[BNC-all] BNC e-news for the week of May 19th

[Anthrop, Heather L]

NCN-NEEDS Summer School
Purchasing
PVD Users
Seminar
Survey Feedback

NCN-NEEDS Summer School
Spintronics: Science, Circuits, and Systems
July 23 - 25, 2014
Martin Jischke Hall room 1001
For more information please visit: https://nanohub.org/groups/needs/summer_school

Purchasing
For a purchase request to be fully processed an explanation of why the purchase is being made MUST be filled out on the purchase request form. For the most current form please visit: https://nanohub.org/groups/bnc/File:DP_Purchase_Request.xlsx

PVD Users
Due to a recent power/grounding issue in bay "K" of the cleanroom, power supplies from the "Lesker and Leybold" evaporators have been damaged.  These must be sent back to the factory for repair. Until the repairs are completed, we have formulated a plan to keep all users research moving in the right direction. For normal Lesker processes, the CHA will be the evaporator to use.  We can shift the processes from the Leybold to the Varian or Airco.

A new Sputtering system will come online the week of 05/26/14 that will be able to sputter the following materials:  Ti, Au, Cu, TiO2, Al2O3, Al, Al/Si1%, Si3N4 and soon to be Ni and SiO2. For the time being, all samples will have to be submitted to Dave Lubelski for deposition.  Once the evaporators are back online, training will begin for the sputtering system. Please give a minimum notice of 24 hours for sputtering source changes.

Thank You,
Dave Lubelski

Seminar
Professor Gregory B. Raupp
Director, Macro Technology Works Initiative
Arizona State University
High Performance Flexible Electronics for Revolutionary Human-scale Systems: Thinking Outside the Box
Monday, May 19th at 11:00 am in Birck 1001
For more information please visit: https://nanohub.org/groups/bnc/calendar/details/995

Survey Feedback
Optical Microscopes

Concerns about our two Nikon optical microscopes were recently brought to our attention and we immediately scheduled a microscope field service engineer to come in for a preventive maintenance visit.  Last Friday he completed a general service on both scopes, cleaning the optics and light path, and checking the mechanical movement.  A minor part for the 'north' scope has been ordered and will be installed when it arrives.  Both scopes are in good working order.  Also please note the Nomarski  filters are available and located in the plastic container next to the microscopes.  Please feel free to use these as needed, and return them to the storage box when finished.

Equipment Availability

We've had a number of comments from students and other users stating that it can be difficult to gain access to equipment and/or staff for training and processing.  Our recent analysis shows equipment is actually being used, based on a 24/7 use model, only 20 - 30 % of the time it is available.  And our equipment uptime, thanks to our engineering staff, is more than 90%.  This analysis is done by looking back into Coral reports at the real usage times.  So actual equipment availability is good but there is a large problem where equipment reservations are made in Coral and then not used and not cancelled.  When unused reservations are not cancelled it blocks others from being able to use the tools.  This situation happens for a variety of legitimate reasons . . . previous processing steps may have had issues so the samples aren't ready when planned for the reserved equipment time, additional measurement or characterization time is required prior to the next processing step, personal issues arise which cause research progress to be temporarily suspended, etc.  For this fiscal year (since July 1, 2013) we have compiled a report from Coral which shows that 20 users accounted for 2554 reservations that were missed and not cancelled.  Therefore there were 2554 instances since last July where Coral shows equipment blocked from use by unused reservations.  We are seriously evaluating changes in our operational systems to address this issue, and we would welcome suggestions from the user community.  In the meantime, please be diligent about cancelling your reservations when you realize they are not going to be used.  This frees up equipment in Coral for other users and relieves the pinch points that many of you have noted.

Thanks again for your inputs, and your cooperation, and we look forward to receiving your ideas on how we can address this issue.

Ron

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