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

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 our new AGI-designed MicroNanoTechnology Cleanroom (MNTC). This state-of-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 and companies/universities/national labs outside Kentucky. The cleanroom is very beneficial to the University and State in a number of ways, as it supports research, academic training, economic development, and outreach. Since 2001, over $46M of external research has used the facility. Research projects range from fundamental science exploration in the areas of nanotechnology and MEMS to the development of applied miniature sensors for the fields of healthcare, life science, consumer products, and defense. On the academic front, our cleanroom is used by 3 different engineering departments (EE, ME and BE) to offer a variety of lab-based courses in the topics of MEMS, microfabrication, nanotechnology, micro-fluidics, microelectronics, and bioMEMS. Outreach has been a critical component of our mission. The MNTC presently tours approximately 500 K-12 young students a year through our cleanroom. In 2008 and 2009, the MNTC received national recognition in Small Times magazine. UofL's MNTC has an annual operating budget of approximately $600K per year. This includes approximately $400K to cover 5 staff positions (manager, administrative associate, 3 technical staff) and roughly $200K to cover non-salary operating expenses, such as liquid nitrogen, supplies, chemicals, garments, gasses, targets, glassware, wafers, maintenance, repairs, utilities, etc. The University asks the MNTC to cover non-salary expenses through user fees, which is done primarily through the 10 or so faculty who use the facility for their research programs. Our internal income is approximately $180K/yr and our external income is about $20K/yr. The MNTC cleanroom cost approximately $8.5M to construct and houses over $20M of state-of-the-art equipment (over 100 tools) acquired through grants, making it one of the top nanotechnology facilities in the world. A complementary initiative associated with the UofL MNTC is our recently-developed KY nanoNET (KYNN) program. The KYNN is a five-year NSF-sponsored grant for the development of an infrastructure network and support system throughout Kentucky for the specific advancement of micro/nanotechnology and the many fields of research/education that utilize this pervasive technology.