CHN provides access to state of the art facilities at three partner universities. Northeastern University offers expanded microelectronic labs, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell offers polymer engineering labs, and the University of New Hampshire at Durham provides organic synthesis labs. Together the labs provide a comprehensive collection of state of the art analytical equipment including dip-pen nanolithography, STM/AFM, NSOM, NMR, SIMS, SEM, TEM, XRD, AEM, XPS, and a full compliment of rheological, thermal and mechanical characterization equipment.
Our Goals and Mission
CHN has four main goals to its research. They are:
- To bridge the gap between nanoscale science research and the creation of commercial products.
- To develop processes and tools that will enable high-rate/high-volume, bottom-up, nanoscale directed assembly of nanoelements and polymer nanostructures.
- To deliver the much-needed education in nanomanufacturing, including its environmental, economic, and societal implications, to the current and emerging workforce through partnerships among industry, universities, and K-12 teachers and students.
- To overcome the Barriers to Commercialization:
- Barrier 1. How can we assemble and connect different nano-scale elements?
- Barrier 2. How can we scale up assembly processes in a continuous or high rate manner?
- Barrier 3. How can we test for reliability in nanoelements and connections? How can we efficiently detect and remove defects?
- Barrier 4. Do nanoproducts and processes require new economic, environmental, and ethical/regulatory assessment and new socially-accepted values?
