OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY UPDATE
November 2015
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
New
Mountbatten Building Provides Nanoelectronics Fabrication Capabilities
Cleanrooms at World-Leading Graphene Research Facility
The gleaming new Mountbatten Building at the University of
Southampton has been renovated after a fire ten years ago. The fire ripped
through the University of Southampton’s Mountbatten Building gutting the
building and destroying valuable equipment and research. A decade later and the
award-winning Mountbatten Building successor now provides £120m of specialist
facilities and equipment, enabling world-leading researchers to continue their
pioneering work tackling many of the key challenges facing society today.
The new Zepler Institute cleanroom complex houses a suite of
research facilities. Home to the UK’s best set of nanoelectronics and photonics
fabrication capabilities, including the Southampton Nanofabrication Centre, the
complex is driving forward some of the most innovative explorations in optics
and nanotechnology research.
Professor Nick Jennings, Head of Electronics and Computer
Science (ECS), said: 'The fire which destroyed the old microfabrication
cleanroom gave us the opportunity to create a facility which is unique and
internationally leading as a place to research and develop the next generation
of electronics and multidisciplinary applications. 'The Southampton
Nanofabrication Centre cleanroom facility is both grounded in existing
state-of-the-art nanofabrication technology and exploring the next generation of
fabrication methods, materials and devices.
Research in the facility covers the creation and
characterization of nano-electronic devices, functional materials and
nanophotonics, spintronics, quantum and memristive devices, bio-inspired
devices, microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip systems, and NEMS devices.'
President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China toured
the cleanrooms designed and built by Clean Room Construction (CRC) at the
world-leading National Graphene Institute (NGI) in Manchester on the last day of
his state visit to Britain. He toured the 16,140 sq. ft. (1,500m2) of
cleanroom laboratory space, the largest academic area of its kind dedicated to
graphene research, as part of a VIP visit to the institute at The University of
Manchester on 23 October.
President Xi was accompanied by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, George Osborne, Viscount Hood, the Queen’s Lord-in-waiting,
university staff and other senior government officials.
The official visit took place on the same day that Chinese
electronics giant Huawei, China’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, announced a
partnership with the NGI to research graphene and related 2D materials.
CRC worked with BAM Construction on the landmark project,
which opened in March this year, designing and installing the cleanroom
facilities, partitioning and mechanical and electrical services. The
specification included a main cleanroom facility with a working level 3m below
ground to minimize vibration, which would compromise sensitive research
activities carried out at nanoscales. A secondary cleanroom is located on the
first floor, together with open plan and modular laboratories.
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
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E-mail:
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