The UofL MNTC and the KY NanoNET - Two Initiatives to Promote Nano-Science in the State of Kentucky

Abstract

The University of Louisville constructed its first cleanroom in 1997, a modestly-sized 1,500 sq. ft. class 1,000 facility. Since then, the “micro/nano/MEMS” revolution has exploded nationally and U of L has positioned itself to be the leader of this effort for the state of Kentucky. With the success of existing faculty and the hiring of new faculty over the last 10 years in the diverse disciplines that utilize micro/nanotechnology, U of L outgrew its original cleanroom. In 2001, plans were initiated for the design of a new greatly-expanded, multi-user cleanroom, large enough to support the emergent research activities at U of L and throughout the state and region. In 2006, construction was completed on a new 120,000 sq. ft., $60M, interdisciplinary research building which houses the new AGI-designed cleanroom facility (see Fig. 1). This stateof-the-art, 10,000 sq. ft., class 100/1000 facility serves over 100 internal users from over 7 different departments at the university, including Physics, Chemistry, all fields of Engineering, and Medicine. In addition, it serves industry and the other universities in Kentucky (UK, EKU, WKU, Morehead State, and Murray State). Our industrial customers include established Kentucky companies like Lexmark International, local start-ups like Micro Werks, Assenti, NaugaNeedles, and OrthoData Technologies, and companies/universities/national labs outside Kentucky, such as Zyvex, Google, Honeywell, the University of Cincinnati, and the Naval Research Lab (NRL) to name just a few.