The VINSE Core Laboratories: Opportunities, Challenges and Lessons Learned at Year 6

In 2004 Vanderbilt University announced the design and construction of a 1635 sq. ft. class 10000-cleanroom facility to support the research mission of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE). By design we have brought together disparate technologies and researchers formerly dispersed across the campus, and across middle Tennessee, to work together in a contiguous space intended to foster interaction and synergy of nano-technologies not often found in close proximity. The space hosts a variety of tools for lithographic patterning of substrates, the deposition of thin films, the synthesis of carbon-based nanostructures, and a variety of reactive ion etchers for the fabrication of nanostructures on planar substrates. In addition, a separate 911 sq. ft. chemistry laboratory supports nanocrystal synthesis and the investigation of biomolecular films. The design criteria required an integrated space that would support the scientific agenda of the laboratory while satisfying all applicable code and safety concerns. VINSE has enjoyed much success over the years as evidenced by the quality of faculty recruitment, the publication of peer-reviewed science, new research funding, and the number and quality of students who have completed their research in our laboratories and graduated with advanced degrees. As the facility matures we face lingering issues of cost recovery and maintenance of the physical plant at a private University.