Tetramer Technologies was awarded a Phase II contract (70NANB18H174) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the development of highly monodisperse, polystyrene latex standards in a variety of sizes (<20 to 100 nm). These latexes will be used by NIST’s Engineering Physics Division of the Physical Measurement Laboratory as sizing standards to provide traceability for critical measurement instrumentation, enabling new manufacturing technologies. In particular, NIST will use Tetramer’s standards to calibrate microscopy equipment, enabling previously unknown reliability across a variety of instruments.
During this Phase II, Tetramer will develop a reproducible emulsion polymerization process to produce sub-100 nm diameter latex polystyrene particles, with a total population size variation of less than 2 nm. Dynamic light scattering, electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy will all be used to size the various nanoparticle populations. Upon completion of this SBIR development program, Tetramer plans to begin supplying at least 4 distinct sizes of nanoparticles to NIST for independent size verification and sale as NIST calibrated standards. Tetramer is also seeking commercial partners in need of latex nanoparticle standards.
