Research Focus Areas

Based on the collective input of our customers, analysis of ongoing research in NIST’s discipline-oriented laboratories and advice from NIST’s Nanotechnology Strategic Working Group, the CNST Research Program 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, CNST researchers are 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

The CNST is building a program that will create new methods for elucidating light-matter interaction, charge and energy transfer processes, catalytic activity, and interfacial structure in energy-related devices.

Although the research staff is organized into three Groups, each researcher applies his or her multidisciplinary expertise across multiple focus areas. Note that the NanoFab is operated by its own dedicated staff of processing engineers and technicians.  Although the NanoFab staff focus on training and supporting the facility users, running the tools, and establishing consistent baseline processes, the staff also participates in research in the course of developing new processes. Similarly, members of the research staff regularly apply their expertise to help evaluate and consult on NanoFab projects.