NNCI: Midwest Nano Infrastructure Corridor (MINIC)

非技术描述：最近的技术进步使新的物理和化学理解（纳米科学）以及新的结构和设备（纳米技术）具有积极影响世界的巨大潜力。中西部纳米基础设施走廊（MiNIC）将为纳米科学和纳米技术的研究和开发提供前沿的微纳米制造和材料表征能力，从而加速这些进步。MiNIC的设施代表了超过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与明尼苏达大学的教师平等地使用这些能力。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。首先是用于量子传感和计算的材料和设备的开发，这是一个有可能彻底改变信息技术的领域。第二个领域是这些技术在生物学和医学上的应用。极端的小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，也将提供创造用于人体内部的智能设备的能力。miniic还将向服务不足的社区伸出援手，以增加他们在这一迅速发展的领域的参与。它还将支持中西部地区小型学校的微型和纳米实验室，使纳米技术的发展能够覆盖广泛的地理区域。技术描述：中西部纳米基础设施走廊（MiNIC）在微纳米制造和材料表征方面提供了最先进的设施。在其数百种工具中，旨在支持广泛的需求，MiNIC具有非常先进的功能，如超高纯度薄膜沉积，纳米级光刻，用于硬材料和软材料的超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、光源和微机械致动器。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，在该领域拥有500人-年的经验。除了支持传统用户外，工作人员还提供对该设施的远程访问。MiNIC将强调与NSF的两个大构想相对应的两个技术领域：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/或二维材料方面的工作，以创造高性能、高稳定性的纳米级量子器件。Bionano将支持结合自上而下和自下而上过程的技术工作，为生物系统传感和包括有机/无机杂交在内的复杂组织模型的开发创造革命性的答案。该信息中心预计到筹资期结束时每年至少为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，并更加重视建立多样化的用户社区。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.