The Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) at the University of Washington is to double in size and expand its cleanroom space in a US$37m renovation.
The WNF makes items that are not practical, economical or possible to produce in commerical foundries, such as tiny parts, chips made from unconventional materials and devices that probe the boundaries of our universe. Located on the University of Washington campus, it is the largest publicly accessible nanofabrication facility north of Berkeley and west of Minneapolis.
The upgrade of the facility is scheduled to begin in November, and will double the lab's highly-specialised fabrication space. The University says the investment is necessary to keep up with rapid growth in demand – WNF revenue has nearly tripled since 2011.
The 'fab lab' in Fluke Hall has supported $32m in research grant funding this year. A third of its 223 users are with commercial companies, which range from multinational corporations to University spinouts and local start-ups.
Users include Jevne Branden Micheau-Cunningham, who launched a new company called Flexforge six months ago. He is using WNF equipment and expertise to manufacture nanoscale electronics with applications in the automotive, aerospace and medical devices industries.
The upgrade is scheduled to begin in November, and will double the lab's highly-specialised fabrication space
'The Washington Nanofabrication Facility is vital to my existence,' he said. 'It allows entrepreneurs such as myself to flesh out ideas and bring products to life — the costs to get up and running on my own would have been prohibitive.'
The WNF houses nearly 100 different pieces of equipment that perform everything from electron beam lithography and atomic layer deposition to plasma etching and wafer bonding. User fees paid by academic and non-university clients are invested back into the facility.
The University took ownership of the non-profit nanofabrication facility in 2011, which was formerly run by the Washington Department of Commerce. Through private donations, grants, funding from the University and corporate gifts, the lab has invested in excess of $8m over the last four years to modernise tools and equipment.
But the infrastructure in Fluke Hall, built in 1988, needs upgrades to meet basic safety and environmental standards and the highly specialised needs of nanofabrication users. The renovation, which will be done in three phases over 14 months to minimise downtime, will allow the lab to control temperature, humidity and air quality better inside the cleanroom, where unwelcome fluctuations can contaminate an entire production line.
'One dust speck can damage a device if it’s in the wrong place, so this renovation will make a major difference,' said WNF Director Karl Böhringer, a University of Washington professor of electrical engineering and of bioengineering. 'The other advantage will be having more space — usage and revenues have increased, and we are bursting at the seams.'
