Birck Nanotechnology Center to receive significant upgrade

Exterior portrait of the Birck Nanotechnology Center. The curved, modern building is surrounded by lush foliage.

Investment in research facility advances semiconductor innovation

As part of Purdue Computes, a three-pronged strategic initiative launched in April 2023 to further scale research and educational excellence in the future of computing, Purdue University announced significant upgrades to the Birck Nanotechnology Center. This includes an investment of $49-million in semiconductor cleanroom upgrade.

“Birck Nanotechnology Center has for decades been a critical home for discovery and technology development, both for Purdue researchers and those from industry and other universities who use our facilities,” says Zhihong Chen, the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center and professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "This investment will ensure that we maintain our state-of-the-art facilities, reclaim more space, and establish new capabilities for semiconductor R&D."

Upgrades will include procurement of specialized equipment for device fabrication and characterization, an effort to increase capacity in the 25,000-square-foot Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory cleanroom, one of the largest academic cleanrooms in the nation. It will include a dedicated training bay for use in training those enrolled in the university's Semiconductor Degrees Program, such as Purdue undergrads, Ivy Tech students, and engineers in the field.
 
The upgrades will also create dedicated cleanroom and lab space for advanced packaging research - innovations in design, materials, and processing that are needed to integrate chiplets with different functionalities - and shared quantum transport and characterization facilities, which are important to future electronic and quantum information science applications. Work is expected to be completed in August 2024. The installation of new equipment in the renovated space will start in the first quarter of 2024.