 
simple, regeneration can meet these requirements. Previously, a 
bioelectrochemical process has been described in which electrons are 
transferred directly (without mediators) between an electrode and 
redox-active biological material, such as an enzyme or protein. In that 
work, electron transfer was achieved using various modified metal or 
graphite electrodes. Such processes suffer from either inefficiency 
(low redox reaction rates) or rapid decline in activity due to 
component fouling by proteins. In the present disclosure, the P450 
enzymatic cycle, which requires a continuous supply of reducing 
equivalents, molecular oxygen and an amendable organic substrate, is 
utilized in an unique electroenzymatic reactor to catalyze the 
generation of stereochemical hydroxylation products. The reactor 
permits rapid and persistent electron transfer to a P450 protein 
cofactor (putidaredoxin) by using certain tin oxide or iridium oxide 
cathodes, while simultaneously providing necessary dissolved oxygen at 
platinum or ruthenium oxide counter electrodes. The need for NADH and 
the redox protein, flavin reductase, which are required in the native 
cycle, has been eliminated.

    NIST Docket Number: 96-048US.
    Title: Surface Immobilization of Biopolymers.
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention provides a 
biopolymer-containing monolayer comprising: thiol-derivatized 
biopolymers and organic thiols bound to a metal substrate. In another 
embodiment, the present invention provides a method for forming this 
biopoly-containing monolayer. Preferably, the biopolymers are single-
stranded DNA probes.

    NIST Docket Number: 98-024US.
    Title: System for Stabilizing and Controlling a Hoisted Load.
    Abstract: A load control method that can be adapted to single point 
lift mechanisms such as boom cranes can precisely control the position, 
velocity and force of a spreader bar or other tools in six degrees of 
freedom. Winches can be controlled manually by a multi-axis joystick, 
or can be automatically controlled by computer. Various combinations of 
manual and automatic control can also be implemented. The invention has 
application in preventing load pendulation during the off-loading of 
cargo from ships in high seas and in improving safety in the handling 
of loads in terrestrial applications.

    NIST Docket Number: 99-008US.
    Title: Test-Chip Carrier.
    Abstract: The invention is jointly owned by the U.S. Government, as 
represented by the Secretary of Commerce, and Sandia National 
Laboratories. The Department of Commerce's ownership interest in this 
invention is available for nonexclusive licensing. A test-chip carrier 
includes a standard semiconductor wafer of single crystal material with 
a crystallographic lattice on at least one major surface. A mask is 
formed on the one major surface, including a coating of masking 
material, and patterning the masking material to define a rectangularly 
shaped test-chip receiving pit and one or more reference marks to 
facilitate location of target reference features. The test-chip 
receiving pit is positioned with one diagonal extending parallel to a 
first crystallographic lattice vector/direction and another diagonal 
extending parallel to a second crystallographic lattice vector/
direction, e.g. the (010) and (001) crystallographic vectors. The 
semiconductor wafer is lattice-plans selective etched to form the test-
chip receiving pit and the one or more reference marks. A plurality of 
pits can be formed if desired and a test-chip is mounted in each of the 
pits to provide multiple calibration artifacts, failure analysis, or 
product chip mounting.

    Dated: September 23, 1999.
Karen Brown,
Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 99-25420 Filed 9-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-M