NNCI:The Kentucky Multi-scale Manufacturing and Nano Integration Node (MMNIN)

University Of Louisville Research Foundation Inc, Louisville KY

Investigators

Abstract

The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) Kentucky Multi-scale Manufacturing and Nano Integration Node (MMNIN) is a collaboration between the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky focused on integrating manufacturing technology over widely different length scales. With nanotechnology now integral to scientific discovery and engineering, there is a pressing need for infrastructure that supports the rapid and effective prototyping of nano-scale devices in macro-scale systems. The goal of the MMNIN is to combine micro/nano fabrication processes with the latest in 3D additive manufacturing technology to allow researchers to explore nanotechnology solutions to real-life problems in healthcare, energy, the environment, communication, and security. In addition to having access to state-of-the-art tools and expertise, MMNIN participants will conduct novel research addressing multi-scale manufacturing and integration challenges with a particular focus on the interfaces between different length scales, materials and manufacturing processes. The MMNIN's state-of-the-art multidisciplinary infrastructure will serve a growing user base whose home institutions include high schools, university laboratories, government facilities, startup ventures, and Fortune 100 companies. Through new educational and seed research programs, MMNIN will offer unique opportunities to users from traditionally underrepresented regions and groups, including the Appalachian region of the United States. The MMNIN's unique focus and central location (60% of the US population within a day's drive) will greatly encourage external usage. Through these efforts MMNIN seeks to transform the interfaces between the nano-scale and the human scale and impact society by rapidly providing new multi-scale technological solutions. The MMNIN will be the first open user facility nationwide with a focus on 3D micro/nano fabrication and true multi-scale integration. Users will have access to design, simulation, and fabrication resources that span the nanometer to meter scales, and the expertise to effectively integrate these processes. At the nano-scale, MMNIN will provide rapid prototyping capabilities based on election- and ion-beam induced processes and two-photon polymerization along with the expertise to convert the prototyped structures to functional devices. At the micro-scale, users will have access to a variety of unique fabrication processes including stress engineered thin-film deposition for self-programmed 2D to 3D fabrication, 128 level grayscale lithography for rapid prototyping of complex 3D structures, micro aerosol jet 3D printing using conductive, resistive, dielectric and biological materials, as well as a diversity of traditional semiconductor and MEMS fabrication processes using MMNIN's new class 100 $30M, 10,000 sq. ft. cleanroom facility. At the meso/macro-scale, MMNIN offers automated roll-to-roll manufacturing processes and the latest in additive manufacturing tools for 3D printing custom structures and enclosures using metals and/or polymers. MMNIN also offers a variety of characterization techniques ranging from transmission electron microscopy to squid magnetometry. All of these efforts involve exciting research challenges, not only on the processes themselves, but also on the integration of these processes to make reliable electrical, mechanical, optical, and fluidic interfaces between the length scales. As a result, users will be able to create systems such as nano-scale sensors in biocompatible enclosures, artificial crystalline optical filters with high density interconnects, and nano-electronics that expand from the substrate to interact with the external world. Ultimately, these capabilities, combined with the MMNIN faculty expertise in multi-scale manufacturing and integration, will allow users to rapidly and economically produce products and solutions addressing society's pressing challenges.