This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

The project is to renovate the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF), which is an open-use, shared facility and a participating site in the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). Since the nanofabrication facility opened in 1987, the SNF's Class 100 clean room (10,500 sq ft) has operated around the clock for 50 weeks per year. With the exception of the annual two-week shutdown, the clean room facility has been used for research and research training 100% of the time. With its heavy usage and the rapidly changing toolbox for nanofabrication, the SNF needs to be renovated and updated to provide the flexibility, reliability, and capacity in nanofabrication that is needed by such a large set of internal and external users conducting research in nanoscience and nanoengineering.

The project plan calls for a series of renovation tasks including updating the wet chemical handling capability, renovating the process gas handling and exhaust ventilation systems, updating the electrical distribution, updating the process cooling water, and modernizing the temperature and humidity controls. The research facility space will be updated to include two specialized processing areas, a flexible micromachining room and a nanosynthesis facility. These areas will be used to expand the nanofabrication capability of the SNF and better support interdisciplinary research programs. Examples of nanofabrication activities supporting research goals include fabricating nanostructured electrodes for fundamental studies of electron transfer rates in molecules, production of silicon nanowires for biological sensing, growth of nanowire electrodes for higher performance batteries and fuel cells, and creation of novel nanoelectronics based on carbon nanotubes and graphene.

The renovated facility will attract an increasingly broader base of academic and industrial researchers from the physical sciences and the life sciences to SNF, enabling them to address new scientific questions and adopt new approaches to technology development. In 2008 alone, 581 researchers came to the SNF to fabricate nanostructures for their research in electronics, optics, MEMS, NEMS, biology, and chemistry. In a typical month, the SNF serves about 240 researchers, including about 50 from industry and about 20 from other universities. The cross-fertilization of research cultures and pursuit of interdisciplinary science will continue to ignite creativity and innovation in the renovated SNF and enhance the quality of graduate and undergraduate education for student users.

Project Report

The core of Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) is 10,000 ft2 cleanroom housing over 100 instruments for fabricating structures at nano- and micro- scales. By 2010, aging gas distribution, abatement, and safety systems were hampering SNF’s ability to meet the evolving research needs of its large user community. A major node of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), SNF is an open facility serving users from other universities, small and large companies, and government agencies. One-third of users are from organizations outside Stanford. With its aging infrastructure, SNF found it increasingly difficult to install new equipment, since evolving building codes with requirements for chemical handling and abatement and waste management were increasingly difficult to meet. Thus, SNF was constrained to installing only tools that could be supported by limited infrastructure and unable to upgrade existing tools. In 2009 - 2010, the installation of a simple ALD system required nearly two years, since it triggered a series of building code compliance concerns. An overhaul of key building facilities was clearly needed if SNF was to continue to be an effective, up-to-date resource for the nation’s nanotechnology research and development community. Construction planning for the SNF Renovation began October 2010, following the NSF award. This was matched with $2.4M by the University and supplemented to meet ancillary building code requirements that developed as the project progressed. The key challenge was to minimize impact of the construction on ongoing research. The construction team determined it would be more cost effective and have less impact to the research if the cleanroom were renovated during a single, extended shutdown. Cleanroom construction was planned to last seven weeks, and timed to coincide with the annual two-week University-wide December closure. Researchers were given notice in May, allowing them to plan their fabrication and experiments accordingly. On December 14, 2011, the lab closed. On February 7, 2012, a temporary occupancy permit was issued allowing for cleanup and tool startup. By March 1, the cleanroom was back to full operation. Because construction of the satellite research labs (the "Flexible Micromachining" and "Nanosynthesis" rooms in the original proposal) was independent of the cleanroom, this was begun after completion of the cleanroom and completed on April 30, 2012. This Renovation was completed on-time and on-budget, without use of contingency. Given the number of sub-contracted trades involved (mechanical, electrical, fire, TGO) and Stanford-funded building improvement projects, which had to be coordinated (e.g., building controls upgrade, seismic improvements, fire safety upgrades, building code compliance), timely execution of the Renovation project was a major accomplishment. Facilities renovation is more complex than new construction; this was complicated by that outside the cleanroom, the building remained fully occupied during the entire project. Moreover, the lab remained operational during months of preconstruction in support areas. And though work continued post lab shutdown, it was coordinated to minimize further impact on SNF operations. Renovation of SNF had immediate impact on installation and permitting of new equipment. One of the last tools installed in SNF before the Renovation, took two years to get through permitting although it required only a single, class III hazardous gas. Since Renovation, SNF has installed 14 new tools (6 of which use Class II or III hazardous gases), all taking less than 12 weeks from permit review to sign-off. In 2014, another 13 new tool installations are planned. As comparison, the decade prior to the Renovation (2000-2011), saw a total of 32 new tools; from 2012 through 2014, SNF will nearly match this with 27. The renovated infrastructure has made SNF much more agile in accommodating new fabrication tools, attracting investment by faculty research groups, as well as equipment providers. A second outcome of the renovation was construction of a new satellite research facility, nSiL ("nano Structures integration Laboratory), which creates a shared, safe environment outside the cleanroom for the functionalization of nanoparticles and other synthetic nanostructures by SNF’s predominantly engineering and physical science research communities. Formerly housing staff offices, this 1150 ft2 space has been transformed into a flexible lab with hoods and a glovebox for handling of chemicals and nanostructures. nSiL complements the cleanroom, by facilitating integration of "bottom-up" nanosynthesis with "top-down" nanopatterning approaches to nano- science and engineering. nSiL opened to the user community in October 2012 and has 75 registered users, 15 of whom are life science researchers new to fabrication. This Renovation extends the life of this facility at least 15 years by allowing SNF to better meet the needs of our researchers. We can’t predict research needs, but it is clear modern facilities need to be prepared to be more flexible than ever to meet dynamically changing demands. With this Renovation, SNF is now a well-designed facility with safety and utilities infrastructure to support changing tool requirements and cradle-to-grave management of new materials, chemicals, and gases researchers require.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2010-10-01
Budget End
2014-09-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$4,203,254
Indirect Cost
Name
Stanford University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Palo Alto
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94304