News Archive

World-Class Nanoelectronics Research Center Launched by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI)

March 25, 2008 - Governor Mitch Daniels joined executives from IBM, Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today to announce plans to open a $61 million nanoelectronics research center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The collaboration is designed to create new research opportunities that will lead to development of atomic-scale technologies and drive future breakthroughs in computing.

Officially billed as the Midwest Academy for Nanoelectronics and Architectures (MANA), the center will link Notre Dame and Purdue University with the development resources of national laboratories and the trillion-dollar per year technology industry. Together, the team of academia and business will work to develop and exploit a new class of semiconductor materials and devices -- nanoelectronics -- that stretches beyond today’s state-of-art chip technologies.

“For Indiana, this means national leadership in a central technology of the future, and we’d be excited to welcome it anywhere in our state. But it’s a special thrill to see it come to Notre Dame, which now enters new dimensions of research prominence and contributions to its home state through the partnership with Purdue,” said Daniels. [Read More]

Simpler way of building three-dimensional structures using DNA nanotechnology

March 18, 2008 - A large variety of two- and three-dimensional nanostructures have been constructed using DNA nanotechnology. Most of the construction methods require many different specially designed DNA molecules. Purdue University researchers have published a new DNA nanotech method that uses essentially one tile that self-assembles into a variety of larger three-dimensional shapes. Roger Highfield, Science Editor of the Telegraph (UK) describes the accomplishment:

… A team of scientists has created a versatile strategy for building three dimensional structures on the nanometre (billionth of a metre) scale by coaxing strands of DNA to [form] a basic building block that can then assemble spontaneously into complex three dimensional shapes over distances of around ten to twenty billionths of a metre.

…A variety of patterns and nanostructures have already been made from DNA, or alternatively DNA has been used as a glue to stick gold particles together, by making DNA molecules that interact just in the right way.

But larger and more complex three-dimensional structures are difficult to make using existing fabrication methods, which would require the use of hundreds of different DNA strands.

Today, in the journal Nature, Dr Chengde Mao of Purdue University, Indiana, and colleagues overcome this problem by programming DNA to fold first into a basic structural unit, akin to a basic building block that can be used to make more complicated shapes. [Read More]

New Materials Power Nanoscale Manufacturing

March 14, 2008 - Coupled with new manufacturing methods, next-generation device, packaging and substrate materials are being developed to meet the technical challenges of fabricating and assembling nanoscale ICs. These advanced materials include nanoparticles, fabricated or self-assembled nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) and semiconductor or metallic nanowires, as well as composites containing at least one nanoscale component.
CNTs may be used in various parts of both active and passive devices as well as packages, for added strength, improved thermal conductivity, and reduced weight, as well as providing higher-speed conductors. Although multi-walled CNTs are also being developed, semiconducting single-walled CNTs with diameters of around 1nm are thought by many to be major candidates for replacing silicon as a semiconductor in nanoelectronics.

Recently, researchers at Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center devised a method for growing densely-packed CNTs on chips in order to enhance heatflow at critical points where chips connect to heatsinks. The method - using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition - outperforms conventional thermal interface materials, and does not require a clean-room environment, making it a potentially low-cost approach.

Materials aside from carbon are also being examined, such as graphene, and even silicon continues to hold promise in some areas. Graphene is theoretically capable of scaling down much further than silicon, to circuits only a few atoms across, in part because of its extreme strength and stability. Its conductive properties work differently from other conductors: electrons move at the same high speeds, regardless of their energy. Those high speeds mean that graphene-based transistors could theoretically switch faster than silicon-based transistors. [Read more]

Purdue joins researchers in India for bionanotechnology, pharmaceuticals symposium

March 10, 2008 - Researchers from Purdue University will join colleagues from the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology in India next week for a symposium on advancements in bionanotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

"Bionanotechnology and Pharmaceuticals: A Glimpse into the Future" is expected to draw more than 100 researchers and students from across the globe for the conference on March 13-14 in Hyderabad. Lectures, a panel discussion on transforming pharmaceutical manufacturing, and a poster session for students and researchers are planned.

"Pharmaceuticals and other aspects of health care are major beneficiaries of the nanotechnology revolution sweeping our world today," said conference speaker Craig Svensson, dean of Purdue's College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences. "Novel formulations, tissue engineering and tools of nanoscience are changing our world's health-care system. The symposium will foster new links and new possibilities in the next frontier of health and medicine." [Read More]

Purdue leads center to simulate behavior of micro-electromechanical systems

March 7, 2008 - The National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded a $17 million cooperative agreement for a research center at Purdue University's Discovery Park to develop advanced simulations for commercial and defense applications, Purdue officials announced Friday (March 7).

The center will focus on the behavior and reliability of miniature switches and is one of five new Centers of Excellence chosen by the NNSA.

About 35 researchers at Purdue, including faculty members, software professionals and students, will be involved in the new Center for Prediction of Reliability, Integrity and Survivability of Microsystems, or PRISM. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the University of New Mexico will collaborate in the center.

"The center takes advantage of Purdue's interdisciplinary strengths and considerable expertise in computational modeling and nanotechnology," Purdue President France A. Córdova said. [Read More]

New technique takes a big step in examination of small structures

March 6, 2008 - (Nanowerk News) A team led by a Purdue University researcher has achieved images of a virus in detail two times greater than had previously been achieved.

Wen Jiang, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Purdue, led a research team that used the emerging technique of single-particle electron cryomicroscopy to capture a three-dimensional image of a virus at a resolution of 4.5 angstroms. Approximately 1 million angstroms would equal the diameter of a human hair.

"This is one of the first projects to refine the technique to the point of near atomic-level resolution," said Jiang, who also is a member of Purdue's structural biology group. "This breaks a threshold and allows us to now see a whole new level of detail in the structure. This is the highest resolution ever achieved for a living organism of this size."

Details of the structure of a virus provide valuable information for development of disease treatments, he said.

"If we understand the system - how the virus particles assemble and how they infect a host cell - it will greatly improve our ability to design a treatment," Jiang said. "Structural biologists perform the basic science and provide information to help those working on the clinical aspects."

A paper detailing the work was published in the Feb. 28 issue of Nature. [Read More]

Good vibrations probe innards of molecular electronic junctions

March 6, 2008 - (Nanowerk News) Using an unusual spectroscopic technique, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have provided the most convincing evidence yet that current is flowing through a simple silicon-based molecular “sandwich,” which is the most basic structure of molecular electronics. The work is an important step toward realizing the dream of organic molecule-based electronics that could enable much denser, cheaper computer memories and other replacements of traditional electronic devices ("Probing molecules in integrated silicon-molecule-metal junctions by inelastic tunneling spectroscopy").

“The ultimate in miniaturization is the molecule,” explains NIST’s Curt Richter. “The hope is that a single molecule will one day be able to act as an electrical component such as a diode or a resistor with the ultimate goal being shrinking computer chips.”

Colleagues at Purdue University provided three types of silicon-molecule-metal junctions that are a few micrometers large. The small molecules researchers used were octadecane, nitrobenzene and diethylaminobenzene. [Read More]

Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery - Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light

February 20, 2008 - Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.

The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons -- light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a dizzying sensation of nothingness.

"It's very deep, like in a forest on the darkest night," said Shawn-Yu Lin, a scientist who helped create the material at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Nothing comes back to you. It's very, very, very dark."

But scientists are not satisfied. Using other new materials, some are trying to manufacture rudimentary Harry Potter-like cloaks that make objects inside of them literally invisible under the right conditions -- the pinnacle of stealthy technology.

Both advances reflect researchers' growing ability to manipulate light, the fleetest and most evanescent of nature's offerings. The nascent invisibility cloak now being tested, for example, is made of a material that bends light rays "backward," a weird phenomenon thought to be impossible just a few years ago.

Known as transformation optics, the phenomenon compels some wavelengths of light to flow around an object like water around a stone. As a result, things behind the object become visible while the object itself disappears from view.

"Cloaking is just the tip of the iceberg," said Vladimir Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University and an expert in the fledgling field. "With transformation optics you can do many other tricks," perhaps including making things appear to be located where they are not and focusing massive amounts of energy on microscopic spots. [Read More]

BNC's Weaver to receive 2008 IEST Fellow Award

February 19, 2008 - The 2008 Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) Fellow Award will be presented to John Weaver for his "numerous publications and significant technical contributions to the advancement of cleanroom design and construction, particularly in the emerging field of nanotechnology." A formal announcement of Weaver's accomplishment will be made as part of the Awards and Membership Luncheon on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at ESTECH 2008 in Bloomingdale, Illinois.

The IEST is an international society whose members are internationally recognized for their contributions to the environmental sciences in the areas of contamination control; design, test, and evaluation; product reliability; and aerospace.

Gen-Nano game project call-out this week

Feb. 4, 2008 - A call-out for the Best Gen-Nano Game competition will be held this week.

What: Best Gen-Nano Game Competition Call Out with pizza served
When: 5PM-6:30PM on Thurs, Feb 7
Where: POTR 118
Why: Learn more about generation-nano project and competition details

Invent the Best Gen-Nano Game and win up to $300 in cash! The competition is open Jan 16, 2008 with a deadline for proposal submission of Mar 15, 2008. Bring in your creativity and expertise into this growing e-learning project for kids!

Competition Overview:
The Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) is accepting proposals from students on Purdue's West Lafayette campus interested in designing a storyboard for an interactive K-12 learning activity to be published within one of the learning modules of the generation-nano.org Web site, which aims to excite middle school children about science by teaching them nanotechnology concepts. The individual or team authors of the three winning storyboards will receive cash awards of up to $300. Additional prizes will be awarded to authors of activities selected for implementation.

For details visit: http://www.generation-nano.org/competition
Questions: feedback @generation-nano.org

New kind of transistor radios shows capability of nanotube technology

Jan. 28, 2008 - Carbon nanotubes have a sound future in the electronics industry, say researchers who built the world’s first all-nanotube transistor radios to prove it.

The nanotube radios, in which nanotube devices provide all of the active functionality in the devices, represent “important first steps toward the practical implementation of carbon-nanotube materials into high-speed analog electronics and other related applications,” said John Rogers, a Founder Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois.

Rogers is a corresponding author of a paper that describes the design, fabrication and performance of the nanotube-transistor radios, which were achieved in a close collaboration with radio frequency electronics engineers at Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems in Linthicum, Md.

The paper has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is to be published in PNAS Online Early Edition next week.

“These results indicate that nanotubes might have an important role to play in high-speed analog electronics, where benchmarking studies against silicon indicate significant advantages in comparably scaled devices, together with capabilities that might complement compound semiconductors,” said Rogers, who also is a researcher at the Beckman Institute and at the university’s Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory.

Practical nanotube devices and circuits are now possible, thanks to a novel growth technique developed by Rogers and colleagues at the U. of I., Lehigh and Purdue universities, and described last year in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. [Read More - eurekalert.org] [Read More - Vnunet.com]

Link to Nature Nanotechnology article (Muhammad A. Alam, Ninad Pimparkar - Purdue University authors)

Best Gen-Nano Game Competition announced for campus students

Jan. 16, 2008 - The Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) is accepting proposals from students on Purdue's West Lafayette campus interested in designing a storyboard for an interactive K-12 learning activity to be published within one of the learning modules of the generation-nano.org Web site, which aims to excite middle school children about science by teaching them nanotechnology concepts.

The individual or team authors of the three winning storyboards will receive cash awards of up to $300.

Additional prizes will be awarded to authors of activities selected for implementation.

The competition is open to all students on Purdue's West Lafayette campus. The deadline for proposal submission is March 15.

[More]

Sensor design gets systematic

January 4, 2008 (EETimes.com) - Sensor manufacturers have continued to improve the sensitivity of their designs through engineering innovations derived from trial-and-error experimentation. Electrical engineers have been guided by "black art" principles, which sensor-gurus claim in abundance. Unfortunately, no overarching framework has been available that incorporates these principles into a methodology for new sensor designs.

Now EEs at Purdue University claim to have invented that missing framework, providing a new method of modeling sensor designs that is already solving long-standing puzzles.

"Other groups have come up with a whole array of conflicting principles regarding how to make better sensors," said Ashraf Alam, an EE and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. "But we have unified those principles in a systematic way, so that now there is a consistent framework regarding how to make sensors better." He performed the research with his student, an EE doctoral candidate, Pradeep Nair.

To test their sensor design principles, the researchers addressed the issue of which nanoscale sensor designs are optimal for sensor applications where target molecules stick to the sensing element. EEs have long known that when sensing individual molecules—from smoke detectors to biological and chemical sensors—the smaller the sensing element, the better. The reason smaller is better, however, has been only anecdotally related to how diffusion of the target molecule limits the speed at which a sensor can act. [Read More]

Model Evaluates Biosensors (Photonics.com)

Purdue's Network for Computational Nanotechnology, nanoscience publisher sign partnership

November 19, 2007 - The Network for Computational Nanotechnology at Purdue University and nanotechnology textbook and materials publisher Taylor & Francis Group LLC will partner to develop a set of new online content and collaboration offerings to aid the global nanoscience research community.

Officials from Taylor & Francis Group and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology, through an agreement announced Monday (Nov. 19), will cooperate to increase availability, volume and appeal of online content for nanoscience. They also will explore ways to make it easier for scientists, researchers and students to create and share content.

The Network for Computation Nanotechnology's nanoHUB is a Web-based resource funded by the National Science Foundation to promote research, education and collaboration in nanotechnology. With more than 25,000 users and based in Discovery Park's Birck Nanotechnology Center, nanoHUB hosts close to 800 nanoscience resources, including a suite of online simulation tools, along with online presentations, courses, learning modules and podcasts. [Full Story]

New System Would Use Rotating Magnetic Field To Detect Pathogens

ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2007) — Researchers at Purdue and Duke universities have developed a technique that uses a magnetic field to selectively separate tiny magnetic particles, representing a highly sensitive method for potentially diagnosing disease by testing samples from patients.

Because different pathogens could be attracted to specific-size magnetic particles and the new technique can selectively separate particles by size, the method could be used to diagnose the presence of many diseases in a single sample, said Gil Lee, a professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at Purdue.

The micron-size magnetic particles have been coated with antibodies that attract certain pathogens and are then mixed with blood samples from patients. A critical piece of the technology is a microchip containing an array of metal disks as wide as 5 microns, or millionths of a meter. The magnetic particles are dispersed in a liquid placed in a container housing the chip. The container is surrounded by three electromagnets energized in sequence to produce a rotating magnetic field.

As the magnetic field rotates, the particles move from one disk to another until they are separated from the rest of the sample. Rotating the magnetic field at specific speeds separates only particles of certain sizes, meaning pathogens attached to those particles would be separated from the sample by varying the rotation speed, Lee said. [Full Story]

Growing Nanotubes On Computer Chips

November 1, 2007 - Engineers have shown how to grow forests of tiny cylinders called carbon nanotubes onto the surfaces of computer chips to enhance the flow of heat at a critical point where the chips connect to cooling devices called heat sinks.

The carpetlike growth of nanotubes has been shown to outperform conventional "thermal interface materials." Like those materials, the nanotube layer does not require elaborate clean-room environments, representing a possible low-cost manufacturing approach to keep future chips from overheating and reduce the size of cooling systems, said Placidus B. Amama, a postdoctoral research associate at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.

Researchers are trying to develop new types of thermal interface materials that conduct heat more efficiently than conventional materials, improving overall performance and helping to meet cooling needs of future chips that will produce more heat than current microprocessors. The materials, which are sandwiched between silicon chips and the metal heat sinks, fill gaps and irregularities between the chip and metal surfaces to enhance heat flow between the two.

The method developed by the Purdue researchers enables them to create a nanotube interface that conforms to a heat sink's uneven surface, conducting heat with less resistance than comparable interface materials currently in use by industry, said doctoral student Baratunde A. Cola. [Full Story]

Purdue creating wireless sensors to monitor bearings in jet engines

October 30, 2007 - Researchers at Purdue University, working with the U.S. Air Force, have developed tiny wireless sensors resilient enough to survive the harsh conditions inside jet engines to detect when critical bearings are close to failing and prevent breakdowns.

The devices are an example of an emerging technology known as "micro electromechanical systems," or MEMS, which are machines that combine electronic and mechanical components on a microscopic scale.

"The MEMS technology is critical because it needs to be small enough that it doesn't interfere with the performance of the bearing itself," said Farshid Sadeghi, a professor of mechanical engineering. "And the other issue is that it needs to be able to withstand extreme heat." [Full Story]

Project helps companies reap big benefits from tiny technology

October 25, 2007 - Compounds so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye could produce highly visible growth opportunities and cost savings for north-central Indiana manufacturers through a project sponsored by Indiana WIRED.

A one-year skill development pilot project to introduce nanostructured tool coating technology to industrial firms within the 14-county Indiana WIRED region began this month, said Christy Bozic, Indiana WIRED's manager of business innovation. Companies with workers who perform machining operations are invited to apply for the program.

"A significant part of WIRED is involved in innovation," Bozic said. "We're trying to help workers develop new skills and manufacturers adopt innovative industrial processes so that they can stay in north-central Indiana, retain jobs and be more competitive."

Indiana WIRED, an economic and work force development initiative administered by Purdue University, comprises Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Fountain, Fulton, Howard, Miami, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Wabash, Warren and White counties. [Full Story]

Discovery Lecture Series focuses on global business development in life sciences arena

October 18th, 2007 - Leading life sciences venture capitalist G. Steven Burrill is the keynote speaker for the Discovery Lecture Series event "Global Business Development in Life Sciences," which is being offered in collaboration with BioCrossroads, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Lilly Endowment.

Burrill, who is chief executive of California-based Burrill & Co., will give his address, "Biotech 2007: A Global Transformation," at 12:15 p.m. in the Ross-Ade Pavilion on campus.

Purdue President France A. Córdova will highlight Purdue's success in technology commercialization at 1:30 p.m. During her address, she will outline how Purdue's commitment to interdisciplinary research has accelerated campus commercialization efforts in life sciences, nanotechnology, cancer, entrepreneurship, health care and other areas. [Full Story]

Gold nanorods shed light on new approach to fighting cancer

October 15, 2007 - Researchers have shown how tiny "nanorods" of gold can be triggered by a laser beam to blast holes in the membranes of tumor cells, setting in motion a complex biochemical mechanism that leads to a tumor cell's self-destruction.

Tumor cell membranes often have an abnormally high number of receptor sites to capture molecules of folic acid, or folate, a form of vitamin B that many tumor cells crave. The Purdue researchers attached folate to the gold nanorods, enabling them to target the receptors and attach to the tumor cell membranes.

"The cells are then illuminated with light in the near-infrared range," said Ji-Xin Cheng (pronounced Gee-Shin), an assistant professor in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. "This light can easily pass through tissue but is absorbed by the nanorods and converted rapidly into heat, leading to miniature explosions on the cell surface."

Scientists have recently determined that gold nanorods and other nanostructures can be used to target and destroy tumor cells, but it was generally assumed that cell death was due to the high heat produced by the light-absorbing nanoparticles. The Purdue team discovered, however, that a more complex biochemical scenario is responsible for killing the cells. [Full Story]

Nanotube forests grown on silicon chips for future computers, electronics

October 10, 2007 - Engineers have shown how to grow forests of tiny cylinders called carbon nanotubes onto the surfaces of computer chips to enhance the flow of heat at a critical point where the chips connect to cooling devices called heat sinks.

The carpetlike growth of nanotubes has been shown to outperform conventional "thermal interface materials." Like those materials, the nanotube layer does not require elaborate clean-room environments, representing a possible low-cost manufacturing approach to keep future chips from overheating and reduce the size of cooling systems, said Placidus B. Amama, a postdoctoral research associate at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.

Researchers are trying to develop new types of thermal interface materials that conduct heat more efficiently than conventional materials, improving overall performance and helping to meet cooling needs of future chips that will produce more heat than current microprocessors. The materials, which are sandwiched between silicon chips and the metal heat sinks, fill gaps and irregularities between the chip and metal surfaces to enhance heat flow between the two. [Full Story]

Brain Implants - Electromagnetic News Report ENR - Smalltimes.com

October 3, 2007 - Purdue University has developed tiny devices that are implanted in the brain to predict and prevent epileptic seizures, and a nanotech sensor implanted in the eye to treat glaucoma. The first project is a transmitter three times the width of a human hair that is implanted below the scalp to detect epileptic seizures before they occur. The electrodes record neural signals in the brain.

Said Pedro Irazoqui, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, "When epileptics have a seizure, a particular part of the brain starts firing in a way that is abnormal. Being able to record signals from several parts of the brain at the same time enables you to predict when a seizure is about to start." Data from the transmitter are picked up by an external receiver, also developed by the Purdue researchers.

The second project is a sensor implanted in the eye to monitor glaucoma by measuring pressure in the eye's interior. The disease causes blindness from a buildup of fluid pressure in the interior chamber of the eye, killing fibers in the optic nerve. Glaucoma patients have their eye pressure checked regularly, but it can change at any minute. [Full Story]

Nanotube forests grown on silicon chips for future computers, electronics

October 1, 2007 - Engineers have shown how to grow forests of tiny cylinders called carbon nanotubes onto the surfaces of computer chips to enhance the flow of heat at a critical point where the chips connect to cooling devices called heat sinks.

The carpetlike growth of nanotubes has been shown to outperform conventional "thermal interface materials." Like those materials, the nanotube layer does not require elaborate clean-room environments, representing a possible low-cost manufacturing approach to keep future chips from overheating and reduce the size of cooling systems, said Placidus B. Amama, a postdoctoral research associate at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.

Researchers are trying to develop new types of thermal interface materials that conduct heat more efficiently than conventional materials, improving overall performance and helping to meet cooling needs of future chips that will produce more heat than current microprocessors. The materials, which are sandwiched between silicon chips and the metal heat sinks, fill gaps and irregularities between the chip and metal surfaces to enhance heat flow between the two. [Full Story]

Nanotechnology ‘Backbone of Development’ Expands With Grant

September 27, 2007 - The scientist regarded by his peers as the architect of the National Nanotechnology Initiative calls it “the front of the wave of scientific discovery” for nanotechnology.

Mihail Roco, a senior adviser for the National Science Foundation (NSF), speaks here of Purdue University’s Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN). He told MidwestBusiness.com that the NCN represents nothing less than “the premier network for modeling simulation” in the nanotech industry.

Purdue’s NCN scored another notch in its subatomic gun belt with the September announcement of an $18.25 million NSF grant to expand what Roco terms “the backbone of development in the U.S. and abroad”. [Full Story]

Purdue-led network awarded $18.25 million NSF grant to grow users, translate nanoscience into nanotechnology

Purdue University's Network for Computational Nanotechnology has received a five-year, $18.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative with expanded capabilities and services for computer simulations, NSF and Purdue officials announced Thursday (Sept. 20).

The national network was launched in 2002 with $10.5 million from NSF to develop sophisticated, high-powered computational tools that allow scientists from Boston to Beijing to advance nano-related research simply by using their desktop computers.

"This additional funding will help us expand these sophisticated computational tools to researchers, educators and even industry," said network director Mark Lundstrom, Purdue's Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "With the help of our five partner universities, we are growing beyond our roots in nanoelectronics to new areas such as nanofluidics, nanomedicine, nanophotonics and applications of nanoscience to the environment, energy, the life sciences and homeland security." [Full Story]

Boldly going where no mass spectrometer has gone before

The Guardian

September 6, 2007 - Any Star Trek fan can tell you at once what a tricorder is: a portable scanning device that can analyse atmospheres and objects in an instant. One of the (fictional) versions works like a sophisticated chemical laboratory, identifying the unknown on strange planets. Another scans patients for an instant medical diagnosis, useful for helping an injured crew member on a mission.

However for Graham Cooks, professor of analytical chemistry at Purdue University in the US, the reality doesn't match the TV series. "We're quite a long way away from that. There are some handheld detectors which do very specific sorts of chemical analyses," says Cooks. Nevertheless, he's working on a sensing system which he boldly goes as far as comparing to the tricorder. [Full Story]

Purdue Nanotechnology Labs Employ Advanced Grounding Device to Ensure a Constant Flow of Clean Air
(Controled Environments Magazine)

A SINGLE SPECK OF DUST could spoil a whole experiment at Purdue University’s new Birck Nan-otechnology Center. To minimize the likelihood of such a scenario, the building’s HVAC system has to be fast, forceful, and flawless. Such high performance is attained by carefully selected air-handling equipment that includes a new grounding device to extend motor life.

Adjacent to the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, the 3-story Birck Center has many state-of-the-art laboratories for advanced nanotechnology research. The 71,000 square foot building is part of Purdue’s Discovery Park, a 50 acre cluster of buildings devoted to interdisciplinary technological research in collaboration with corporations and government agencies.

The Birck Center’s HVAC system maintains the labs at 30-50% relative humidity at all times and replaces the air at least 15 times per hour. Temperature is allowed to vary by no more than 1°C; a rise of just one degree causes microscopes and other equipment to expand by an amount equivalent to thousands of atoms.

Many of the labs (more than 20,000 square feet) are maintained as cleanrooms. The building’s clean-rooms, equipped with vibration-isolation equipment and special filtration systems to keep the air nearly free of dust particles, are so tightly controlled that some have as many as 120 air changes per hour yet are not allowed temperature changes of more than 0.1°C.

Key to maintaining such conditions are high-volume fans, each equipped with a variable frequency drive (VFD) that enables the fans to automatically adapt to the weather outdoors, laboratory occupancy levels, and other factors by quickly changing speed. During construction of the Birck Center in the spring of 2005, the contract to supply eight of these HVAC fans went to Colby Equipment Co. Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis. Colby turned to Wisconsin-based Green-heck Fan Corp. for four 25 HP fans, each capable of moving more than 20,000 cfm of air; and four 5 HP fans, capable of moving more than 5,000 cfm each. [Full Story]

Purdue, S. Korean team plans symposium on nanomedicine project

September 4, 2007 - Research teams from Purdue University and the Korean Institute of Science and Technology will lead a symposium Sept. 14 to focus on their $4.5 million project to develop molecular imaging and nanotechnology tools for simultaneously diagnosing and treating cancer and chronic and infectious diseases.

Twenty South Korean researchers will travel to the Purdue campus for the Discovery Park symposium, Molecular Imaging and Theragnosis, which will be highlighted by presentations from the project's leading researchers.

"The international symposium will attract participation from a variety of groups: faculty researchers, students, corporations, biotechnology companies, economic developers, government representatives and globally focused entrepreneurs," said event organizer James Leary, the School of Veterinary Medicine professor of nanomedicine at the Birck Nanotechnology Center and professor of basic medical sciences and biomedical engineering. [Full Story]

Magazine names Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center its Experts' Choice 'Facility of the Year'

August 21, 2007 - Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center in Discovery Park has been named Facility of the Year by Controlled Environments, a monthly magazine that focuses on the cleanroom industry.

In the May issue of Controlled Environments, editors highlighted Birck's state-of-the-art laboratories, its partnership with facility designer, Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Architecture Inc., and the role the Purdue facility now plays in encouraging interdisciplinary research. Birck was one of five winners honored through the magazine's 2007 Experts' Choice Awards.

"The goals established for Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center were daunting," editors at Controlled Environments wrote. "The program called for 25,000 square feet of cleanroom with very stringent operating parameters. Purdue University partnered with HDR Architecture and created an environment of collaboration that engaged all parties by stimulating creativity at all levels." [Full Story]

Scientists create their own Web 2.0 network with nanoHUB

August 21, 2007 - Teenagers may not have heard about it, but there's a Web 2.0 site that's a hit with scientists and engineers.

nanoHUB.org, a so-called science gateway for nano-science and nanotechnology housed at Purdue University, is taking the tools of Web 2.0 and applying them, along with a few tricks of its own, to further nano-scholarly pursuits.

The result is a Web site that is a required bookmark for people who get excited about algorithms, carbon nanotubes, nanoelectronics and quantum dots - the current hot topics on the site. [Full Story]

Purdue-led network awarded $18.25 million NSF grant to grow users, translate nanoscience into nanotechnology

Purdue University's Network for Computational Nanotechnology has received a five-year, $18.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative with expanded capabilities and services for computer simulations, NSF and Purdue officials announced Thursday (Sept. 20).

The national network was launched in 2002 with $10.5 million from NSF to develop sophisticated, high-powered computational tools that allow scientists from Boston to Beijing to advance nano-related research simply by using their desktop computers.

"This additional funding will help us expand these sophisticated computational tools to researchers, educators and even industry," said network director Mark Lundstrom, Purdue's Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "With the help of our five partner universities, we are growing beyond our roots in nanoelectronics to new areas such as nanofluidics, nanomedicine, nanophotonics and applications of nanoscience to the environment, energy, the life sciences and homeland security." [Full Story]

Boldly going where no mass spectrometer has gone before

The Guardian
September 6, 2007 - Any Star Trek fan can tell you at once what a tricorder is: a portable scanning device that can analyse atmospheres and objects in an instant. One of the (fictional) versions works like a sophisticated chemical laboratory, identifying the unknown on strange planets. Another scans patients for an instant medical diagnosis, useful for helping an injured crew member on a mission.
However for Graham Cooks, professor of analytical chemistry at Purdue University in the US, the reality doesn't match the TV series. "We're quite a long way away from that. There are some handheld detectors which do very specific sorts of chemical analyses," says Cooks. Nevertheless, he's working on a sensing system which he boldly goes as far as comparing to the tricorder. [Full Story]

Purdue, S. Korean team plans symposium on nanomedicine project

September 4, 2007 - Research teams from Purdue University and the Korean Institute of Science and Technology will lead a symposium Sept. 14 to focus on their $4.5 million project to develop molecular imaging and nanotechnology tools for simultaneously diagnosing and treating cancer and chronic and infectious diseases.

Twenty South Korean researchers will travel to the Purdue campus for the Discovery Park symposium, Molecular Imaging and Theragnosis, which will be highlighted by presentations from the project's leading researchers.

"The international symposium will attract participation from a variety of groups: faculty researchers, students, corporations, biotechnology companies, economic developers, government representatives and globally focused entrepreneurs," said event organizer James Leary, the School of Veterinary Medicine professor of nanomedicine at the Birck Nanotechnology Center and professor of basic medical sciences and biomedical engineering. [Full Story]

Magazine names Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center its Experts' Choice 'Facility of the Year'

August 21, 2007 - Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center in Discovery Park has been named Facility of the Year by Controlled Environments, a monthly magazine that focuses on the cleanroom industry.

In the May issue of Controlled Environments, editors highlighted Birck's state-of-the-art laboratories, its partnership with facility designer, Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Architecture Inc., and the role the Purdue facility now plays in encouraging interdisciplinary research. Birck was one of five winners honored through the magazine's 2007 Experts' Choice Awards.

"The goals established for Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center were daunting," editors at Controlled Environments wrote. "The program called for 25,000 square feet of cleanroom with very stringent operating parameters. Purdue University partnered with HDR Architecture and created an environment of collaboration that engaged all parties by stimulating creativity at all levels." [Full Story]

Scientists create their own Web 2.0 network with nanoHUB

August 21, 2007 - Teenagers may not have heard about it, but there's a Web 2.0 site that's a hit with scientists and engineers.

nanoHUB.org, a so-called science gateway for nano-science and nanotechnology housed at Purdue University, is taking the tools of Web 2.0 and applying them, along with a few tricks of its own, to further nano-scholarly pursuits.

The result is a Web site that is a required bookmark for people who get excited about algorithms, carbon nanotubes, nanoelectronics and quantum dots - the current hot topics on the site. [Full Story]

New technology has dramatic chip-cooling potential for future computers

August 13, 2007 - Researchers have demonstrated a new technology using tiny "ionic wind engines" that might dramatically improve computer chip cooling, possibly addressing a looming threat to future advances in computers and electronics.

The Purdue University researchers, in work funded by Intel Corp., have shown that the technology increased the "heat-transfer coefficient," which describes the cooling rate, by as much as 250 percent.
"Other experimental cooling-enhancement approaches might give you a 40 percent or a 50 percent improvement," said Suresh Garimella, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue. "A 250 percent improvement is quite unusual." [Full Story]

Nanotechnology sensor implanted in the eye could treat glaucoma

August 7, 2007 - (Nanowerk News) Purdue University researchers have developed new miniature devices designed to be implanted in the brain to predict and prevent epileptic seizures and a nanotechnology sensor for implantation in the eye to treat glaucoma.

Findings will be detailed in three research papers being presented at the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society's Sciences and Technologies for Health conference from Aug. 23-26 in Lyon, France.

One research project focuses on a tiny transmitter three times the width of a human hair to be implanted below the scalp to detect the signs of an epileptic seizure before it occurs. The system will record neural signals relayed by electrodes in various points in the brain, said Pedro Irazoqui (pronounced Ear-a-THOkee), an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. [Read More]

Prep teachers get lessons in nanoscience, cleanroom at Purdue

August 1, 2007 - High school teachers received more than book lessons during a two-week workshop at Purdue.

On July 18 the group put on protective suits called "bunny suits" and entered the dust-free environment of the Birck Nanotechnology Center cleanroom for some hands-on training.

The group consisted of 13 teachers from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Finland who participated in the National Center for Learning and Teaching in the professional development program "Inquiry-Based Instruction in Nanoscale Science and Engineering." [Full Story]

See-Through Transistors

The recent issue of Technology Review features an article, "See-Through Transistors: Transparent transistors made from nanowires could mean bright and clear OLED displays" by Prachi Patel-Predd, about organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and the work being done by Professor David Janes. Read more…

New process generates hydrogen from aluminum alloy to run engines, fuel cells: Researchers demonstrate method for producing hydrogen

Purdue University News Service posted a CNN article entitled Fill your car up with aluminum, which features work being conducted by Jerry Woodall, a member of the Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Pellets made out of aluminum and gallium can produce pure hydrogen when water is poured on them, offering a possible alternative to gasoline-powered engines, U.S. scientists say.

Hydrogen is seen as the ultimate in clean fuels, especially for powering cars, because it emits only water when burned. U.S. President George W. Bush has proclaimed hydrogen to be the fuel of the future, but researchers have not decided what is the most efficient way to produce and store hydrogen. Read More...

Making Objects Invisible receives world-wide attention

A recent edition of the Technology Review features an article entitled "How to Make an Object Invisible: A new theoretical design using nanowires provides a way to hide devices from visible light," written by Duncan Graham-Rowe, that focuses on the "cloaking" work of Professor Vladimir M. Shalaev.

The Discovery Channel reports that the "cloaking device makes colour red invisible" (Brian Jackson).

The IRAN DAILY recently ran a story entitled "'Optical Cloaking' for Invisibility."

ABC News reported that "scientists [are] close to Potter-stye 'invisible cloak.'"