Operations and Maintenance Support - Supporting Advanced Research in Engineering and Science (s-ARIES)

这项建议支持艾伯塔大学纳米技术中心的工程和科学高级研究(S-白羊座)。NanoFab由13个相关的CFI、WD和艾伯塔省资本项目合并而成，总计8400万美元，形成一个单一的国家开放获取中心，在艾伯塔省、加拿大西部和加拿大微纳米技术生态系统内提供基本的培训、服务和协作能力。在截至2016年10月19日的过去365天里，来自162个小组的870个独立个体访问了NanoFab，使用了202台可用设备，使用了58262个工具小时，突显了所提供的价值。NanoFab的价值与UofA通过2014年战略研究计划、艾伯塔省省政府研究与创新计划以及NRC/NINT在UofA的安置而给予纳米技术的高度优先一致。NanoFab为访问专门的设备和实验室空间提供了一个专业管理的环境，这对个人研究人员来说效率低下或成本高昂。这包括：先进的微米和纳米级制造，加拿大唯一的开放式光掩模服务(在过去365天中打印了381个掩模)，以及全系列表征套件，具有先进的离子/电子显微镜、表面光谱分析和整体分析工具。这为微纳技术的设备开发和材料分析提供了一种集中、集成的方法。对于确保这一宝贵资源的可持续性至关重要的是业务支持，该资源包括25000平方英尺的专门实验室空间和202台设备的培训和开发责任。S-白羊座将解决由于运营支持限制而预计的赤字问题，这将导致高昂的使用费。缺乏一致的业务支持会导致通过裁员而失去成熟的专业知识，降低培训能力，关闭内部和外部研究人员和公司急需的能力，导致进一步研究的费用高得令人望而却步，只有资金充足的群体才能获得，最终将导致研究和工业产出大幅减少。S-白羊座的支持将通过提供运营人员支持和降低用户费用的潜力，确保为继续研究成功提供一个稳健的环境。

This proposal supports Advanced Research In Engineering and Science (s-ARIES) at the University of Alberta nanoFAB Centre. The nanoFAB was formed from the merger of 13 related CFI, WD and Province of Alberta capital projects, totaling $84M, resulting in a single national open-access centre providing essential training, service and collaboration capabilities within Alberta, Western Canada and Canadian micro- and nanotechnology ecosystem. Over the last 365 days, ending Oct 19, 2016, the nanoFAB has been accessed by 870 unique individuals, from 162 groups, utilizing 58,262 tool hours, across 202 available pieces of equipment, underscoring the value provided. The value of the nanoFAB, aligns with the high priority afforded nanotechnology by the UofA through the 2014 Strategic Research Plan, provincial government Alberta Research & Innovation Plan and placement of NRC/NINT at the UofA. The nanoFAB provides a professionally managed environment for the access to specialized equipment and laboratory space, that would be inefficient or cost prohibitive for individual researchers. This includes; advanced micro and nano- scale fabrication, with Canada's only open access photomask service (printing 381 masks over the last 365 days), and full range characterization suite, with advanced ion/electron microscopy, surface spectroscopy and bulk analysis tools. This results in a centralized, integrated approach to device development and materials analysis, for micro and nano technology. Critical to ensuring the sustainability of such a valued resource, consisting of 25,000 square feet of specialized laboratory space and responsibility for training and development on 202 pieces of equipment, is operational support. s-ARIES will address a projected deficit due to constraints of operational support, which results in high user fees. The lack of consistent operational support causes the lose of developed expertise through layoffs, reduces training capacity, shutters much needed capabilities in demand by internal and external researchers and companies, causes further research to be prohibitively expensive and only available to well funded groups, and ultimately will lead to dramatically reduced research and industrial outputs. s-ARIES support will ensure a robust environment for continued research success by providing for operational staffing support and the potential for reduction of user fees.