Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility
Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility
The Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago has built a brand new state-of-the-art Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility, home to the research and development of nanotechnologies and new advancements in nanofab innovation. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering.
The Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility is an ISO Class 5 cleanroom that specializes in advanced lithographic processing of hard and soft materials.
Academic and industrial researchers are now working at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility, home to some of the world’s most advanced tools to exploit the atomic and molecular properties of matter for emerging applications in science and nanotechnology.
Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility
Since the grand opening in February 2017, the large Nanofacility has been widely used by University of Chicago students focused in molecular engineering, physics, and chemistry. These University of Chicago students are working on their own projects and working in collaboration with faculty members. Other university campuses take part in leveraging the facility and its technologies as well.
“We have students working on a variety of different projects, including making devices for applications in quantum information, working on devices that use microfluidic technology, and developing detectors for astrophysical applications,” says Andrew Cleland, the John A. McClean Sr. Professor of Molecular Engineering Innovation and Enterprise and faculty director of the Pritzker facility.
With an advanced toolset and enough space for a wide range of projects, the Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility will support work on new applications in computing, health care, communications, smart materials and more. Products could include advanced computer processors, quantum-bit processors, sensors, detectors, lasers, micromechanical systems and bionano devices.
“The Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility provides a unique research and development environment for the academic and industrial scientists interested in pursuing state-of-the-art, micro- and nanoscale fabrication.”
The facility’s tools offer the capability of manufacturing devices ranging in size from a few inches down to 10 nanometers—a size that compares to the width of a human hair as the width of that hair does to the height of a human.
Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility Chicago’s new home to innovative nanoscale research
The PNF is located in the new Eckhardt Research Center at the University of Chicago.We’re open to all properly trained users through a recharge arrangement. The University of Chicago is proud to partner with Northwestern University in thePritzker Nanofabrication Facility supported Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) resource.
“Being able to craft objects on the nanometer scale with state-of-the-art equipment is going to enable extraordinary experiments on the campus,” says David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering and IME’s deputy director for space, infrastructure, and facilities.
To learn more about the Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility and the innovative developments in nanotechnology, visit the University of Chicago’s website: http://pnf.uchicago.edu/
About the Nanofab Facility
The Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility
- The Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility, completed in 2015, is a major research facility at the University of Chicago. This core facility is focused on supporting basic science, applied research, research and development, and prototype production using micro and nanofabrication.
- Composed primarily of a 10,000 square foot, ISO class 5 cleanroom, maintaining less than 100 particles larger than 0.5 microns in each cubic foot of air space.
- Located in the William Eckhardt Research Center, a 277,000 gross square foot building, named after University of Chicago alumnus William Eckhardt, at the heart of the University of Chicago’s new ‘North Science Quadrangle’.
- In partnership with Northwestern University is part of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) and is open to all properly trained users through a fee for use structure. For further details see getting starting and read about our rates.
