A man wearing safety suit cutting a band. Photo

NanoLab dry-etch and thin film area opened | Securing critical research capabilities

– The research carried out on these instruments at NanoLab will support the development of solutions to some of the grand challenges that we face, and support several activities in NTNUs strategic portfolio in particular, said rector Tor Grande before cutting the ribbon in the newly completed section of the lab.

NTNU NanoLab’s thin film area has been upgraded with investments in etching and thin-film deposition worth more than NOK 40 million. With generous funding through the Research Council of Norway Infrastructure program.

This secures critical research capabilities at NanoLab and NorFab for the next 12–15 years and expands the opportunities in etching to structures we could not fabricate before.

– I’m delighted that the Rector of NTNU, Tor Grande, chose to officially open the new capabilities in the cleanroom itself, and that the Dean of the faculty, Øyvind Weiby Gregersen, could host a symposium with talks both from researchers at NTNU and from Prof Henri Jansen who kindly joined us from DTU NanoLab in Denmark, to highlight both the capabilities and the some of the future use these systems will be put to, says director of NorFab & NTNU NanoLab Peter Köllensperger.

Two men talking wearing a safety suit. Photo

Lab director Peter Köllensperger gave Grande a tour of the new equipment, while the rest of the participants watched on video stream (Photo: Aleksander Båtnes/NTNU).

– The five instruments now in place successfully conclude the NorFab III investment programme for NTNU NanoLab. Together with our partners at the Norwegian Research Councils Infrastructure Programme and our supplier SPTS we have managed to secure this important infrastructure on time, on spec, and on budget. From the presentations in the opening seminar we could see that the timing could not have been better, coinciding with a significant strategic effort in Europe on chips, sensors and photonics – and applications ranging from healthcare, communication, quantum technology and the green transition, amongst others, Köllensperger explains.

Following 13 years of capacity building, NTNU NanoLab today offers more opportunities for education, cutting edge research and innovation than ever before, and is perfectly placed to support the significant strategic investments that are being made in Europe in the areas of chips, advanced materials and security and defense.

– The timelines and requirements in terms of engineering competence and technical infrastructure that need to be present to make this equipment available to education, research, innovation and industry actors as part of our national infrastructure NorFab also highlights the importance of long-term infrastructure funding form the Norwegian Research Council, concludes Köllensperger.

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