Modular Nanoengineering for the Future of Bits and Bytes

该项目将为本科生带来制造设备和应对纳米电子和微系统重大挑战的兴奋，特别关注低年级的学生。它的智力价值在于它解决了将微/纳米制造和设备性能的局限性与实践学习方法结合起来的挑战，这样当学生参加高年级课程时，他们学习的材料与学生互动的真实的信息处理设备和概念相关。实践经验是通过一系列模块，使学生能够设计和创建信息处理设备的拼贴传达，从而加强课堂和实验室工作之间的联系在微系统。该项目的一个特别有趣的组成部分是开发便携式制造设备，成本相对较低，可以发送到多个地点的班级。适应性强的模块包括课程材料和实验室，包括能量产生和存储，光产生和检测，机械传感器和执行器，生物电接口和信息处理设备。这些模块集成了材料科学，电气工程和机械工程的相关概念，使学生能够了解未来大挑战技术发展的更广泛范围。两个关键因素有助于该项目产生更广泛影响的潜力。首先，在纳米制造过程中，科学和工程概念的潜在混合使研究引人注目，因为它们与学生熟悉的真实的信息处理设备有关。第二，设备的低成本性质使项目基础设施的可复制性成为现实，这反过来又增加了其他机构采用该项目的可能性（和/或适应性）。

This project is bringing the excitement of fabricating devices and addressing grand challenges in nano-electronics and microsystems to undergraduates, with a particular focus on students at the lower-division. Its intellectual merit lies in the way it addresses the challenge of marrying the limitations of micro/nano fabrication and device performance with hands-on learning approaches, such that when the students take upper-division courses, the material they learn is related to real information processing devices and concepts that the students interact with. The hands-on experience is conveyed through a series of modules that enable the students to design and create a collage of information processing devices, thus strengthening the link between classroom and laboratory work in microsystems. A particularly interesting component of the project is the development of portable fabrication equipment that is relatively low cost, and can be sent to classes at multiple locations. The adaptable modules consist of course material and experimental labs in energy generation and storage, light generation and detection, mechanical sensors and actuators, bio-electrical interfaces, and information processing devices. The modules integrate relevant concepts of material science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering so that students are able to understand the wider scope of future grand challenge technology developments. Two key factors contribute to the project's potential for broader impact. Firstly, the underlying mix of science and engineering concepts that come together in the processes of nano-fabrication make for compelling study because they are connected to real information processing devices that are familiar to students. Secondly, the low-cost nature of the equipment makes replicability of the project's infrastructure realistic, which in turn increases the potential adoptability (and/or adaptability) of the project by other institutions.