Upgrade and Renovation of Drexel Microfabrication Facility (MFF)

Drexel University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project involves the renovation of the Drexel University Microfabrication Facility (MFF). Parts of the facility will be renovated to the standards of Class 100 and Class 1000 clean rooms. While the MFF houses a number of micro-fabrication and nano-fabrication instruments acquired through recent Major Research Instrumentation awards and other sources, the existing MFF is a low-dust environment rather than a true cleanroom and this limits the types of research that can be done there. The renovated facility will be used for research in the areas of micro- and nanofluidics, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems and Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems, bioreactors, tissue engineering, biomechanics and biophysics, biosensors, lab-on-a-chip technology, surgical engineering, neuroengineering, optoelectronics, solar cells and alternative energy, colloidal suspension dynamics, and novel nanoelectronic devices, all of which require micro- and nanofabrication. The facility provides research infrastructure. The facility will be used by researchers from both Drexel and the wider Philadelphia region. The project will support the research of a number of young faculty members from several different engineering departments. The users of the renovated facility will include undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral research associates. The MFF will be also be used in a number of outreach programs, including training and mentoring K-12 teachers and students from the Delaware Valley region.