NIST Awards Over $1.8 Million to Small Businesses Advancing AI, Semiconductors, Additive Manufacturing and More

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded over $1.8 million to 18 small businesses under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The awards will fund research and development of new products and services related to artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, standards, semiconductor devices and other key technologies.

The winning projects were competitively selected following a call for innovative proposals that address technical needs related to NIST’s research areas.

These are all Phase I SBIR awards, which are designed to establish the merit, feasibility and commercial potential of the proposed research and development projects. Phase I projects cover a period of six months from Aug. 1, 2025, to Jan. 31, 2026, and once they are completed, awardees are eligible to apply for Phase II funding of up to $400,000 to continue their work.

AAPlasma LLC (Grove City, Ohio) — $99,970
Direct destruction of PFAS and other recalcitrant contaminants on filtration media via non-equilibrium plasma — to develop new technology that will allow wastewater treatment plants to destroy persistent contaminants such as PFAS in filtration media. The technology uses a dielectric barrier discharge plasma system to regenerate the filtration media on-site. This can reduce the high costs and inefficiencies associated with thermal reactivation or disposal, offering significant operational savings.

Advanced Cooling Technologies Inc. (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) — $106,499
Manufacturing and measurements of 3D-printed porous structures — pre-standardization research to assess the performance of 3D-printed porous structures used in heat transfer systems in spacecraft and satellites. Establishing standards for manufacturing and testing these structures is crucial for advancing this technology and enabling its widespread adoption.

Advanced Materials Design LLC (Ann Arbor, Michigan) — $100,000
Real time strain imaging tool for additive manufacturing — to develop a real-time strain imaging tool to monitor internal stresses during the 3D printing process. The tool provides data on stresses, viscosity and other factors that can affect print quality. This can help optimize printing speed, reduce defects, and support the development of new materials while improving the overall quality and consistency of 3D-printed parts.

AIVault Inc. (Orlando, Florida) — $99,916
SPARTA: safeguarding prompt-attacked GenAI with robust techniques and algorithms — to develop an antivirus algorithm designed specifically to safeguard generative AI models. The algorithm will use innovative methods to alter the parameters of already trained models to remove adversarial triggers without requiring retraining. The algorithm will primarily focus on models that accept text as input and produce various types of output including natural language, images, videos and software code.

Aperi Computational Mechanics Consulting Inc. (Peralta, New Mexico) — $106,500
Geometrically versatile numerical method for robust image-based simulations — to develop a software tool that automates the process of converting scanned data into simulations. The software aims to streamline workflows and provide new insights that were previously difficult or impossible to obtain. This can help engineers and scientists make informed decisions more quickly and can be applied to a wide range of fields, including manufacturing, aerospace, medicine and defense.

Aurum Tech LLC (El Paso, Texas) — $100,000
Terraforming the future: high-stress restoration via metrology and evolved microbial consortia — a new technology that uses natural selection to develop microbial communities that are adapted to specific environmental stresses such as salinity and drought. This can provide a sustainable solution to soil degradation, which is a major issue worldwide, and could be applied to various fields, including agriculture, environmental remediation, and even space exploration.

ChemCubed LLC (Nesconset, New York) — $99,865
Biodegradable printable insulating dielectric for multilayer rigid and flex printed circuit board (PCB) board manufacturing — to develop a biodegradable, 3D-printable insulating dielectric material for use in printed circuit board manufacturing. The goal is to create a sustainable, commercially viable material that meets the mechanical and electrical requirements of most sectors of the electronics industry.

Clear Cut Solutions LLC (Port Allen, Louisiana) — $106,500
Re--industrializing metrology for the maritime bulk cargo industry — to enhance the standardization of the metrology associated with the worldwide maritime bulk cargo industry. Replacing current measurement methods, which are often inconsistent and variable, with more repeatable and traceable methods will improve measurement efficiency and accuracy. This could have a major impact on the industry, benefiting service providers, buyers and sellers of bulk commodities.

FemtoSenseLabs LLC (West Lafayette, Indiana) — $100,000
A method for aligning solid-state defects in diamond — to develop a new type of diamond material for use in ultrasensitive magnetic field sensors. The goal is to fabricate a diamond in which atomic defects, known as nitrogen-vacancy centers, are aligned. Currently, these defects are randomly oriented, which limits sensor performance. This technology has the potential to enable more compact and practical magnetic field sensors, which could be used in a range of applications including medical imaging, navigation and geology.

Inhance Digital Corporation (Los Angeles, California) — $97,895
Evaluation, testing, and integration feasibility of Inhance’s patient triage and tracking virtual safety and logistics platform (VSLP) with FirstNet — to validate a mass casualty and triage software platform’s compatibility and interoperability with FirstNet, a high-speed, nationwide broadband network dedicated solely to first responders. The platform will be useful for public safety organizations, health care providers and emergency response agencies at the federal, state and local levels.

Intact Solutions Inc. (Madison, Wisconsin) — $106,500
Rapid prequalification of the multi-laser powder bed fusion process via path-level thermal history simulation — additive manufacturing with metals is revolutionizing industries by enabling the production of complex, lightweight and customized parts with minimal material waste. This project aims to develop a simulation tool for multi-laser powder bed fusion systems that will help optimize process parameters and reduce defects. This can enable the efficient production of high-quality, large-scale components for industries including aerospace, defense and medicine.

NanoElectronic Imaging Inc. (Riverside, California) — $100,000
Thermal nanoimaging of semiconductor devices — to develop a technique for nanoscale temperature mapping in high-temperature semiconductor devices, addressing a current gap in understanding defect formation in those devices. The proposed solution uses a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to map temperature with nanoscale resolution and has the potential to be used with transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) as well. This technique can benefit researchers developing wide bandgap semiconductor components and studying thermal effects in electronic devices.

ObjectSecurity LLC (San Diego, California) — $106,412
Framework for operational resilience and trust (FORT) — to develop a framework for addressing critical gaps in AI safety and explainability that will provide deeper insights into relationships and patterns in data that influence AI outputs. This will empower developers and end users to more precisely moderate AI-generated content and prevent harmful outputs.

Parman Tech Inc. (Loveland, Colorado) — $106,500
Development of advanced microfluidic module with integrated manifold and tapered capillary for separation of particles by optical forces — to develop an advanced microfluidic module that will support the commercialization of NIST’s particle separation technology using optical forces. This technology can make targeted drug delivery more effective, affordable and safe and will be useful in any field in which the manufacture of nanoparticles must meet stringent specifications.

Preczn Inc. (Lewisville, Texas) — $100,000
ResiliPay: secure transactions with AI-driven scalability — to develop a secure and scalable payment platform that leverages advanced Amazon Web Services technologies and meets industry demands while addressing vulnerabilities inherent in traditional payment processing platforms.

Secure Micro Technologies LLC (Phoenix, Arizona) — $99,057
Itus: a flexible hardware bridge for quantum-resistant cryptographic agility and transition — to develop a hardware solution that enhances the interoperability of various cryptographic domains within a computing network. This will allow businesses and other organizations to implement security upgrades, including post-quantum cryptography, in a phased manner that minimizes disruption. 

ViBo Health Inc. (Los Angeles, California) — $100,000
Phantoms for mobile MRS calibration and testing — to develop imaging test objects that mimic human anatomy, called phantoms, for use in developing magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies. The proposed phantoms will enable developers and vendors to test, verify and validate novel MRS and MRI instruments more cost-effectively.

X-wave Innovations Inc. (Gaithersburg, Maryland) — $100,000
Machine learning-based laser powder bed fusion in-situ monitoring package — to develop an advanced machine learning-based technology to improve the quality of metal components produced through additive manufacturing. This project will integrate the new technology into commercial additive manufacturing systems, with potential applications in many commercial and military industries.