About the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology
Purpose
The NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) supports the development of nanotechnology from discovery to production. The Center provides this support through two complementary components: the
Research Program and a
national nanofabrication facility, the NanoFab.
The Research Program develops innovative nanoscale measurement and fabrication capabilities, and is accessible via collaboration with CNST scientists.
The NanoFab is a shared-use facility accessible to all on a cost-reimbursable basis. With a simple application process, the NanoFab provides researchers rapid access to a comprehensive suite of tools and processes for nanofabrication.
Through these two components the CNST provides:
- Essential measurement and fabrication methods, standards, and technology to support all phases of nanotechnology development.
- A world-class, state-of-the-art nanofabrication facility - with over 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2) of cleanroom laboratory space.
- A hub linking the nanotechnology community to the comprehensive measurement expertise within all the NIST Laboratories.
Mission and Impact
The CNST was established in May of 2007 to accelerate innovation in nanotechnology-based commerce. Its mission is to support the development of nanotechnology through research on measurement and fabrication methods, standards, and technology, and by operating a state-of-the-art nanofabrication facility, the NanoFab. The Center, located in NIST’s Advanced Measurement Laboratory Complex on the Gaithersburg, MD campus, promotes innovation by using a multidisciplinary approach to research, maintaining a staff of the highest caliber, and leveraging its efforts by collaborating with others.
The CNST mission is guided by an understanding that rapid commercial development of nanotechnology—in particular, the speed with which industry can bring a specific new nanotechnology from discovery to production—depends critically on the availability and efficacy of applicable metrology tools and processes at each stage of the transition. Developing these tools and processes will have an immediate and significant impact on the commercial viability of nanotechnologies in a diverse array of fields, such as electronics, computation, information storage, medical diagnostics and therapeutics, and national security and defense.
The Research Program
The CNST Research Program is agile and highly interactive by design with significant contributions from a rotating cadre of postdoctoral researchers, and many collaborative projects both with NIST scientists and with others from across the US and abroad. Research is conducted in three Groups:
Research is currently focused in the following three areas:
- Future Electronics. In support of continued growth in the electronics industry beyond complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the CNST is developing new methods to create and characterize devices, architectures, and interconnects for graphene, nanophotonic, nanoplasmonic, spintronic, and other future electronics.
- Nanofabrication and Nanomanufacturing. The Center is advancing the state of the art in nanomanufacturing by developing measurement and fabrication tools for both lithographic (“top-down”) and directed assembly (“bottom-up”) approaches.
- Energy Storage, Transport, and Conversion. This program is creating new methods for elucidating light-matter interaction, charge and energy transfer processes, catalytic activity and interfacial structure in energy-related devices.
The Center's Project Leaders address these focus areas collaboratively by applying a broad range of expertise, including:
- Atomic-scale Characterization and Manipulation
- Electro-fluidic Control of Nanoparticles
- Environmental Transmission Electron Microscopy
- Modeling and Simulation of Nanofabrication
- Nanomaterials Energy Storage and Conversion
- Nanoscale Electronic and Ionic Transport
- Fluctuation and Nanoscale Control
- Nanotribology and Nanomanufacturing
- Optical Micro/Nanoelectromechanical Systems
- Theory, Modeling, and Simulation of Nanostructures
- Thermoelectrics and Photovoltaics
The NanoFab
The NanoFab provides researchers from industry, government, and academia rapid access to a comprehensive suite of tools and processes for nanofabrication. This world-class facility is a unique national resource, combining easy access, tool and process development, and training, while providing researchers from across the nation access to NIST-wide expertise in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
The NanoFab features a large, dedicated cleanroom, with all the tools operated within an 8,000 square foot (750 m2) class 100 space, or in adjacent laboratories that have superior air quality along with vibration, temperature, and humidity control. Over sixty tools are available for electron beam lithography, photolithography, nano–imprint lithography, metal deposition, plasma etching, chemical vapor diffusion, wet chemistry, and silicon micro/nanomachining. The facility is accessible through a straightforward application process designed to get researchers working in the facility in a few weeks. See the NanoFab web site and contact the NanoFab Manager for detailed guidance on NanoFab access policies, procedures, and costs.
A comprehensive list of the NanoFab equipment can be found on the NanoFab web site. Of particular note are the electron beam lithography tools, which include a Vistec VB300 in the cleanroom with <10 nm line width, and a JEOL JBX-6300FS, which is in operation outside the cleanroom environment. The lithography suite also includes a Heidelberg laser pattern generator and a Nanonex nano-imprint system. Other important capabilities are enabled by our Zeiss NVision 40 focused ion beam (FIB) system incorporating a Gemini scanning electron microscope and four-channel gas injection system. It can accommodate from mm-sized samples to 100 mm-diameter wafers for nanometer scale patterning, etching, nanomanipulation, and TEM sample preparation. Coming soon to the cleanroom are Oxford atomic layer deposition and reactive ion etch tools, expected to enter service in late 2009.
Disclaimer: Certain commercial equipment, and software, are identified in this documentation to describe the subject adequately. Such identification does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor does it imply that the equipment identified is necessarily the best available for the purpose.
