April 2008 - BNC-all - ecn.purdue.edu

Weekly memo
by Deborah S. Starewich 28 Apr '08

28 Apr '08

WEEKLY MEMO, April 28, 2008 ****************** 1. ANNOUNCEMENTS ****************** 1.1: Friday, May 2 scheduled for refrigerator (in the Birck¹s kitchen) shut down. Any items not removed by 4:00 will be removed and disposed. We will power off the refrigerator over the weekend and clean and power up on Monday, May 5. 1.2: Additional landscaping work will be taking place around the BNC to repair several problems with the existing landscape. These should have a minimal affect on the building, but at times may have sidewalks temporarily closed. Additionally, there will be some noise- and vibration-creating activities where concrete must be cut and removed. This work will take place between May 1 and June 19, 2008. Major vibration-creating activities are planned for mornings during the week of May 5. Please contact John Weaver jrweaver(a)purdue.edu if this timing is problematic. 1.3: RE: Discovery Park fence relocation: The Discovery Park Site Development Phase VI fence location will be relocated sometime the week of April 28, 2008 and will remain at this location until mid-August 2008. This will affect the pedestrian traffic in the Discovery Park area, as well as entrances at both Bindley Bioscience and Mann Hall. Please see the site plan below showing the fence location in red. The east door at Bindley will not be accessible from the north. All doors at Mann Hall will only be accessible from a southern route. The yellow sidewalks shown on the site plan will be available for use. Also, the sidewalk currently running between Mann Hall and Burton Morgan will be closed during this time period. The site plan drawing is available here: http://www.purdue.edu/physicalfacilities/pdf/disc_park.pdf; a map of the area is available here: http://www.purdue.edu/physicalfacilities/pdf/disc_park_map.pdf. ******************** 2. TOURS/VISITORS ******************** 2.1: Wednesday, April 30, 2:00, BRK 1001 and tour: Cook Medical, Inc. **************** 3. OPPORTUNITIES **************** 3.1: Mark your calendars / Register now: ³Nanotechnology and the Environment,² August 5-6, 2008, Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, Indianapolis, Indiana. Hosted by Assessment of Nanomaterials in the Environment (ANE), Purdue University. Contributors are the Birck Nanotechnology Center, Center for the Environment, and Purdue University. Sponsored by National Science Foundation, NIRT Program. For additional information and to register, Register online at: www.conf.purdue.edu/nano <http://www.conf.purdue.edu/nano> 3.2: per Cris King, SPS: Limited Submission Competition: NSF S-STEM. New internal deadlines have been posted at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> for the National Science Foundation¹s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) competition. The request for proposals is available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07524/nsf07524.htm <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07524/nsf07524.htm> . Internal deadlines for the next competition are as follows: Monday, June 2: Letters of Intent due to the OVPR; Monday, June 30: Preproposals due to the OVPR; Thursday, July 3: Preproposal rankings due to the OVPR. Please note: Letters of intent, preproposals, and rankings to the OVPR should be e-mailed to OVPRlimited(a)purdue.edu. Purdue's limited submission policy and templates for letters of intent and preproposals may be found at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> . For any case in which the number of internal letters of intent received is no more than the number of proposals allowed by the sponsor, the OVPR will notify the PI that an internal preproposal will be unnecessary. 3.3: per Cris King, SPS: NSF STC Solicitation a significant upcoming funding opportunity. The National Science Foundation plans to issue a new solicitation for its Science and Technology Centers Program (STC) in May or June of this year. Our expectation is that the RFP, when released, will limit the number of preliminary proposals that may be submitted. In order to allow adequate time for the development of successful proposals from Purdue for this competition, this office will establish shorter-than-usual internal deadlines for letters of intent and preproposals. It is our hope that, through early determination of which faculty teams will be going forward with preliminary proposals to NSF, your faculty will have more time to work on their proposals, and we will be able to provide more administrative support, as needed. Information about the STC program is available at http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/stc/ <http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/stc/> . ********************** 4. LIFE ON THE OUTSIDE ********************** 4.1: Craft Sale: Tuesday, April 29, 12:00PM, MRGN Café.

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Recap of the BNC Research Review, April 14th, 2008, ON BEHALF OF TIM SANDS
by Deborah S. Starewich 22 Apr '08

22 Apr '08

Dear Birck Nanotechnology Center member: If you were not able to attend the BNC Annual Research Review on April 14th, the presentations were recorded and will appear on the nanoHUB. In the meantime, I invite you to peruse a written (html) version of a portion of the overview presentation at: http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/nanoatpurdue.php This draft report entitled "The Impact of the Investment in Nano at Purdue University: Peer-reviewed Publications as a Metric" represents our attempt to quantify (albeit in one dimension) the impact of the investment in the people, the community and the facilities in nanoscience, nanoengineering and nanotechnology at Purdue. Let me also take this opportunity to recognize Yan Zhao, Waleska Perez-Segarra, and Qicun Shi and Alexander Wei as the first recipients of the Birck Nanotechnology Center Research Citation Award for their paper, "Dithiocarbamate Assembly on Gold," which appeared in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 127 (2005): 7328-29. This citation award is presented to the authors of the journal publication with the most citations in the Web of Science database for the two full calendar years following the year of publication. Publications with the lead author indicating the Birck Nanotechnology Center as an affiliation are eligible. A plaque will be mounted in the BNC. Speaking of plaques, you will also see two new plaques on the wall in the atrium very soon, recognizing the founding co-directors, Dick Schwartz and Jim Cooper for ³Exceptional Guidance and Leadership in the Formation of the Birck Nanotechnology Center.² Lastly, the poster, "Rapid electrokinetic patterning of colloidal particles with optical landscapes," by Stuart Williams, Aloke Kumar, and Steve Wereley received the highest number of votes during the poster session and, thus, an award of $300 (plus a gross-up to cover taxes) will be split equally among the authors of this winning poster. Regards- Tim -- Timothy D. Sands Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director, Birck Nanotechnology Center Discovery Park, Purdue University www.nano.purdue.edu & Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering School of Materials Engineering & School of Electrical and Computer Engineering https://engineering.purdue.edu/MSE/Turner Birck Nanotechnology Center 1205 West State Street West Lafayette, IN 47907-2057 phone: (765) 496-6105 fax: (765) 496-8383 e-mail: tsands(a)purdue.edu

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Weekly memo
by Deborah S. Starewich 21 Apr '08

21 Apr '08

WEEKLY MEMO, April 21, 2008 **************** 1. Announcements **************** 1.1: Additional landscaping work will be taking place around the BNC to repair several problems with the existing landscape. These should have a minimal affect on the building, but at times may have sidewalks temporarily closed. Additionally, there will be some noise- and vibration-creating activities where concrete must be cut and removed. This work will take place between May 1 and June 19, 2008. Major vibration-creating activities are planned for mornings during the week of May 5. Please contact John Weaver jrweaver(a)purdue.edu if this timing is problematic. 2.1: Bindley 233 autoclave training scheduled: Friday, April 25, 1:00PM. Sign up at http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/registration/?offeringid=2716 <http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/registration/?offeringid=2716> . Anyone interested in this training may contact Christy Cooper (clcooper(a)purdue.edu; 43403). ******************** 2. TOURS/VISITORS ******************** 2.1: Tuesday, 04.22.08: RCHE Annual Conference activities 2.2: Tuesday, 04.22.08, 2:45: Happy Hollow Elementary School¹s Nanoscience Club 2.3: Thursday, 04.24.08, 10:15: Jinsong Zhao, Tsinghua University 2.4: Thursday, 04.24.08, 4:00: Placido Navas, and staff with Foods & Nutrition Department, Purdue ******************** 3. SEMINARS ******************** 3.1: Monday, April 21, 2008, 3:30PM, MSEE 239: ³Networking via Message-Passing,² by Sujay Sanghavi. ABSTRACT: How to achieve global results via local action? This, in essence, is the underlying challenge in many problems in modern information systems. Belief Propagation (BP) has enjoyed tremendous empirical success in broadly addressing this challenge, in a diverse array of applications: image processing, decoding of channel codes, machine learning, statistical physics etc. However, BP is a heuristic; the lack of precise guarantees on its performance stands in stark contrast to its empirical success. In this talk we expand the analytical understanding of BP, and widen its applicability, by investigating its performance in a new domain: networking. We first motivate how the fundamental structure of many networking problems makes BP a natural fit for these problems, by focusing on three specific applications: wireless scheduling, sensor network self-organization, and resource allocation. We highlight its algorithmic simplicity, and demonstrate its empirical performance. We then show that the setting of networking problems allows for a deeper insight into BP itself. At the core of our networking applications lie canonical combinatorial problems: weighted matching and independent set. Our analysis reveals that, for these problems, BP is precisely a fast distributed implementation of linear programming. This insight has the potential to foster even better algorithms for the large spectrum of applications that BP is already applied to. We also demonstrate the first use of BP as a proof technique, using our analysis to establish fundamental structural properties of random instances· of weighted independent set problems. In conclusion, we comment on the potential of BP as a generic framework for distributed algorithms, on adapting it for new applications, and on the need for a richer exchange of ideas between the fields of communications and statistical learning and inference. BIO: Sujay Sanghavi received his B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from liT Bombay, after which he joined the University of lIIinois, Urbana-Champaign. There he received an MS in Mathematics, and an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering. Sujay's graduate research focused on communication networks, under the advice of Bruce Hajek. After graduating, Sujay jolned MIT as a postdoc ln Alan WHIsky's group. where he works on large-scale statistical inference and machine learning, and on their interactions with networking and communications. Sujay's primary research interest is the development and analysis of large-scale distributed algorithms for modern information systems. using tools from probability, optimization and combinatorics. He was a recipient of the Perry award in 2002, and the Mavis award in 2005, while at UIUC. 3.2: Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 1:00PM, BRK 2001: ³Nanoscale Characterization of Nanoelectromechanical and Biological Systems,² by Dr. Changhong Ke. ABSTRACT: Nanotechnology is impacting many fields including the electronics industry and life sciences. Novel nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are being investigated for next generation electronics and sensors with superior performance. Nanoscale instrumentation offers unprecedented capacities to characterize complex biological systems with ultrahigh sensitivities. In the first part of my talk, I will briefly review recent advances in NEMS and present the development of a novel carbon nanotube-based bistable nanoswitch for applications of memory elements and sensors. The unique electromechanical behaviors of this device are demonstrated by multi-physics modeling and in-situ SEM testing. Failure modes of the device captured by our in-situ measurements will be discussed. In the second part of my talk, I will present my recent work studying the elasticity and conformation of single stranded adenine-based DNA and RNA molecules by single molecule atomic force spectroscopy. I will focus on discussing direct measurements of the mechanical strength of base-stacking interactions among adenines and the elasticity of solvent driven molecular conformations. BIO: Dr. Changhong Ke is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Dr. Ke received his BS and MS from Beijing Institute of Technology (Beijing, China) in 1997 and 2000, respectively. He obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2006. His PhD dissertation focused on the development of a carbon nanotube-based bistable nanoswitch for applications of memory elements and sensors. After finishing his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University, where he conducted research on the topics of measuring DNA/RNA elasticity using AFM-based single molecule force spectroscopy and detecting radiation induced DNA damage at the single molecule level by AFM imaging and pulling measurements. Dr. Ke is a member of ASME and BPS. 3.3: Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 2:30PM, EE 317: ³Nonvolatile Flash Memory: An Overview,² by Souvik Mahapatra. ABSTRACT: In this talk, we will review the memory program and erase operation of floating gate flash cells under both NAND and NOR architecture. The reliability issues, such as cycling endurance, retention and array disturbs will be reviewed next. Finally, the floating gate cell scaling challenges will be discussed, and flash memories having newer charge storage node (nitride, metal nanocrystals) will be reviewed. BIO: Souvik Mahapatra received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay, India in 1999. He was with Bell Laboratories, Lucent technologies, Murray Hill, NJ, USA during 2000-01. Since 2002 he is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, India, and presently holds the post of Associate Professor. His research interests are CMOS device and Flash memory scaling and reliability. He has published more than 75 papers in international journals and conferences, delivered invited talks in major international conferences including the IEDM, and was a tutorial speaker at IRPS. He is a senior member of IEEE. 3.4a: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 10:00AM, YONG 755: ³Roundtable with Prince Cedza Dlamini²; learn about Prince Dlamini¹s ideas on Service Learning and opportunities for Purdue faculty. 3.4b: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 4:00PM, STEW 306: ³Formal Presentation: Service Learning experiences in South Africa and Swaziland.² Prince Cedza Dlamini, grandson of Nelson Mandela, is visiting campus to promote our faculty and students engaging in Service Learning experiences in South Africa and Swaziland. Prince Cedza has founded a non-profit organization to promote and support exchanges between our two countries and is focusing on several institutes of higher learning in Indiana, including Purdue. Actually, many South African and Swaziland students attend Indiana State University, though Purdue has a few attending here, too. 3.5: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 10:30AM refreshments; 11:00AM seminar, MRRGN 121: ³Population Balance Models and Distribution Control,² by Dr. Charles D. Immanuel. ABSTRACT: Several particulate processes such as emulsion polymerization and granulation are characterized by a distributed population, the control of which constitutes a means of inferential control of product quality. For example, the control of particle size distribution of emulsion polymers constitutes an inferential means to control the rheology and optical properties of the polymers. The research challenges underlying distribution control are the multi-scale nature of the processes and limitations in both on-line measurements and manipulations. Optimal distribution control can be achieved through use of population balance models that account for the underlying particle rate processes including nucleation, growth, aggregation and breakage. It is seen in our studies that the multi-scale control problem is facilitated indeed through an explicit consideration of the hierarchical nature of the process mechanisms in the controller formulations. In this talk, issues and methodologies for model development, numerical solution and controller formulation will be discussed, with applications to polymerization and granulation processes. BIO: Dr. Immanuel is a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. He has been in Imperial College since August 2003, after a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and a post-doctoral tenure at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Anna University, India. His research interests are in multi-dimensional and multi-scale population balance models, model-based applied process control, and polymerization processes. He is a committee member of the computer-aided process engineering division of the Institute of Chemical Engineers in UK, and a voting member of the working party on polymer reaction engineering of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. 3.6: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 3:00, MRGN 121: ³Exploiting Parametric Effects in Resonant Micro/Nanosystems,² by Jeffrey F. Rhoads. ABSTRACT: Parametric excitations arise naturally in a variety of resonant micro/nanosystems. While these excitations can render a number of beneficial system characteristics, including nearly-ideal stopband rejection and a lowered dependence on damping, full utilization of their potential requires that the resonant devices be highly tunable, in both a linear and nonlinear manner. This presentation will consider the modeling, analysis, and experimental characterization of a representative nonlinear, parametrically-excited, electrostatically-actuated microresonator. Experimentally-verified tunings used to acquire desired nonlinear system behaviors will be described and micro/nanoscale applications with distinct promise, including frequency-selective switching and resonant mass sensing, will be outlined. Ongoing research related to micro- and nanomechanical parametric amplifiers operating in both linear and nonlinear frequency response regimes will also be briefly discussed. BIO: Jeffrey F. Rhoads is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and is a member of the Birck Nanotechnology Center and Ray W. Herrick Laboratories at the same institution. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, each in mechanical engineering, from Michigan State University in 2002, 2004, and 2007, respectively. Dr. Rhoads' current research interests include the modeling, analysis, predictive design, and characterization of resonant micro/nanoelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) for use in chemical and biological sensing, RF signal filtering, and inertial sensing systems, the behavior of nonlinear, parametrically-excited systems and coupled oscillators, and the behavior of mechanical and electromechanical parametric amplifiers. Dr. Rhoads is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). 3.7: Friday, April 25, 2008, 3:30 refreshments, 3:45 Seminar, ARMS 1010: ³High-aspect-ration Micromachining of Titaniun: Enabling new functionality and opportunity in micromechanical systems through greater materials selection,² by Masa P. Rao. ABSTRACT: Traditionally, materials selection has been limited in high-aspect-ratio micromechanical applications, due primarily to the predominance of microfabrication processes and infrastructure dedicated to silicon. While silicon has proven to be an excellent material for many of these applications, no one material can meet the needs of all applications. This is especially evident in biomedical microdevice applications, where the intrinsic brittleness of silicon limits its utility, thus illustrating the need for development of viable alternatives. Titanium is particularly promising in this regard, due to its toughness, biocompatibility, and fatigue resistance. However, lack of sufficient fabrication capability has limited its use in micromechanical systems thus far. Recently, we reported the development of novel micromachining processes that now enable realization of this promise. These processes, based on plasma etching techniques derived from microelectronics manufacturing, provide for the first time, the capability for fabrication of complex, micrometer-scale, high-aspect-ratio structures in titanium. As such, these processes extend the state of the art in titanium micromachining and do so in a manner that is inherently scalable to low-cost/high-volume manufacturing. The focus of this talk will be to detail these processes, their capabilities, and their use in the fabrication of micromechanical devices for biomedical applications. BIO: Prof. Rao received his bachelors in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Florida and his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Following graduation, he accepted a position as a post-doctoral researcher in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UCSB, where he was involved in the initial development of plasma-based micromachining of titanium. He joined the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University as an Assistant Professor in January 2007. Prof. Rao¹s current research interests lie in the continued development of titanium micromachining and its application towards biomedical microdevices, as well as the development of other novel microfabrication technologies for various applications. He has authored/co-authored over 20 journal articles and conference proceedings, and has presented lectures in fields ranging from ceramic composites for gas turbine applications to MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) for telecommunications and biomedical applications. **************** 4. OPPORTUNITIES **************** 4.1: The Nanomanufacturing Sciences area of the SRC Global Research Collaboration is soliciting white papers in Environment, Safety & Health for work to begin April 1, 2009 as a part of an ESH Research Center based at the University of Arizona. Four-page white papers addressing needs in a new research needs document are due Thursday, May 15, 2008 by 3:00 p.m. ET. This call for research, issued to universities worldwide, may be addressed by individual investigators or by research teams. Successful white paper authors will be invited to submit a full proposal. Contracts resulting from this solicitation are anticipated to be three years in duration. Interested researchers should note the proposal and review schedule, needs document and instructions for web-based white paper submissions on the SRC GRC Web site at: http://grc.src.org/fr/S200806_call.asp <http://grc.src.org/fr/S200806_call.asp> 4.2: Summer internship for a graduate student (MS or PhD candidates) in Bangalore, India: An internship is available (all local expenses covered + $3,500) to conduct research with the National Center for Biological Sciences, India (http://www.ncbs.res.in/ <http://www.ncbs.res.in/> ). NCBS is a sister institution of Tata Institutional of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (http://www.tifr.res.in/) Research activities are listed at http://www.ncbs.res.in/researchncbs/groups.htm <http://www.ncbs.res.in/researchncbs/groups.htm> . Please contact Pankaj Sharma (sharma(a)purdue.edu) with your interest and be sure to include your resume. 4.3: The National Science Foundation has released a new solicitation for the International Materials Institutes (IMI) program, which promotes ³fundamental materials research by coordinating international research and education projects involving condensed matter and materials physics, solid state and materials chemistry, polymers, metals, ceramics, electronic materials, biomaterials and, in general, the design, synthesis, and characterization of and phenomena in materials to meet global and regional needs. The Institutes must be university-based and provide a research environment that will attract leading scientists and engineers. The Institutes' long term goal is the creation of a worldwide network in materials research and the development of a generation of scientists and engineers with enhanced international leadership capabilities. A critically important aspect of an IMI is its potential impact on advancing materials research on an international scale and developing an internationally competitive generation of materials researchers, and this distinguishes an IMI from other materials research centers that NSF supports.² The request for proposals is available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08558/nsf08558.htm <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08558/nsf08558.htm> . For this competition, Purdue may submit one proposal. Internal deadlines are as follows: Monday, May 12: Letters of Intent due to the OVPR; Monday, June 9: Preproposals due to the OVPR; Thursday, June 12: Preproposal rankings due to the OVPR; Agency deadline: Tuesday, July 15. Please note: Letters of intent, preproposals, and rankings to the OVPR should be e-mailed to OVPRlimited(a)purdue.edu. Purdue's limited submission policy and template for letters of intent may be found at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> . Those submitting for the Resources Center component should so indicate on the letter of intent. For any case in which the number of internal letters of intent received is no more than the number of proposals allowed by the sponsor, the OVPR will notify the PI that an internal preproposal will be unnecessary. ********* 5. KUDOS ********* 5.1: Birck Nanotechnology Center¹s 2008 Annual Research Review presented the first POSTER AWARD to STUART WILLIAMS, ALOKE KUMAR, and STEVE WERELEY for their poster, "Rapid electrokinetic patterning of colloidal particles with optical landscapes." The award of $300 (plus a gross-up to cover taxes) will be split equally among the authors of this winning poster. 5.2: Congratulations go to VIKKI FAST on her new position with the Birck Nanotechnology Business Office. Vikki will be assuming the responsibilities of Monthly Payroll and Account Management. She will begin the transition into her new position on Monday April 21st. She will continue to work on tasks related to her current position until it has been filled.

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WEEKLY MEMO: Monday, 04.14.08
by Deborah S. Starewich 14 Apr '08

14 Apr '08

WEEKLY MEMO, April 14, 2008 **************** 1. Announcements **************** 1.1: TODAY: 2nd Annual BNC Research Review, 1:00PM, MRGN 121. Program to include Tim Sands, ³The Birck Nanotechnology Center Progress, Opportunities, and Challenges²; Evgenii Narimanov, ³Metamaterials for Future Photonics²; Donald Bergstrom, ³Carbon Nanotubes as Nucleic Acid Carriers²; Gerhard Klimeck, ³nanoHUB Future Cyberinfrastructure Serving over 60,000 Users Today²; Jayathi Murthy, ³An Introduction to PRISM and MEMS Simulation²; and David Janes on nanoelectronics. A poster review and session will also be included in this year¹s activities. Visit www.nano.purdue.edu <http://www.nano.purdue.edu> for the most up-to-date information regarding this year¹s Annual Research Review. ******Participant Reception****** 5:30, Birck Atrium, 2nd floor, Cleanroom entrance area: PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA 1.2: CARD READERS: Work has begun on the installation of the BNC card reader system. This project will take several weeks and includes wiring each BNC lab door for card-swipe entry. Researchers at Birck can expect to see electricians in their labs and in some cases may be asked to briefly suspend experiments as ceiling tiles are removed and wiring is run through the lab. Some cutting and grinding can also be expected as the card readers are mounted on each lab door. Please remove unnecessary items from the laboratories and galleys (empty boxes, trash, etc). And let the electricians know if there is an experiment in progress that precludes them from working in the laboratory as scheduled. This week (April 14th - 18th) installation will continue on the 2nd Floor West Lab Wing (Rooms 22XX). Work should focus on the galleys but may extend into BRK 2217, 2221, 2233, 2239, 2261, 2277, 2283. If you have any issues or concerns please contract Mary Jo Totten (61173) or Mark Voorhis (43036). 1.3: LANDSCAPING: Additional landscaping work will be taking place around the BNC to repair several problems with the existing landscape. These should have a minimal affect on the building, but at times may have sidewalks temporarily closed. Additionally, there will be some noise- and vibration-creating activities where concrete must be cut and removed. This work will take place between May 1 and June 19, 2008. Major vibration-creating activities are planned for mornings during the week of May 5. Please contact John Weaver jrweaver(a)purdue.edu if this timing is problematic. ******************** 2. TOURS/VISITORS ******************** 2.1: Friday, April 18, 8:00AM: Rotary GSE team from Africa ******************** 3. SEMINARS ******************** 3.1: Monday, April 14, 3:00 refreshments, 3:15 seminar, ARMS 1010: ³Electromigration in Flip Chip Solder Joint Technology,² by King-Ning Tu, Materials Science and Engineering, UCLA. ABSTRACT: The demand of flip chip technology in high density packaging for advanced electronic consumer products is growing rapidly. Due to the decrease in device size and increase in functionality, electromigration has now become the most serious reliability problem in flip chip solder joints, especially the Pb-free. It has several unique features that are very different from the electromigration in Al and Cu interconnects. Solder alloy has a very small critical product of electromigration, thus it can fail at 103 A/cm2. Owing to the line-to-bump geometry in flip chip, current crowding occurs at the contact between the line and the bump and the failure mode of electromigration is a pancake-type void formation at the cathode. Again due to current crowding, whiskers can be squeezed out at the anode. Joule heating due to Al or Cu interconnects can cause a very large temperature gradient in the solder joint, so thermomigration accompanies electromigration. In this talk, these reliability issues of flip chip solder joints will be presented. BIO: King-Ning Tu received his B. Sc. Degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 1960, M. Sc. degree in Materials Science from Brown University in 1964, and Ph. D. degree in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1968. He spent 25 years at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center as Research Staff Member in Physical Science Department. During that period, he also served as Senior Manager of Thin Film Science Department and Materials Science Department for 10 years. In September 1993, he joined the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering at UCLA as full professor. He was chairman of the Department for six years from 1998 to 2004. He is a Fellow of American Physical Society, The Metallurgical Society (TMS), and an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, UK. He was president of Materials Research Society in 1981. He received the Application to Practice Award from TMS in 1988, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Electronic, Magnetic, and Photonic Materials Division of TMS in 2006, and Humboldt Award for US Senior Scientists in 1996. He has been elected a member of Academia Sinica, Republic of China in 2002. He has over 400 journal publications with citations over 10000 and h-factor of 58. He co-authored a textbook on ³Electronic thin Film Science,² published by Macmillan in 1992, and authored a book on ³Solder joint technology² published by Springer in July 2007. His research interests are in metal-silicon reactions, solder reactions, nanoscale reactions, polarity effect of electromigration on interfacial reactions, and kinetic theories of interfacial reactions. His website is http://www.seas.ucla.edu/eThinFilm/ <http://www.seas.ucla.edu/eThinFilm/> 3.2: Monday, April 14, 2008, 5:30PM, Beering 2280: ³The Role of Interior Designers in Healthcare,² by Ana Maregatti 3.3: Wednesday, April 16, 6:00PM, PIZZA AND BEVERAGES served; MRGN 121: ³Ethical Issues in Contructing and Usng Biobanks,² by Eric M. Meslin, PhD; Director of the Indiana University Center for Bioethics; Professor of Medicine, and of Medical and Molecular Genetics; Indiana University of Medicine; Professor of Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts; Associate Dean, Bioethics, Indiana University School of Medicine 3.4: Thursday, April 17, 10:00AM, BRK 1001: ³Magnetic and Semiconductor Nanostructures for Ultra High Density Magnetic Recording,² by Ernesto E. Marinero ABSTRACT: Magnetic recording aims to achieve recording densities of 1012 bits/in2 in the foreseeable future. Critical dimensions of the magnetic domains and the sensors required to detect their flux at this density will be of the order of 15nm or less. These nanoscale dimensions present major materials and fabrication challenges to both the magnetic materials utilized for storing the bits, and to the sensor devices. This talk will review ongoing efforts to achieve highly uniform nanostructured magnetic recording materials comprising magnetic grains (islands) of ¾ 5 nm in diameter, segregated by a secondary non-magnetic phase. Mesoscopic sensors based on GMR and TMR based ferromagnetic materials are expected to be inadequate for sensing magnetic domains ¾ 15 nm on account of thermal instabilities (mag noise) and spin-torque effects. Therefore, magnetic sensor devices employing non-ferromagnetic materials are needed. Nanoscopic semiconductor quantum well heterostructures offer a potential solution and I will describe our ongoing research in this area. BIO: Ernesto Marinero received his BSc and PhD degrees in Physics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. His research experience has been gained through various appointments in Europe and the USA. This includes basic and applied research at the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany; Stanford University and the IBM and Hitachi Research Centers in San Jose California. His technical expertise includes Materials Science, Semiconductor Physics, Growth of Nanostructured Materials and Thin Films, Laser Physics and Picosecond Phenomena, Laser-Materials Processing, Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy, Hydrogen Quantum Chemistry, Optoelectronics, Characterization and Metrology, Thin Film Corrosion and Reliability, Magnetic Materials and Magnetic Recording Technology, Phase-Change Storage and Nanoscale Sensor Device Physics and Fabrication. His work has been widely published in the scientific literature and utilized in IBM's and Hitachi¹s technology products. His original research is the subject of numerous US, Asian and European patents. Marinero is currently at the Hitachi San Jose Research Center and his research focuses on two key areas: 1) synthesis of new nanostructured magnetic materials that and 2) research on electron transport of mesoscopic devices based on semiconductor 2DEG heterostructures with particular emphasis on ballistic transport and quantum transport. He is actively involved in collaborative research programs with academic institutions in the USA, Mexico and the UK through joint research programs in nanoscience and nanotechnology. 3.5: Friday, April 18, 3:00 refreshments, PHYS 242; 3:30 seminar, PHYS 223: Condensed Matter and Biological Physics Seminar, ³In Search of the Perfect Semiconductor Photon Detector,² Peter Yu, University of California, Berkeley ASBSTRACT: Photon detectors have many important applications, such as inheat sensing, digital cameras, solar cells and x-ray and gamma-ray detection. So far, the most common detectors are based on elemental semiconductors, such as Si and Ge. However, they are by no means perfect in tackling some of the important problems facing the modern society. For example, thin films solar cells are not yet as economical as coal/gas fired power generators. For homeland security applications, high energy radiation detectors are too bulky and require cryogenic cooling. In this talk I shall describe a joint effort between theorists and experimentalists at Berkeley to look for new semiconductor detectors with better performance than existing detectors. On the experimental side, combinatorial techniques are utilized to allow for fast growth and characterization of a large library of new semiconductors synthesized by laser ablation. On the theory front, computational techniques are developed to allow for the prediction ofall the properties of semiconductors relevant to photon detection. By ³all², we mean electronic, optical, vibrational, transport, magnetic anddefect properties. While this ambitious project is still in progress, Ishall describe some new and interesting results we have found in the well-studied zincblende- and wurtzite-type semiconductors. We have obtained new insights into the effects of transition and rare-earth metal dopants, such as Cu and Gd, on the transport and magnetic properties of the host semiconductor. 3.6: Friday, April 18, 2008, 3:30PM, EE117: ³Multiphysics Modeling of Molecules and Materials,² by Hans Agren, Theoretical Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockhololm Sweden ABSTRACT: With ³multiphysics modeling² we combine methods that have different physical content in order to obtain a more complete view of an applied problem. In materials science this can involve methods that bridge length and time scales; in length from atomistic to macroscopic levels through "electrons, atoms, grains and grids"; in time from femtosecond electron dynamics to slow processes perceived by humans. The combination can be obtained in terms of integrated algorithms or simply by piping datasets from one model to the other. Quantum mechanics is central in many such combinations as the microscopic light-matter interaction requires a quantum description. In the first part of my talk I will therefore describe some development in the quantum description of properties, in particular so-called response theory. Its implementation in the context of density functional theory, see e.g. [1], that is time-depdendent density functional theory (TDDFT), has been very successful in recent years in calculations of molecular properties also of quite large systems. Such applications cover a large wavelength region, from the X-ray region, over the optical and infrared regions and to the microwave and radiofrequency regions where electron and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments are carried out. In the final part of my talk I will bring up some contemporary research problems where the multiphysics concept has been applied, like; design of materials for optical control, where the combination of quantum mechanics (QM) and classical electrodynamics is applied [1]; the design of electro-optical switching materials through combination of QM and classical dynamics (QM and MD) [2]; studies of multiphoton induced light emission in quantum dots with QM coupled to statistical mechanics [3]; solvent effects on non-linear effects with polarizable continuum models [4], i.e. combining QM with dielectric theory. ([1] Density-functional theory of linear and nonlinear time-dependent molecular properties, P. Salek, O. Vahtras, T. Helgaker, and H. Ågren, J. Chem. Phys. 117, 9630 (2002). [2] A quantum mechanical - electrodynamical approach to nonlinear properties: A. Baev, P. Welinder, R. Erlandsson, J. Henriksson, P. Norman and H. Ågren, J. of Nonlinear Optical Physics & Materials, 16, 157 (2007). [3] Electric field poled nonlinear optical systems, Y. Tu, Q. Zhang, and H. Ågren J. Phys. Chem. B 111, 3591 (2007). [4] Dynamics of multiple-photon optical processes in semiconductor quantum , Y. Fu, T.-T. Han, Y. Luo, and H. Ågren, J. Phys. Condens. Matter, 18, 9071 (2006). [5] Solvation of azide at the water surface: the Polarizable Continuum Model approach, L. Bondesson, L. Frediani, H. Ågren, and B. Mennucci, J. Phys. Chem., 110, 11361 (2006).) For further information, please contact Prof. Kevin Webb, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering: 494-3373; webb(a)purdue.edu <mailto:webb@purdue.edu> 3.7: Friday, April 11, 2008, 3:30PM, BRK 2001: ³Linear and Nonlinear Optical Devices Based on Slow Light Propagation: Figures of Merit,² by Jacob Khurgin, Deparment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University. ABSTRACT: Performance of optical delay lines and nonlinear devices based on slow wave propagation in photonic crystal waveguides in the presence of higher order dispersion is analyzed and compared with other slow light schemes, such as coupled resonators, media with electromagnetically-induced transparence, surface plasmons, and optical amplifiers. It is shown that higher order dispersion of gain and index severely limits the bit rate of the system. Novel methods for increasing the bit rate are proposed and analyzed. These methods range from mundane dispersion-compensation schemes to the most elaborate methods using adiabatic changes and various parametric processes. The conclusion is that the slow light is definitely anything but a ³silver bullet² for most purported applications, there still might be a practical niche for it. BIO: Jacob B. Khurgin received MS in Optical Engineering from the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics, St. Petersburg, Russia in 1979. Upon promptly leaving that land in 1980, he joined the Philips Laboratories of NV Philips in Briarcliff Manor, NY where he worked with a variable degree of success on miniature solid-state lasers, II-VI semi-conductor lasers pumped with E-beam, various display components, and coffee makers that do not explode. Simultaneously, he was pursuing his graduate studies at Polytechnic Institute of NY, where he had received his PhD in Electro-physics in January 1987. In January 1988, Dr. Khurgin joined the ECE department of Johns Hopkins University where he is currently a Professor. His research interests include physics of semi-conductor nanostructures, quantum devices, semi-conductor lasers and amplifiers, nonlinear optics, optical communications, microwave photonics, ultra-fast opto- electronics, and others. He has authored in excess of 170 publications in technical journals and a few book chapters. Prof. Khurgin is an OSA Fellow. **************** 4. OPPORTUNITIES **************** 4.1: Funding Opportunity with UK Partners: Research Councils UK (RCUK) has opened the application period for its Science Bridges Awards. Detailed information can be found at: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/international/sciencebridges.htm <http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/international/sciencebridges.htm> . This program provides funding to help research institutions or consortia in the US and UK to link together to accelerate the time from research to commercial development. US-UK ties must already exist, and will be strengthened through the program. Outline proposals are due May 15, 2008. 4.2: Energy Frontiers Research Centers: Limited Submission Announcement The US Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences group has announced the Energy Frontiers Research Centers (EFRC) competition to which Purdue can submit three proposals as a lead organization. In addition, we can participate in an organized manner and at the individual faculty level in as many proposals from other institutions including US DOE Government Laboratories as appropriate. https://e-center.doe.gov/iips/faopor.nsf/UNID/933104E42D0185E58525742100694C 78/$file/EFRC_FOA_Final_Dated_April42008_FINAL.pdf <file://localhost/iips/faopor.nsf/UNID/933104E42D0185E58525742100694C78/$fil e/EFRC_FOA_Final_Dated_April42008_FINAL.pdf> . There are 13 reports at the following web site for those interested learning more about the program http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/EFRC.html <http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/EFRC.html> . We hope that all groups interested in this program can participate in one or more proposals led by Purdue or another organization, such as a US DOE funded laboratory. Campus wide groups in the general areas of Bio Fuels (Point of Contact: Sonny Ramaswamy sonny(a)purdue.edu) Thermal and Solar to Electric (Point of Contact: David Janes janes(a)ecn.purdue.edu) Advanced Nuclear Energy (Point of Contact: Ahmed Hassanein, hassanein(a)purdue.edu) and others are already in a self-assembly process. The Energy Center is helping to facilitate responses to this funding opportunity and can be contacted for additional information (contact Ron Steuterman steuterm(a)purdue.edu) The purpose of this message is to make you aware of this opportunity, and to alert you to the limited submissions process. As with any limited submissions competition, the university will use a standard process to help encourage groups to work together and to select those proposals that can go forward as one of the three Purdue-led submissions (http://www.purdue.edu/research/vpr/proposal/docs/LimitedSubmissionProcessAp ril2006ver3.doc <http://www.purdue.edu/research/vpr/proposal/docs/LimitedSubmissionProcessAp ril2006ver3.doc> ). For this solicitation we are not requesting initial letters of intent; however preproposals are due by Friday, April 25th. Preproposals should conform to the template given at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> for the DoE EFRC competition.and should make clear the objective of the proposal (the breakthrough expected in a brief but convincing manner) and should clearly address the key criteria in the DoE¹s Funding Opportunity Announcement. Preproposals should also include information on the leadership team (up to 6 names), US DOE laboratory contacts (laboratory name and point of contact information - we will not contact this person or laboratory using the information you provide), corporate leveraging anticipated, and any internal leveraging anticipated. We will try to involve as many groups as possible in submission of proposals under either Purdue or government laboratory leadership, or in proposals led by other universities. The information in the pre-proposals will help in the identification of strong partners and will also be used by the limited submissions review committee in the determination of the three proposals that will be submitted with Purdue as the lead organization. To submit a preproposal, to download the pre-proposal template, and for additional information please visit Purdue¹s limited submissions web site at http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi <http://dagon.admin.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/lsid.cgi> . 4.3: The International Association of Nanotechnology is now accepting abstracts to be presented at the upcoming 5th International Congress of Nano-Bio & Clean Tech 2008. The conference will gather world class researchers, business executives and engineers from over 30 countries and cover the following topics: Nanomaterials, Nanoparticles, Nanodevices, Nanoelectronics, Nanofabrication, MEMS & NEMS, Nanobiotechnology, Nano scale characterization, Standards & Nomenclature, Nano Tools, Molecular Engineering, Nano Manufacturing, Nanoparticles Toxicology, Heath Safety Implications, Renewable Energy, Biofuels, Photovoltaic, Hydrogen, Electric Car, Sustainable Energy Public Policy, Direct Thermal Energy Conversion, Electrochemical Conversion and Storage, Nanostructured Solar Cell Manufacturing, Intellectual Property, Commercialization, Venture capital investment, and other related topics: Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Education & Workforce Training, Societal & Environmental Impacts, Capital Funding and Grants for Start-up Ventures. Featured Session: Emerging Tech Investment Forum. This session will provide a unique opportunity for start-up companies to present their products, services, and business models to an audience of venture capitalists and private investors. Location: San Francisco Airport Marriott; 1800 Old Bayshore Highway; Burlingame, California 94010 USA. Date: October 27-30, 2008. Deadline for Abstract submission: June 30, 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.ianano.org/CallforPapers.htm <http://www.ianano.org/CallforPapers.htm> <http://NANOTECHCONGRESSSMAIL.COM/080E020017011B16171C06320207001607175C1716 070E434B464A430E404A4445424B0E400E434A4143424B4B0E08.aspx> ***************** 5. DISCOVERY PARK ***************** 5.1: Center for Advance Manufacturing: TeamCenter Community Training, on behalf of Richard Couch, Director of Engagement, CAM: First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you for your support of the PACE program and of TeamCenter Community as a truly great collaborative tool. The broad base of users of this program here at Purdue has made us one of the largest and most diverse groups in academia. As this program has grown, we are constantly asked to provide TeamCenter Community training and have scheduled an upcoming session to address these needs. Mr. Buzz Ludlum from Siemens PLM Software will be here on campus to conduct a 4 hour class on April 22nd from 8:00 am - 12:00 noon. This session is open to both faculty and students. If you would like to attend, please RSVP (your students as well) to either myself or Ms. Leza Dellinger no later that April 15th. Once we have determined the number of participants, we will arrange for a computer lab and advise everyone of the location.

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Reminder to attend the seminar at 3:30 today in MRGN 121, "Nanobiotechnology: A Different Perspective" by Dr. Murali Sastry
by Marris, Melissa J 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 3:30, MRGN 121: "Nanobiotechnology: A Different Perspective," by Murali Sastry ABSTRACT: The study of the synthesis, exotic properties, assembly/packaging and potential commercial application of nanomaterials is an extremely important topic of research that is expected to have far-reaching global impact. The focus of my talk will be on an emerging branch of nanotechnology that derives its inspiration from biology. Recognizing that some of the most exquisite and highly functional nanomaterials are grown by biological systems (examples include silica by diatoms and magnetic nanoparticles by magnetotactic bacteria (1), many researchers have focused attention on understanding how inorganic materials are made by biological systems and attempting to replicate such processes in the lab. In my laboratory, we have investigated the use of plant organisms such as fungi in the synthesis of nanomaterials over a range of chemical compositions that include metals [2], metal sulfides (3) and oxides (4). An exciting development is the use of plant extracts in nanoparticle synthesis (5) wherein large concentrations of gold nanotriangles have been obtained that have potential application in cancer hyperthermia. Organisms such as fungi are not normally exposed to metal precursor stresses that they should be capable of a broad range of biochemical transformations to negate these stresses is useful in materials chemistry and throws up exciting possibilities. Recently, we have also shown that bacteria may be 'trained' to synthesize magnetite when challenged with suitable iron complexes under aerobic conditions (6). References: [1] Sarikaya, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1999, 96, 14183; [2] Mukherjee, P et al., Angew. Chem. 2001, 40, 3585; [3] Ahmed, A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2002, 124, 12108; [4] Bansal et al., Adv. Mater. 2005, 17 889; Bharde et al., Small 2006, 2 135; [5] Shankar, S.S. et al., Nature materials 2004, 3, 482; [6] Bharde et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 9326. BIO: Dr Murali Sastry, chief scientist at the Tata Chemicals Innovation Centre, Pune, India, has an M.Sc. in Physics and a PhD (in thin film technology) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (now Chennai, 1987). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy (1988-1991); visiting faculty at CNRS in Orsay, France (2001-2003) and at the University of Maryland at College Park, USA (1998-99); as well as a federation fellow at RMIT, Melbourne (2006) and DAE professor at Central University, Hyderabad (2006). Counted among the world's top 15 nanobiotechnologists, Dr. Sastry has close to 25 years of research experience. A true interdisciplinary scientist, he joined Tata Chemicals in 2005, after creating a centre for nanotechnology at the renowned National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune. Having authored over 300 international publications, 10 chapters in books and 15 Indian and US patents, he has a number of national and international awards to his credit including India's most prestigious award in science, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Chemistry (2003). Editor (Nanomaterials) for the Materials Research Bulletin(Elsevier), Dr. Sastry serves on the international advisory boards of seven leading chemistry journals, having earlier served on advisory boards for the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Science and Technology, the Presidential Nanotechnology Committee and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Dr. Sastry's current research interests include interfacing biologicals with inorganic nanomaterials, understanding biological process in their nanodimensions, developing new industrially relevant renewable materials and green processes, as well as ethical issues in application of nanomaterials.

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BNC 2nd Annual Research Review: CALL FOR POSTERS, updated information; ON BEHALF OF TIM SANDS
by Deborah S. Starewich 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Dear BNC Researcher: The 2nd Annual BNC Research Review will be held on Monday, April 14th, 2008 in 121 Morgan, starting at 1PM. I hope you can attend. The program includes a selection of research highlights from the past year, a review of affiliated center projects, and a poster session in which everyone is invited to participate. Please go to the Birck Nanotechnology Center website (www.nano.purdue.edu <http://www.nano.purdue.edu>) for the most up-to-date information regarding this year¹s Annual Research Review, as well as a web RSVP form. Please note that a ³Best Poster² competition will be held this year. The poster session will be held in the Morgan Café following the afternoon¹s presentations. If you would like to present a poster, please download the poster template of your choice (landscape, 24²x36²; or portrait, 36²x24²) http://www.purdue.edu/dp/Nanotechnology/Resources/PPT_resources.php. Do not change the banner or font style/color for the title and author sections of your poster. Please note that posters will not be considered for display on the walls of the BNC unless one of these templates is used. You are responsible for printing your own posters. One possible printing location is the EPICS Burton Morgan Lab (233). The lab includes desktop computers where you¹ll be able to sign onto your engineering network account and print from either a PowerPoint file or a pdf. See Melissa Marris (Birck Atrium) to pick up a poster frame to use for your printed poster. Send a pdf of your poster to Jeff Goecker (jgoecker(a)purdue.edu) for inclusion on our e-pubs website. Your framed posters are due to Melissa Marris ****IN THE MORGAN CAFÉ**** by ****1:00PM on Monday, April 14.**** First come, first served. If you want to ensure that there is space for your poster, please submit your posters early. Melissa will be stationed in the café from 10:00 that same morning. Please contact me, Deborah Starewich, or Jeff Goecker should you have any questions. Tim Sands

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Faculty Symposium on Micro/Nano-technologies for healthcare, ON BEHALF OF TIM SANDS
by Deborah S. Starewich 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

Dear Colleague- I'd like to call your attention to a Faculty Symposium entitled "Tiny Technologies for Huge Impacts on Health," to be held on Friday, April 11th from 10-12 in B071 Armstrong. This faculty symposium is part of the President's inauguration program. Although the discussions will be targeted at a lay audience, we would welcome the participation of faculty, students and staff. Please advertise as you see fit (flyer attached), and attend if you can. We are hoping for a lively exchange! Regards- Tim Sands Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director Birck Nanotechnology Center

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WEEKLY MEMO
by Deborah S. Starewich 07 Apr '08

07 Apr '08

WEEKLY MEMO, April 7, 2008 ********* 1. KUDOS ********* 1.1: Congratulations to ISAAC WILDESON (ECE/BNC), winner of one of the prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowships. 1.2: WENSHAN CAI received one of the 2007 Chinese Government Awards for Outstanding Students Abroad; these awards are among the highest awards to recognize the academic achievements among Chinese students abroad. This award was established to encourage research excellence among Chinese overseas students across all fields of study. Each winner receives a special certificate along with a US$5000 cash award. ****************** 2. ANNOUNCEMENTS ****************** 2.1: *****2nd Annual BNC RESEARCH REVIEW,***** Monday, April 14th, 2008, 1:00PM, MRGN 121. Program to include TIM SANDS, “The Birck Nanotechnology Center – Progress, Opportunities, and Challenges”; EVGENII NARIMANOV, “Metamaterials for Future Photonics”; DONALD BERGSTROM, “Carbon Nanotubes as Nucleic Acid Carriers”; GERHARD KLIMECK, “nanoHUB – Future Cyberinfrastructure Serving over 60,000 Users Today”; JAYATHI MURTHY, “An Introduction to PRISM and MEMS Simulation”; and DAVID JANES, “Thin-Film Electronics Using Nanowire Transistors.” A POSTER REVIEW and SESSION will also be included in this year’s activities. Visit www.nano.purdue.edu <http://www.nano.purdue.edu> for the most up-to-date information regarding this year’s Annual Research Review. ******PARTICIPANT RECEPTION****** 5:30, Birck Atrium, 2nd floor: PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA 2.2: Purdue Spring Fest this weekend: April 12 and 13. 2.3: Card reader system: Work has begun on the installation of the BNC card reader system. This project will take several weeks and includes wiring each BNC lab door for card swipe entry. Researchers at Birck can expect to see electricians in their labs and in some cases may be asked to briefly suspend experiments as ceiling tiles are removed and wiring is run through the lab. Some cutting and grinding can also be expected as the card readers are mounted on each lab door. APRIL 7 – 11: installation will begin on the 2nd Floor West Lab Wing (Rooms 22XX). Depending on the speed of the work, a tentative schedule is set: — Mon & Tues (04/07 - 04/08): BRK 2261, 2277, 2283, 2217 — Wed & Thurs (04/09 - 04/10): BRK 2221, 2233, 2239 If you have any issues or concerns please contract Mary Jo or Mark Voorhis. 2.4: Keep our community refrigerator running J We had repair service out for the refrigerator in our kitchen this past week. Luckily, we do not have any mechanical problems at this time. One suggestion: please be sure that any items (i.e., plastic bags) do not come between the seal of the doors and the outside of the refrigerator. We should also be running on a power level of about 4; I believe we’ve been using 7. At the end of the semester, we will schedule a shut down and start up of this appliance that so many in our building use. ******************** 3. TOURS/VISITORS ******************** 3.1: Monday, April 7, 10:30: Chuck Wallrodt, ECE alumnus 3.2: Wednesday, April 9, 9:15AM: Dhiraj Malkani and Christopher Baldwin, RockPort Capital Partners 3.3: Wednesday, April 9, 11:15AM: Dr. Murali Sastry 3.4: Wednesday, April 9, 3:30PM: Dave Brown, Intel, ECE guest 3.5: Thursday, April 10, 2:00PM: Mr. Dick Heron, College of Agriculture guest 3.6: Friday, April 11, 8:30AM: Dr. John G. Gilligan, University Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University; and Dr. Charles Rutledge, Purdue University. 3.7: Friday, April 11, 2:00PM: Southwest Chicago Christian School 3.8: Friday, April 11, 2:30PM: Purdue Alumni Association guests 3.9: Saturday, April 12, all day: Springfest, Open House Tours ******************** 4. SEMINARS ******************** 4.1: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 10:45 refreshments, 11:00 seminar, ARMS 1109: “Materials Issues in Supercritical Water Oxidation of Chemical Wastes,” by Ronald M. Latanision ABSTRACT: There is a need to destroy both military and civilian hazardous wastes and an urgency, mandated by public concern over the traditional waste handling methodologies, to identify safe and efficient alternative technologies. One very effective process for the destruction of such wastes is supercritical water oxidation (SCWO). By capitalizing on the properties of water above its critical point, this technology provides rapid and complete destruction of a wide variety of wastes. A major limitation to full scale commercialization of SCWO is the corrosion of the materials of construction of these engineering systems. In this presentation, forensic analysis of failures in nickel-based alloy preheater tubes exposed to methylene chloride feed solutions will be shown to provide a basis for understanding the thermodynamic conditions under which SCWO reactors can be operated successfully. BIO: Ronald M. Latanision is a Corporate Vice President and Director of Exponent’s Mechanics and Materials practice. Prior to joining Exponent, he was the Director of The H.H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at M.I.T., and held joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering. He is now an Emeritus Professor at MIT. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; and a Fellow of ASM International, NACE International, and the AAAS. From 1983–1988, Dr. Latanision was the first holder of the Shell Distinguished Chair in Materials Science. He was a founder of Altran Materials Engineering Corporation, established in 1992, and led the Materials Processing Center at MIT as its Director from 1985 to 1991. In June of 2002, Dr. Latanision was appointed by President Bush to membership on the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Dr. Latanision's research interests are focused largely in materials processing, and corrosion of materials in aqueous (ambient as well as high temperature and pressure) environments. He specializes in corrosion science and engineering with emphasis on materials selection for contemporary and advanced engineering systems and in failure analysis. His expertise extends to electrochemical systems and processing technologies, ranging from fuel cells and batteries to supercritical water power generation and waste destruction. Specific research interests include stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, water and ionic permeation through thin polymer films, photoelectrochemistry, and aging phenomena/life prediction in engineering materials and systems. Dr. Latanision is a member of the International Corrosion Council and serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Corrosion Reviews. 4.2: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 3:30, MRGN 121: “Nanobiotechnology: A Different Perspective,” by Murali Sastry ABSTRACT: The study of the synthesis, exotic properties, assembly/packaging and potential commercial application of nanomaterials is an extremely important topic of research that is expected to have far-reaching global impact. The focus of my talk will be on an emerging branch of nanotechnology that derives its inspiration from biology. Recognizing that some of the most exquisite and highly functional nanomaterials are grown by biological systems (examples include silica by diatoms and magnetic nanoparticles by magnetotactic bacteria (1), many researchers have focused attention on understanding how inorganic materials are made by biological systems and attempting to replicate such processes in the lab. In my laboratory, we have investigated the use of plant organisms such as fungi in the synthesis of nanomaterials over a range of chemical compositions that include metals [2], metal sulfides (3) and oxides (4). An exciting development is the use of plant extracts in nanoparticle synthesis (5) wherein large concentrations of gold nanotriangles have been obtained that have potential application in cancer hyperthermia. Organisms such as fungi are not normally exposed to metal precursor stresses that they should be capable of a broad range of biochemical transformations to negate these stresses is useful in materials chemistry and throws up exciting possibilities. Recently, we have also shown that bacteria may be 'trained' to synthesize magnetite when challenged with suitable iron complexes under aerobic conditions (6). References: [1] Sarikaya, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1999, 96, 14183; [2] Mukherjee, P et al., Angew. Chem. 2001, 40, 3585; [3] Ahmed, A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2002, 124, 12108; [4] Bansal et al., Adv. Mater. 2005, 17 889; Bharde et al., Small 2006, 2 135; [5] Shankar, S.S. et al., Nature materials 2004, 3, 482; [6] Bharde et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 9326. BIO: Dr Murali Sastry, chief scientist at the Tata Chemicals Innovation Centre, Pune, India, has an M.Sc. in Physics and a PhD (in thin film technology) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (now Chennai, 1987). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy (1988-1991); visiting faculty at CNRS in Orsay, France (2001-2003) and at the University of Maryland at College Park, USA (1998-99); as well as a federation fellow at RMIT, Melbourne (2006) and DAE professor at Central University, Hyderabad (2006). Counted among the world's top 15 nanobiotechnologists, Dr. Sastry has close to 25 years of research experience. A true interdisciplinary scientist, he joined Tata Chemicals in 2005, after creating a centre for nanotechnology at the renowned National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune. Having authored over 300 international publications, 10 chapters in books and 15 Indian and US patents, he has a number of national and international awards to his credit including India's most prestigious award in science, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Chemistry (2003). Editor (Nanomaterials) for the Materials Research Bulletin(Elsevier), Dr. Sastry serves on the international advisory boards of seven leading chemistry journals, having earlier served on advisory boards for the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Science and Technology, the Presidential Nanotechnology Committee and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Dr. Sastry's current research interests include interfacing biologicals with inorganic nanomaterials, understanding biological process in their nanodimensions, developing new industrially relevant renewable materials and green processes, as well as ethical issues in application of nanomaterials. 4.3: Friday, April 11, 2008, 10:00AM, Pfendler Hall of Agriculture: “Building a New Planet,” Panel Discussion: Moira Gunn, Moderator; Kirk Alter, Hugh Hillhouse, Inez Hua, Valentine Moghadam, Robin Mills Ridgway, Paul Shepson, Jerry Shively, Panelists; www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php <http://www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php> 4.4: Friday, April 11, 2008, 10:00AM, ARMS B071: “Tiny Technologies for Huge Impacts on Health,” Panel Discussion: Tim Sands, Moderator; John Hertig, Joseph Irudayaraj, James Leary, Alyssa Panitch, Jenna Rickus, Masa Rao, Panelists; www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php <http://www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php> 4.4: Friday, April 11, 2008, 3:30 refreshments, 3:45 seminar, ARMS 1010: “Synthesis, Characterization, and Performance of Nanocrystalline Diamond Coatings for Micro End Mills,” Frank Pfefferkorn, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Univ of Wisconsin-Madison ABSTRACT: Micro end milling is a method of creating net-shaped functional micro parts, micro molds, and prototypes with tools ranging from 5 to 500 mm diameter. This technology complements standard silicon-based microfabrication processes with its ability to directly produce true 3D structures with high accuracy, low cost, and short cycle time in most engineering materials. However, the small flexural stiffness, strength, hardness, and friction coefficient of the tool (usually tungsten carbide) limit the efficiency of machining. To enable a significant increase in productivity requires higher feedrates (mm/min) as well as longer and more predictable tool life. One method of improving the performance of micro end mills that is being investigated at UW-Madison will be presented: ultra-thin nanocrystalline diamond coatings. Most micro end mills are made of tungsten carbide (WC) with cobalt binder and have difficulty machining adhesive metals (e.g., aluminum and copper) and very hard materials (e.g., ceramics and high-silicon aluminum alloys). Evidence that thin diamond coatings can dramatically enhance the performance of micrometer-scale cutting tools will be presented. The approach for coating 300 mm diameter tungsten carbide (WC) micro end mills using a tailored seeding method and hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) will be presented. This method results in uniform, conformal, and continuous diamond coatings less than 2 mm in both thickness and grain size with greater 90% sp3 (diamond) bonds. The performance of the uncoated and coated tools has been evaluated by dry machining channels in 6061-T6 aluminum. The test results demonstrate far lower tool wear and breakage, much lower adhesion of aluminum to the tool, and significantly lower cutting forces for the coated tools. The coatings achieve a more predictable surface finish and enable dry machining with little or no burr formation. The improved performance of the coated tools is a result of the superior tribological properties of fine-grained diamond against aluminum, specifically low friction, low adhesion, and low wear of the film. The method of NCD coating failure, due to delamination, will be presented and methods being investigated to mitigate it discussed. BIO: Frank Pfefferkorn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2003. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2002 on the topic of laser-assisted machining of ceramics. Prior to his appointment in Madison, Frank was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Nanoscale Thermo-Fluids Laboratory at Purdue University. The goal of Frank’s research is to develop and apply a science-based understanding of manufacturing processes (heat transfer, material behavior, machinability, tribology, etc.) in order to increase performance and offer new and improved manufacturing tools to industry. He is studying NCD-coating micro end mills in collaboration with Robert Carpick (Penn) and Anirudha Sumant (Argonne). He also has active projects on laser-assisted micro end milling of metals and ceramics, laser micro polishing, laser-assisted friction stir welding, thermal efficiency of thermally-assisted manufacturing, heat transfer in micromechanical machining, and thermal control of friction stir welding. Frank’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, ONR, the State of Wisconsin, and industrial collaborators. Frank has received a Research Initiation Award and the 2007 Kuo K. Wang Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. **************** 5. OPPORTUNITIES **************** 5.1: Postdoctoral Position at PURDUE AVAILABLE on Photovoltaic Device Fabrication and Development Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position to work on the development of 3rd generation solar cells based on novel nanostructured materials recently patented by Purdue. The successful applicant will have a PhD in electrical engineering, materials science, chemistry or physics and should be motivated, independent, and creative. Prior experience with device fabrication and testing is sought. In addition, expertise in photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, or other optoelectronic devices is a plus but is not required. The Purdue technology has been licensed by private investors and a company is being formed. The initial appointment will be a one-year academic postdoctoral position, but based on performance and success, there will be an option to join the company and have equity in the company. To apply, please send a current CV that includes a list of your publications and the contact information for three references. Also, please indicate the earliest date you would be available. This information should be sent to Prof. Hugh W. Hillhouse (hugh(a)ecn.purdue.edu) 5.2: Society for Biological Engineering (SBE)’s 4th International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (ICBN), cosponsored by the Science Foundation of Ireland and AIChE’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum, will be held at the University College, Dublin, Ireland, on July 22-24, 2008. Deadline for abstract submissions is 15 April. Visit http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/ICBN08/cfp.cgi for additional information. 5.3: Possible seminar? Please contact me if you would be interested in learning about “Real-time In-situ Sizing of Nanoparticle Aerosols Using Differential Mobility Analysis.” ABSTRACT for proposed seminar: The benefits of sizing aerosolized submicrometer particles using differential mobility analysis have been well documented. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been using this method to measure 0.1 μm Standard Reference Material (SRM) particles for well over a decade [1]. This technique has unsurpassed accuracy, especially for nanometer sizes and has a reported uncertainty of approximately 1% of the particle size [2,3]. Lately, differential mobility analysis is finding increased use in the in-situ near real-time sizing of engineered nanoparticles synthesized by a variety of dry-synthesis (aerosol-based) processes like diffusion flame synthesis, spray pyrolysis, thermal plasma, microplasma synthesis, etc [3-7]. An in-situ measurement eliminates the need for sample collection for off-line analysis thus minimizing operator error and providing more consistent and repeatable results. Real-time measurement permits the user to follow dynamics of particle formation and growth in highly reacting flows, thus providing the necessary feedback to control particle size precisely. Scanning Mobility Particle SizerTM (SMPS) spectrometers integrate differential mobility analysis with condensation particle counting to provide near real-time (as fast as 1 min) size distribution of aerosolized particles in the size range of 2.5-1000 nm. This seminar provides a brief overview of the technologies, followed by a review of case studies in aerosol based nanoparticle synthesis. Additionally, a discussion on sampling challenges and remedial measures will be presented. Offered through TSI Incorporated, 500 Cordigan Road, Shoreview MN; contact Paul Leslie, paul.leslie(a)tsi.com

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Shutdown status - CLEANROOM OPEN, LABS OPEN
by Deborah S. Starewich 04 Apr '08

04 Apr '08

The general exhaust and scrubbed exhaust maintenance activities in BNC have been successfully completed. All exhaust and toxic gas monitoring is now operational. Solvent hoods, acid hoods, vacuum systems, and all gases can be used as normal. Please note that the individual equipment will come on-line on a staggered schedule. Certain tools, such as the evaporators, may take a significant amount of time to bring back into function. Please check Coral for each equipment status. Thanks to everyone for your cooperation during this semester's PM Shutdown and your efforts to ensure that our maintenance workers remained safe at all times. Sincerely -- BNC Staff

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Birck 2nd Annual Research Review
by Deborah S. Starewich 03 Apr '08

03 Apr '08

It appears that my previous message may have been delivered to some mailboxes without the information (the message was delivered to my mailbox with both an inserted picture and as an attachment). In any event, I've attached the info here. Deborah

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