Publications

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The National Institute for Nano-Engineering (NINE) is a government/university/industry collaboration formed to help develop the next generation of nano-engineering innovation leaders for the United States. NINE involves students in large scale multi-disciplinary research projects focused on developing nano-enabled solutions to important national problems. The NINE program is based on the growing understanding that science and engineering education and innovation can be strengthened by involvement of university students and faculty with the world-class capabilities and facilities of government laboratories supplemented by guidance and support from industry collaborators. A number of recent reports have highlighted global competitiveness issues that the Unites States faces in the coming decades. Technology innovation, the ability to progress from emerging technologies to products that change the way people live, is a key to global leadership and economic prosperity for nations and their people. One of the top technology and economic drivers for the coming decades will the spectrum of emerging capabilities that fall into the category of nanotechnologies. NINE was established as a national innovation hub in the exciting and rapidly developing field of nano-engineering. It is intended to be a model of a novel partnership between universities and companies throughout the nation and the Department of Energy, with Sandia National Laboratories as the host lab for NINE. Successful technology innovation requires the integration of technical research and development with additional expertise from other areas including manufacturing, business, marketing, intellectual property, and the interface between technology and society. NINE was created to address this need for a new integrated approach to science and engineering research, education and innovation in a way that takes advantage of the nation's investment in facilities and capabilities at the national laboratories.

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Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) is a big name for tiny devices that will soon make big changes in everyday life and the workplace. These and other types of Microsystems range in size from a few millimeters to a few microns, much smaller than a human hair. These Microsystems have the capability to enable new ways to solve problems in commercial applications ranging from automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, manufacturing equipment, medical diagnostics to robotics, and in national security applications such as nuclear weapons safety and security, battlefield intelligence, and protection against chemical and biological weapons. This broad range of applications of Microsystems reflects the broad capabilities of future Microsystems to provide the ability to sense, think, act, and communicate, all in a single integrated package. Microsystems have been called the next silicon revolution, but like many revolutions, they incorporate more elements than their predecessors. Microsystems do include MEMS components fabricated from polycrystalline silicon processed using techniques similar to those used in the manufacture of integrated electrical circuits. They also include optoelectronic components made from gallium arsenide and other semiconducting compounds from the III-V groups of the periodic table. Microsystems components are also being made from pure metals and metal alloys using the LIGA process, which utilizes lithography, etching, and casting at the micron scale. Generically, Microsystems are micron scale, integrated systems that have the potential to combine the ability to sense light, heat, pressure, acceleration, vibration, and chemicals with the ability to process the collected data using CMOS circuitry, execute an electrical, mechanical, or photonic response, and communicate either optically or with microwaves.