We are participating in an innovative program within the College of Engineering at Rowan University in which students and faculty work side-by-side in small interdisciplinary teams (2-5 students) on laboratory experiments, real-world design projects and research projects. Some participants in this clinic may spend a summer interning at the Columbia Nanocenter and then continue their work at Rowan. Prof. Robert Krchnavek has actively coordinated our participation in this program. The initial project, in collaboration with Colin Nuckolls, was to design and fabricate a massively parallel fluorescence-screening tool for assessing the binding of organic molecules with selected metal surfaces.

Jake Kephart (Mechanical Engineering, Junior - 2002) of Rowan University was given the assignment of designing and building a sample holder that would allow more than one sample to be measured without a nitrogen purge between measurements. The "wheel" was designed to fit into the existing spectrometer, allow for easy removal for other experiments, and be remotely rotated to change samples without opening the system. Samples are held in place using spring clips. The sample holding surface can be removed for loading samples without removing the entire wheel, thereby preserving alignment. The wheel can be reconfigured for measurements that require a vertical light path, e.g., fluorescence in an optical microscope. With this new system, the same set of experiments that would require 16 hours of purge time can now be done with only 2 hours of purge time. Jake Kephart designed and built the sample holder as part of his Junior Engineering Clinic course.

For the 2002-3 academic year, the Engineering Clinic students are engaged in two NSEC related projects. The first is to develop techniques for nanoimprint lithography. The imprinter is fabricated using the e-beam writing system at Columbia University. This structure is used for a variety of imprinting experiments. So far the group has developed a high-pressure imprinting system, demonstrated 35 nm separation distance in HSQ imprinters, and demonstrated 40 nm metal features. The second project we call the "vacuum suitcase." The concept is to build a high vacuum carrier that can be used to transport samples from a UHV system to a nitrogen glovebox, very useful for preparation of surface monolayers, followed by structural investigations with STM. This group has met at Columbia University with George Flynn and graduate students to outline the problem, completed preliminary mechanical design, finished detailed mechanical design and outside machining quotes, and developed instrumentation design to evaluate suitcase vacuum. The picture at right shows some of the team members with the design.

At Rowan University, Robert Krchnavek has created a new course: Special topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering: An Introduction to Nanoelectronics. In this seminar course, he explores the fundamental aspects of a viable electronics technology and analyzes why CMOS has remained the technology of choice. He also examines the fundamental limits to the technology that will ultimately require significant changes to maintain advances in computing. He considers several alternative schemes, including non-classical CMOS, carbon nanotubes, quantum cellular automata, resonant tunneling structures, and molecular nanoelectronics. Finally, he takes a look at the theory of these technologies, how they satisfy the needs of a viable computing technology, and the current state-of-the-art.