NNCI: Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NWNI)

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NWNI) as a NNCI site serves as the prime resource for nanotechnology researchers and engineers for a large geographical area from the Pacific Coast to Montana and from southern Oregon to the Canadian border and beyond. NWNI offers world-class facilities at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle and Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, complemented with unique capabilities at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a Department of Energy site, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Anchored at the UW, this site provides critical workhorse tools, unique instruments and key educational support to a large and distributed user base with particular attention to the clean energy and biotechnology fields. The mission of NWNI consists of four core services that can be described by four M's: Make - Measure - Model - Mentor. The first three M's form the physical foundation and the fourth serves to coordinate educational efforts with broad impact beyond the scientific community. The physical infrastructure consists of the Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF, Seattle) and the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute (MBI, Corvallis) for making, the Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF, Seattle) and the Materials Synthesis & Characterization Facility (MaSC, Oregon) for measuring, and distributed computational resources for modeling in design and analysis. Mentoring is essential to NWNI. The site's integration with the region's vibrant biotech and startup community implies immense diversity in users. NWNI offers flexible access to its facilities, from comprehensive training of local users to operator-assisted tool access to remote execution of assignments. Whether novice or seasoned engineer or scientist, whether undergraduate, graduate, postdoc or community college student or teacher, all users are offered support for their entire nanotechnology project from initial design to final analysis. The NWNI serves as a broad-based nanotechnology resource, though three principal research focus areas are highlighted in which the site will provide leadership: (i) Integrated Photonics, which aims at enabling large-scale photonic networks, which are expected to overcome current limits in speed and bandwidth of electronic circuits. Beyond information processing, the miniaturization and integration of photonics in medical devices is facilitating the development of new, minimally invasive health diagnostics; (ii) Advanced Energy Materials and Devices, which aims at providing the scientific and engineering basis for clean energy solutions, including the creation of better batteries or scalable and environmentally benign materials for solar power; and (iii) Bio-Nano Interfaces and Systems, which provides the infrastructure and expertise for inventing and demonstrating new devices for biomedical applications, enabling advances in protein modeling, drug delivery, sensors, bio-scaffolds and bioelectronics. NWNI features capabilities in materials and devices including quantum dots, super absorbers for solar cells and oxide-base transistors for flexible electronics for sensors and displays, resulting in comprehensive infrastructure and expertise in nanotechnology that is considered unique within the field. The site provides an array of educational activities geared towards a broad audience and designed to have a multiplier effect. Three signature residence programs are offered: (i) Educators-in-residence gain hands-on laboratory skills for use in teaching their K-12 classes; (ii) Entrepreneurs-in-residence, in coordination with UW Technology Transfer (CoMotion), work with nanotechnology inventors to explore start-up opportunities; and (iii) OSU Advantage connect businesses with faculty expertise, student talent and world-class NWNI facilities to assist in bringing ideas to market. In a collaboration with the University of British Columbia, online edX courses are supported that allow students across the country and around the world to build and test their own nanoscale photonic devices on multi-project wafers built with electron beam lithography at UW. Worldwide, UW participates in a network of 15 institutions in America, Asia and Europe that offer joint summer schools on nanotechnology for future global engineers.