Conference: Mid-scale RI-EW: Nano Systems Innovation (NanoSI)

Northeastern University, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

The significant gap between cutting-edge piezoelectric and hetero-integrated fabrication facilities and university-owned infrastructures in the United States limits experimental scientific research at the system level and educational capabilities for future workforce development nationwide. The proposed Nano Systems Innovation (NanoSI) Mid-scale RI-EW workshop will conduct a deep dive into infrastructure requirements to enable a unique national infrastructure for piezoelectric and hetero-integrated nanosystems. The workshop will concentrate on planning for infrastructure that can better align local research and prototyping capabilities of the universities with advanced semiconductor manufacturing activities. This meeting will enable the solicitation of community-rendered inputs to develop a unique national infrastructure and the required capabilities to address current and future needs. The proposed workshop will enable nationwide community engagement and broad discussion on the required infrastructure to address the aligned needs of all stakeholders in academia, government, and industry. In addition to faculty, industry and government laboratory attendees, the workshop team will intentionally target students and postdocs for attendance. The conference will specifically include invited talks and panels to discuss educational needs of the proposed infrastructure, such as new courses to address required skills in the future of manufacturing of integrated nanosystems and advanced semiconductors. The conference will have an invited talk on lessons learned from early-stage outreach in nanotechnology to explore effective pathways for extension of outreach programs to high school students. The conference, in addition to dedicated student/postdoc engagement personnel, will ensure the engagement and participation of groups underrepresented in science and engineering (e.g., underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities). The program will include a Women in Engineering (WIE) breakout session anticipated to provide insights toward development of a diverse future workforce. Considering high-impact scientific research needs for state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and the limits of standard research grants to address such needs, Northeastern University will organize a community-wide NanoSI workshop to explore a pathway to close the gap through a unique infrastructure. The workshop will focus on identifying the emerging needs for adaptable infrastructure that can address national research priorities in advanced hetero integration to post-COMS and more than Moore devices. The NanoSI virtual workshop will gather a diverse, multidisciplinary group of experts and leaders across academia, industry, and government to develop a broad vision to support advanced piezoelectric and hetero-integrated nanosystems manufacturing. The gathered thought leaders and field expert speakers will present ideas on all aspects of infrastructure development that will enable the community to address current and future national needs. The discussion panels will focus on thoroughly defining the priorities for all aspects of the infrastructure. The outputs of this broad community engagement on the proposed NanoSI infrastructure will allow the Northeastern team to build a concrete plan with comprehensive community support for future submissions to NSF. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.