VINSE Core Facilities are located on the second floor of the Stevenson Science Center Building 6, and consist of a Cleanroom facility and associated laboratories. The centerpiece of the VINSE complex is a 1636 s.f. class 10000 cleanroom with 1066 s.f. of service chase. This complex is fully compliant with the 2000 edition of the International Building Code. All hazardous gases are housed in fully automated SDC CiphercoN Gas Cabinets, interlocked, monitored and controlled by a Toxic Gas Monitoring System (TGMS) supplied by Zellweger Analytics, Inc.

VINSE Core Facilities are organized into five laboratory subdivisions, three of which are hosted within the contiguous cleanroom floorspace (Nano-Optics, Nano-Carbon, Silicon Integration), the remaining two within the Chemistry Suite (Nanocrystal Fabrication and Biomolecular Structures). The laboratory has been designed to foster interactions between disciplines and the cross fertilization of ideas amongst the researchers. The contiguous design of the floorspace enables researches to use a variety of tools in a process sequence without leaving the cleanroom environment.

The Nano-Optics Laboratory hosts an suite of tools for the fabrication and characterization of nanostructures and nanopatterned substrates; such as the FEI FIB 200 Focused Ion Beam Microscope, the EPION 3000 Pulsed Laser Deposition System manufactured by PVD Products Inc., and a Digital Instruments Multimode Scanning Probe Microscope running Nanoscope 3 software. This suite of instrumentation services the research programs of Professors Haglund, Weller, Feldman, Dickerson and Hmelo (Physics). The unique capabilities of this instrument suite facilitates collaborations with external organizations such as ORNL, GE (and others?)

The Nano-Carbon Laboratory provides tools for research in carbon-based nanotechnology, including micro- and nanocarbon devices, and carbon nano-tubes. This laboratory currently serves the research needs of Professors Davidson, Kang, Hofmeister (Engineering) and Hertel (Physics). The current laboratory configuration consists of a Astex/Seki Plasma Deposition PECVD System Model PDS17, a UHV Electron Beam Deposition System for thin film preparation, and an array of furnaces for carbon nanotube synthesis. The Nano-Carbon Laboratory also provides access to an MRC Sputtering System, wire bonders and other instrumentation in support laboratories elsewhere within the Stevenson Science building.

The Silicon Integration Laboratory features an array of Reactive Ion Etchers and other instrumentation for the nanopatterning of silicon substrates, and the integration of silicon technology with nanostructured materials and devices produced in our VINSE laboratory. Scheduled for installation in the Fall of 2004, the laboratory will be configured to include an Orion II PEVCD system, a Minilock II Cl based Reactive Ion Etcher, a Phantom II Fluorine based Reactive Ion Etcher, and a Minilock 3 Sputter System, all manufactured by Trion Technology. An associated facility is a pair of Acid/Solvent Wet Hoods to facilitate specimen preparation inside the cleanroom. This facility is available for use by the entire cleanroom community. This array of instrumentation is designed to support the research programs of Professors Rogers, Li (Engineering) and Dickerson (Physics).

The VINSE Chemistry Suite hosts the Nanocrystal Fabrication Laboratory, and the Biomolecular Structures Laboratory, as well as a fire resistant chemical storage facility servicing the entire VINSE suite. The Chemistry Labs are currently configured with a Varian Cary 5000 UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometer, a Jobin Yvon/Horiba Fluorolog-3 FL3-111 Fluorometer, and a MBraun UNILAB Glovebox for nanocrystal synthesis. A Langmiur-Bloggett Trough will be installed in late 2004. The Nanocrystal Fabrication laboratory is taking and filling orders for Professors Cliffel, Wright, Rosenthal (Chemistry), Feldman, Dickerson (Physics), and McIntyre (Cancer Biology).