NNCI: Midwest Nano Infrastructure Corridor (MINIC)

NNCI：中西部纳米基础设施走廊 (MINIC)

• 批准号: 2025124
• 负责人: Steven Koester
• 金额: $ 500万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2025124&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NNCI; Midwest; Nano; Infrastructure; Corridor

Non-Technical Description:Recent advances in technology have enabled new physical and chemical understanding (nanoscience) as well as new structures and devices (nanotechnology) that have great potential to positively impact the world. The Midwest Nano Infrastructure Corridor (MiNIC) will accelerate these advances by providing access to leading edge micro and nano fabrication and material characterization capabilities for the research and development of both nanoscience and nanotechnology. MiNIC facilities represent more than $80M in labs and equipment as well as more than 500 person-years of staff expertise. Academic and industry researchers can use these capabilities on an equal basis with University of Minnesota faculty. Students will gain valuable hands-on experience. Entrepreneurs and companies will enjoy low-cost access to try new ideas without long-term capital equipment commitments. While MiNIC will support a broad spectrum of nano R&D, it will target researchers in two areas. The first is the development of materials and devices for quantum sensing and computing, a field with the potential to revolutionize information technology. The second area is the application of these technologies to biology and medicine. Extreme miniaturization will enable sensing approaches that will change our understanding of biology and will also provide the ability to create intelligent devices for use inside the human body. MINIC will also reach out to underserved communities to increase their participation in this rapidly growing field. It will also support micro and nano laboratories at smaller schools throughout the Midwest to enable the development of nanotechnology over a broad geographic area. Technical Description:The Midwest Nano Infrastructure Corridor (MiNIC) provides access to state of the art facilities in both micro and nano fabrication and materials characterization. Among its hundreds of tools, designed to support a broad range of needs, MiNIC has highly advanced capabilities such as ultrahigh purity thin film deposition, nanoscale lithography, ultrahigh resolution electron microscopy for both hard and soft materials, and ion beam materials analysis. These capabilities are essential to the research and development of novel materials, structures, and devices. Applications include computation, information storage, sensors, light emitters, and micro-mechanical actuators. These devices will have dramatic impacts in the fields of communication, information science, renewable energy and environmental remediation, biosensing, defense, transportation, and agriculture. The site is supported by a staff of more than 20 experts with 500 person-years of experience in the field. In addition to supporting traditional users, the staff provides remote access to the facility. MiNIC will emphasize two technical areas that correspond to two of the NSF Big Ideas: Quantum Information Science (QIS) and Understanding the Rules of Life, also called Bionano. QIS will support work in superconducting and/or 2D materials to create high-performance high-stability nanoscale quantum devices. Bionano will support work on technologies that combine top-down and bottom-up processes to create revolutionary answers to bio-system sensing and the development of complex tissue-models including organic/inorganic hybrids. MiNIC anticipates serving at least 300 external and 600 internal users annually by the end of the funding period. In addition to these technical users, MiNIC will support the broader community with outreach programs to underrepresented populations, filling the STEM pipeline, and increasing emphasis on building a diverse user community.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.

非技术性描述：技术的最新进展使人们对物理和化学有了新的理解（纳米科学），也使人们对新的结构和设备（纳米技术）有了新的认识，这些都有可能对世界产生积极的影响。中西部纳米基础设施走廊（MiNIC）将通过为纳米科学和纳米技术的研究和开发提供先进的微纳米制造和材料表征能力来加速这些进步。MiNIC设施代表了超过8000万美元的实验室和设备以及超过500人年的员工专业知识。学术和行业研究人员可以在与明尼苏达大学教师平等的基础上使用这些能力。学生将获得宝贵的实践经验。企业家和公司将享受低成本的机会来尝试新的想法，而无需长期的资本设备承诺。虽然MiNIC将支持广泛的纳米研发，但它将针对两个领域的研究人员。首先是开发量子传感和计算的材料和设备，这是一个有可能彻底改变信息技术的领域。第二个领域是将这些技术应用于生物学和医学。极端的微型化将使传感方法成为可能，这将改变我们对生物学的理解，并将提供创造用于人体内的智能设备的能力。MINIC还将深入到服务不足的社区，以增加他们在这一快速增长领域的参与。它还将支持整个中西部较小学校的微型和纳米实验室，以使纳米技术在广阔的地理区域内发展。 技术描述：中西部纳米基础设施走廊（MiNIC）提供了访问最先进的设施，在微米和纳米制造和材料表征。在其数百种工具中，MiNIC具有高度先进的功能，如高纯度薄膜沉积、纳米级光刻、用于硬材料和软材料的高分辨率电子显微镜以及离子束材料分析。这些能力对于新材料、结构和设备的研究和开发至关重要。应用包括计算、信息存储、传感器、光发射器和微机械致动器。这些设备将在通信、信息科学、可再生能源和环境修复、生物传感、国防、交通和农业等领域产生巨大影响。该网站由20多名专家组成的工作人员提供支持，他们在该领域拥有500人年的经验。除了支持传统用户外，工作人员还提供对设施的远程访问。MiNIC将强调两个技术领域，对应于NSF的两个大想法：量子信息科学（QIS）和理解生命规则，也称为Bionano。QIS将支持超导和/或2D材料的工作，以创建高性能、高稳定性的纳米级量子器件。Bionano将支持联合收割机自上而下和自下而上相结合的技术工作，为生物系统传感和包括有机/无机混合物在内的复杂组织模型的开发创造革命性的答案。MiNIC预计在资助期结束前，每年至少为300名外部用户和600名内部用户提供服务。除了这些技术用户外，MiNIC还将支持更广泛的社区，为代表性不足的人群提供外展计划，填补STEM管道，并越来越重视建立一个多元化的用户社区。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。