The South West Ontario Nanotechnology Facility (SWONTF)

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The South West Ontario Nanotechnology Facility (SWONtF) consolidates resources and expertise originally supported and managed in 3 major laboratories at The University of Western Ontario (UWO): Surface Science Western (SSW), Interface Science Western (ISW) and the UWO Nanofabrication Laboratory (NL). The resources will henceforth be supported and managed as one entity within the Western Institute for Nanomaterials Science (WINS) providing new, open and affordable access for the South Western Ontario area and beyond for highly competitive interdisciplinary research on matter at the nanoscale. The nature and breadth of the combined resources and expertise in one location is unique in Canada. Significant infrastructure includes facilities to prepare new materials, determine mechanical properties, including nanotribology, and for nanoscale biology including microfluidics. All the tools necessary to design and fabricate materials and devices on the nanometer length scale, including optical lithography and interferometry, gas phase deposition, reactive ion etching, focused ion beam milling, e-beam lithography, LB deposition, electron microscopy, ellipsometry and various other characterization tools are available in the NL. The major instruments in this application include: XPS; SIMS, TOF-SIMS, SEM-EDX, Raman Spectroscopy, FTIR, AFM, electrochemical methods, a Tandetron accelerator and associated MBE and ion scattering and implantation facilities, a van de Graaff accelerator and chambers, a positron accelerator for defect characterization, and OLED chambers. These resources thus provide for both the creation and analysis (characterization) of materials, devices, structures, and surfaces at the nanometer length scale. It supports research on electronic and photonic materials, on nanoscale chemistry and on mechanical properties of both hard and very soft materials, including live cells, on corrosion and wear, and the development of new tools and techniques, as well as demonstrative devices. The facilities are currently used by over 80 scientists and engineers.