Nanostructured Materials Growth and Metrology Laboratories

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This award will provide support for the renovation of laboratory space for the establishment of the Nanostructured Materials Growth and Metrology Laboratories (MIT NanoMat Labs) that will be housed within the NSF Center for Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE) at MIT. The renovated 2,900 square foot MIT NanoMat Labs will be part of the 200,000 square foot NSF CMSE. The renovated space will support a MIT-wide shared facility for processing and analysis facilities, which include wet lab, cleanroom, specialized instruments and research space. The materials growth portion of the facility is expected to support a unique multi-chamber integrated materials growth system for the deposition of multi-nanostructured thin films, spun-cast polymers, e-beam evaporated metals, stamp-printed quantum dots and sputter deposited semiconducting and insulating dielectrics. Scientists will be studying physical phenomena, materials structures and chemistries, and demonstrations of practical nanostructured devices that exceed the current state-of-the-art science and technologies. The metrology portion of the renovated facility will contain a suite of equipment to characterize optical and electrical properties of nanostructured photovoltaics, fuel cells, batteries, and solid-state lighting structures. The proposed NanoMat Labs could provide a centralized set of research facilities in the campus aimed at enabling growth and metrology of nanostructured materials, and is expected to foster collaborative interactions among nine research groups at MIT. It is expected that the facility would be used by over 70 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from the above research groups, and 5 to 10 associated undergraduates. Additionally, the facility will also be used by high-school teachers and students.