New statistical technique improves precision of nanotechn...( A new statistical analysis technique...)

A new statistical analysis technique that identifies and removes systematic bias, noise and equipment-based artifacts from experimental data could lead to more precise and reliable measurement of nanomaterials and nanostructures likely to have future industrial applications.

Known as sequential profile adjustment by regression (SPAR), the technique could also reduce the amount of experimental data required to make conclusions, and help distinguish true nanoscale phenomena from experimental error. Beyond nanomaterials and nanostructures, the technique could also improve reliability and precision in nanoelectronics measurements and in studies of certain larger-scale systems.

Accurate understanding of these properties is critical to the development of future high-volume industrial applications for nanomaterials and nanostructures because manufacturers will require consistency in their products.

"Our statistical model will be useful when the nanomaterials industry scales up from laboratory production because industrial users cannot afford to make a detailed study of every production run," said C. F. Jeff Wu, a professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "The significant experimental errors can be filtered out automatically, which means this could be used in a manufacturing environment."

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the research was reported June 25, 2009 in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper is believed to be the first to describe the use of statistical techniques for quantitative analysis of data from nanomechanical measurements.

Nanotechnology researchers have long been troubled by the difficulty of measuring nanoscale properties and separating signals from noise and data artifacts. Data artifacts can be caused by such issues as the slippage of structures being stud
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