Research Resources: Facilities
Center for Nanoscale Science (NSF - MRSEC)
The Penn State Center for Nanoscale Science is a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center funded by the National Science Foundation. The Center supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research efforts in the area of nanoscale materials. The research themes of the Center are focused broadly on molecular nanofabrication, complex inorganic materials, and low-dimensional electronic nanostructures. These research themes are integrated with major efforts in educational and industrial outreach. The activities of the Center involve over fifty students and postdoctoral fellows, an approximately equal number of faculty from eight academic departments at the Penn State University Park Campus and Hershey Medical Center, and a number of external academic and industrial partners.
Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (NSF - CNEU)
The Penn State Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU) is the home of the Pennsylvania Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology (NMT) Partnership and its NSF- sponsored regional Advanced Technology Education (ATE) Center. It is also the Penn State home of the NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), the national NSF nanotechnology resource for enabling academic and industry R&D.
Materials Characterization Lab
The Materials Characterization Lab (MCL) is a fully staffed analytical laboratory, which serves the materials community at Penn State offering a range of state-of-the-art analytical techniques and support services as a pay as you go facility. MCL offers complete sample preparation, analysis, interpretation, report writing and consultation on over 20 different tools. MCL is part of the Materials Research Institute For a complete list and description of the services we offer see the web site.
NNIN @ Penn State - a satellite of NSF's National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
The mission of the NNIN @ Penn State, an NSF sponsored NNIN site, is to offer expertise in "top-down" (e.g. deposition, etching) and "bottom up" (e.g. self- assembling films) nanofabrication. The facilities are dedicated to research, development, and education across all aspects of micro- and nanotechnology and are a part of the Materials Research Institute. While serving a broad range of traditional fabrication technologies, the Penn State facilities are specifically charged with supporting chemical applications of nanotechnology (the so-called chemical nanofabrication) and has staff specifically dedicated to user support in these areas. On Penn State's main campus there are 3 distributed facilities that fall under the Nano Fabrication Network
Electronic Materials and Processing Research Laboratory - Microfab (EMPRL)
The purpose of the MicroFab facility is to provide semiconductor processing and characterization tools to serve academic research, graduate education, and undergraduate education at Penn State,and to provide selected semiconductor processing and characterization capability to users from outside the University. The MicroFab is located in a Class 1000 cleanroom (the lithography room is Class 100) on the first floor of the Electrical Engineering West building at Penn State's University Park campus. It is an open pay-for-use facility.
Keck Smart Materials Integration Laboratory (SMIL)
The W. M. Keck Smart Materials Integration Laboratory is designed to allow Penn State University scientists to create a new generation of smart integrated components that combine electrical, mechanical and optical functions. "Smart" materials sense a change in the environment and respond to that change in a useful way. The laboratory will enable the integration and miniaturization of "smart" materials and the fabrication of components that go beyond conventional semiconductor-based materials. This is done by utilizing both semiconductor and low temperature co-fire ceramic technologies. It is an open pay-for-use user facility.
Nanofab Laboratory
The Penn State Nanofabrication Facility (Nanofab) is a professionally staffed class 10 clean room facility providing a full range of processing capabilities for substrates as large as 6" in diameter and some processing of 8" diameter substrates. The Penn State Nanofab offers expertise in "top-down" (e.g. deposition, etching) and "bottom up" (e.g. self- assembling films) nanofabrication. The Nanofab, is located in Penn State's Innovation Park. It is open for use by both the academic and industrial R&D community.