|
Advanced
Measurement Laboratory
Building on Success
For more than 100 years, the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) has developed the measurements and
standards necessary for the United States
to excel in technology innovation. For example, the telecommunications
industry relies on NIST standards for the speed and efficiency
of calls relayed on optical
fiber. U.S. auto makers and parts manufacturers rely on NIST calibrations,
standards, and technology to ensure the quality and reliability of their
products. Semiconductor chip makers need an array of NIST
measurements to produce ever
smaller and faster electronics. 
To continue to respond to U.S. science and industry’s needs for more sophisticated
measurements and standards in the face of heightened global competition, NIST
is constructing one of the most technologically advanced facilities in the world—the
Advanced Measurement Laboratory, or AML.
In the nearly 40 years since the NIST Gaithersburg, Md., campus
was constructed, industry demand for highly accurate measurement
standards has grown tremendously.
Global economic competition, increasingly advanced communications, and
ever more sophisticated technology are driving some of these needs. To
meet the
demands,
researchers at NIST, part of the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration,
have developed new ways to more accurately measure, quantify, and calibrate
industrially important processes and properties. Technology for Tomorrow
NIST scientists and engineers can locate and manipulate single
atoms on a surface; detect ultratrace amounts of chemical
agents; and measure the
many
optical,
physical, and quantum properties of components for telecommunications
devices, semiconductor
chips, and magnetic recording devices. However, deteriorating conditions
in NIST’s
older lab facilities currently are limiting the quality, accuracy, and productivity
of many of these efforts. When the AML is ready for use by Gaithersburg researchers
in 2004, it will dramatically improve NIST’s ability to provide U.S.
industry and science with the best measurements and standards in the world.
The AML will provide superior vibration, temperature and humidity
control, and air cleanliness. Compared to the existing
NIST laboratory buildings,
most of
which were built in the 1960s, the AML will dramatically reduce vibration
to sensitive experiments measuring atomic distances of just a few
nanometers (billionths
of a meter). Like vibration, temperature fluctuations can disturb
the results of very sensitive measurements. Standard AML
laboratories will
provide
temperature control of ± 0.25 degree Celsius with specialized labs providing ± 0.10
degree Celsius and ± 0.01 degree Celsius temperature control to meet
the stringent scientific requirements. Air inside the building will be HEPA
filtered
to provide very good air cleanliness so dust or other stray particles will
not foul measurements on atomic-scale devices. A special Class 100 clean room
wing
will provide air cleanliness needed for more sensitive research.
Humidity control will provide variations of no more than 1
percent in specialized areas and 5 percent throughout the
rest of the facility.
Certain instruments,
measurements, and chemical reactions are extremely sensitive to
humidity. The AML also will provide labs with improved
electrical power quality.
In existing
NIST labs, spikes and dips in the voltage and current can affect
sensitive measurements adversely. Economic evaluations have concluded
that the
best way to provide needed
air cleanliness, vibration, isolation, electrical power quality,
and temperature and humidity control is to build the AML. Retrofitting
the
existing buildings
to AML-quality environmental conditions is not economically feasible.
To achieve the required conditions, the AML consists of five
wings, each with one level housing laboratory space and
one or two levels
for mechanical
equipment
and environmental controls. Two of the five sections will be
completely below ground for improved vibration isolation
and temperature control.
They will
be unaffected by outside temperature variation and vibration
induced by the wind.
Special isolated concrete slabs will reduce vibration levels
even further for NIST’s most demanding research programs.
Once occupied, the AML will house a wide variety of laboratory
research from NIST’s technical units. The most sensitive
experiments deemed to have the greatest need for special environmental
controls and the highest impact
have
been selected to relocate to the AML. The following are current
examples of research that could be done more efficiently and
with greater accuracy if conducted
in
the AML.
Why the Air Must Be Very Clean
A specially designed laboratory within the AML will allow
development of NIST Standard Reference Materials for
measuring wafer contamination
for
semiconductor manufacturers. To do this work, scientists
need to isolate a field emission
analytical
electron microscope from dust particles, vibration, magnetic
fields, and temperature changes. The microscope must
focus on nanometer-scale
regions
of a semiconductor
wafer for an extended period of time. In its current
location, the microscope tends to drift away from the area
of study
in just seconds.
Furthermore,
poor air quality in the existing labs would ruin any
industrial semiconductor samples
brought into it. This is because the structures in modern
computer chips are so small that a single nanometer-scale
contamination
particle can
cause the whole
device to fail. Standard Reference Materials to help
semiconductor manufacturers accurately measure contamination
of their
products ultimately should
improve efficiency and quality control for the manufacturers.
When Humidity Hurts
Using precisely tuned lasers to capture and manipulate
atoms, NIST researchers have produced some of the
coldest matter
ever, creating
atom clouds with
temperatures of less than a millionth of a degree
above absolute zero. In addition to winning
a Nobel prize for its contribution to understanding
the quantum nature of matter, this work is yielding important
contributions
to the next
generation of time
and frequency standards, which are essential to communications
and navigation. However, present lab conditions slow
and complicate this
work. Uncontrollable
humidity fluctuations degrade the stability and performance
of the precision lasers used to focus, trap, and
manipulate the
tiny clouds
of cold atoms.
Large vibrations and poor air quality cause further
problems,
impeding the
rate of
progress of the research. In the AML, these problems
essentially will be eliminated.
When
Vibrations Aren’t Good
NIST researchers are using ultra-fast laser pulses
to probe chemical reactions at surfaces of metals,
silicon,
and
other advanced
materials. These studies
could lead to more efficient ways to catalyze
chemical reactions for more efficient
chemical production or build nanoscale structures
for faster, more powerful electronic components.
Temperature
and humidity
changes,
electric current
stability, air
particles, and vibration can force researchers
to scrap their results and start over. The experiments
are conducted
with
very fast laser
pulses measured
in femtoseconds
(quadrillionths of a second). Since light travels
0.3 millionths of a meter in one femtosecond,
the 1.5 meter
by 3 meter
table holding the
laser and
related
optics must vibrate no more than 0.3 millionths
of a meter. In its current location, the femtosecond
laser equipment
is stable
for no
more than
one hour. Sections
of the AML with the least vibration will meet
the environmental requirements for these kinds of experiments.
Changing
Temperature Hampers Accuracy
Challenged to produce parts with ever more complex
features within ever finer tolerances, manufacturers
use coordinate
measuring
machines (CMMs)
to inspect
the dimensions of manufactured gears and
other machine parts. About 30,000 CMMs are employed
in U.S. factories
and laboratories.
NIST
provides industry
with
several measurement tools and services to
ensure the accuracy of CMM measurements. NIST efforts
to improve
the accuracy
of CMM measurements
have been plagued
with problems due to poor air quality, humidity,
and vibration. CMMs are particularly
sensitive to temperature. Calibrating the
artifacts that industry uses
to check the accuracy of its own CMMs requires
a very stable temperature for
the duration
of a series of complex measurements to achieve
the desired accuracy. Even heat from a person
standing near the CMM
will cause the
metal to expand
slightly, enough to alter the accuracy of
a CMM calibration.
The AML would provide
10 times
better temperature control as well as improved
air quality and vibration and humidity control.
AML Specifications
- 47,480 square
meters, or 511,070 square feet total
- Cost:
$235.2 million
- Occupancy
expected in FY 2004
- 2 single-floor
metrology laboratory sections
completely below grade with
151 lab modules
- 2 single-floor
instrument laboratory sections above
ground with 187
lab modules
- 1 above
ground Class 100 clean room wing
(3.5 or fewer particles
per liter), upgradable
to Class
10
- Baseline
temperature control to within ±0.25 degree Celsius
- Temperature
control to within ±0.1 or ±0.01 degree
Celsius for 48 precision
temperature control laboratories in
metrology sections
- Several
types of vibration isolation foundations in metrology laboratory
sections for a velocity
amplitude
of 3 micrometers per
second or
less
- Humidity
control to within 1 percent
in special
metrology
laboratory
sections
and
5 percent
in the rest of
the facility
- Building-wide
conditioned power supply system
that will meet
IEEE Std. 1100-1992
for critical
electronic
loads
- Ceiling
heights in laboratory
modules adaptable
to 7
meters (22
feet)
- Natural
daylighting,
energy
conservation, and recycling
incorporated
into the
AML’s
design
and planned
operation
Go
back to Fact Sheet page
Date
created: 08/21/02
Last
updated: 08/21/02
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
|
