Stanford
nanotechnology researchers and technology industry
leaders will dedicate the latest nanotechnology research
facility on campus-the newly renovated Stanford Nanocharacterization
Laboratory (SNL)-on Oct. 5 from 3 to 6 p.m. In the
facility, located in the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced
Materials, researchers will be able to resolve and
investigate structures as small as two tenths of
a billionth of a meter. Such mastery of the incredibly
small is essential to producing innovations in fuel
cells, semiconductors and other important technological
components.
``This is the first time at Stanford in which we
have gathered all our equipment for characterization
of materials into one coordinated facility,`` says
Robert Sinclair, director of the SNL and chair of
the Materials Science and Engineering Department.
``The renovation has created an open laboratory space
whereby students and researchers working on different
types of instruments can interact, providing a synergy
which could not have happened before.``
The lab`s formal unveiling at 4:45 p.m. will highlight
an afternoon of events, beginning with an hour-long
tour of the Allen Center for Integrated Systems at
3 p.m., followed by remarks by Arthur Bienenstock,
vice provost and dean of research and graduate policy,
in Stone Pine Plaza. Joining Sinclair and Bienenstock
will be the industry leaders who helped make the
renovation and the most recent equipment acquisitions
possible. They are Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel
Corp. and a former Stanford materials science professor,
and his wife, Barbara; Morris Chang, chief executive
officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.;
and Vahé Sarkissian, president and chief executive
officer of FEI Co., which makes nanocharacterization
equipment. Barrett, Chang and Sarkissian will speak
before Sinclair unveils the lab.
Figuring out fuel cells
One recently acquired FEI tool, a focused ion beam
(FIB), is now being used in a multidisciplinary collaboration
among three School of Engineering professors to improve
the design and prototyping of a fuel cell. Students
of Professor Fritz Prinz, chair of the Mechanical
Engineering Department, have been using the machine
to study ultra-thin membranes that enable the power-producing
chemical reaction to take place in solid oxide fuel
cells.
``Current solid oxide fuel cells operate efficiently
around 800 degrees Celsius, which is very high compared
to typical temperatures inside an automobile,`` explains
Paul McIntyre, associate professor of materials science
and engineering, who is part of the collaboration
along with chemical engineering Professor Stacey
Bent. ``In order to use such a power plant in a car,
it would be necessary to have expensive and heavy
cooling systems that are not desirable in a passenger
vehicle.``
By experimenting with new materials and structures
for the membrane, the researchers hope to reduce
the fuel cell`s operating temperature. The FIB allows
researchers to study and experiment with the membranes
because it can dissect fuel cell structures, add
materials or simply act as a high-resolution microscope,
enabling measurements. Such tools and a well-designed
environment in which to operate them effectively
are essential to nanotechnology work, McIntyre says.
Stanford`s nanotechnology nexus
The upgraded SNL is one of several major research
facilities at Stanford that together give scientists
and students a full suite of tools for exploring
and exploiting nanotechnology. Also hosted by the
School of Engineering in the Center for Integrated
Systems is the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility,
which is a shared, 10,000-square-foot clean room
for making computer chips and other devices with
nanoscale structures. It is supported by the National
Science Foundation through the National Nanotechnology
Infrastructure Network. And last year Stanford researchers
won a $7.5 million grant to establish the Center
for Probing the Nanoscale, a facility for developing
new tools for nanotechnology research. It is co-directed
by faculty members Kathryn Moler and David Goldhaber-Gordon
and located in the Geballe Lab.
``Our advanced electron microscopes, and future
surface science tools, provide a natural and extremely
important complement to the fabrication, synthesis
and computing laboratories at Stanford,`` Sinclair
says. ``The SNL opening is indeed an exciting development,
expanding Stanford`s influence in this critical research
area of the future.``
David Orenstein is the communications and public
relations manager at the Stanford School of Engineering.
RELEVANT WEB URLS:
STANFORD NANOCHARACTERIZATION LABORATORY
http://www.stanford.edu/group/snl/
STANFORD NANOFABRICATION FACILITY
http://snf.stanford.edu/
CENTER FOR PROBING THE NANOSCALE
http://www.stanford.edu/group/cpn/
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