Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a 50 kV, High-Throughput Electron Beam Lithography Tool for Research, Education, and Outreach at Vanderbilt University

This Major Research Instrumentation award supports the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) with the acquisition of a state of the art 50-kV Elionix ELS-BODEN electron beam lithography (EBL) tool that will be housed within the cleanroom, a shared-use facility. This facility also serves universities such as Fisk University (HBCU), Tennessee State University (HBCU), Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Tennessee Space Institute, and Austin Peay State University, Auburn University, and University of Alabama – Huntsville, along with industrial partners, making this a regional resource for the southeast United States.

The instrumentation will enable high-speed, ultra-high-precision nanoscale lithography over large areas enabling extended structures of critical interest within a tool that is highly automated for both alignment and preparation, ideal for the broad VINSE userbase and for streamlined training, and easy integration into course work and outreach efforts. The usage by students, postdocs, and faculty at other local universities, especially the HBCUs coupled with the on-going Bridge program, where master’s students from Fisk University may transition into graduate programs at Vanderbilt directly, has significant broader impacts upon the inclusion of underrepresented minority groups within STEM fields.

In addition, this EBL tool will become a centerpiece of the robust education and outreach activities within VINSE, while also serving to attract diverse faculty, postdocs, and students, aided by the Chancellor’s Destination Vanderbilt Initiative. The tool will also offer undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience in nanofabrication, providing the necessary training for the future semiconductor, integrated photonics, nanophotonics, and quantum science workforce.

The acquisition of a state of the art 50-kV Elionix ELS-BODEN electron beam lithography (EBL) instrument will enable a broad variety of research that is not currently possible at Vanderbilt, such as the realization of large-area meta-optics for low-power image processing at the speed of light, optical nanotweezers capable of single exosome trapping and analysis for early cancer detection and for energy applications, fabrication of silicon photonic waveguides and on-chip photonic devices, as well as fundamental studies into the dissipation of heat using light. The intellectual merit is therefore found in the knowledge gained from these improved research outcomes and the new collaborations that are to be developed between nanoscience researchers at Vanderbilt, local HBCUs and in the region.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.