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Cleanroom Training Program

Accelerated Nanotechnology Training for Undergraduates

The SCENE (Southeast Coalition for Engagement and Exchange in Nanotechnology Education) is an NSF-funded Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence. The SCENE features summer research and mentoring programs to increase students’ knowledge and skills, and to motivate their interest in pursuing nanoscience and engineering. The seven-week experience will feature extensive training in cleanroom operation, followed by a short-term applied activity or project with a paired faculty or partner institute researcher.  Student interns complete the full training regimen in the Micron-NSU Nanofabrication Cleanroom, a 6,000 square foot clean-room facility that enables the fabrication of nano-scale optical and electronic devices. The partner research institutes include NASA Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC), Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory (JLab), Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), etc.

Summer Research Program 2024

Topic: Semiconductor Processing Technology
Date: Jun 3 – 28, 2024
Program Overview:
• Cleanroom Safety
• Sputtering and Deposition Techniques
• Lithography
• Plasma Etching
• Characterization Techniques
• Nanoscale Device Fabrication


Home Institutions of SCENE Participants 2019 - 2021

State Participants State Participants
Alabama 4 Missouri 3
Arkansas 8 Mississippi 1
Arizona 2 North Carolina 27
California 38 New Jersey 3
Colorado 4 New York 5
District of Columbia 3 Ohio 4
Florida 19 Oklahoma 1
Georgia 8 Pennsylvania 1
Illinois 18 Puerto Rico 30
Indiana 1 Rhode Island 1
Kansas 1 Tennessee 1
Louisiana 5 Texas 7
Maryland 3 Virginia 41
Michigan 3 Virgin Islands 1
Minnesota 1 West Virginia 1

United States of America Map

Student Feedbacks

  • “I really enjoyed and learned a lot from the SCENE nanotechnology program, and I am grateful for this opportunity to help me pursue my dreams and career.”
  • “I learned a lot from this program, and I hope to continue my education in nanotechnology.”
  • “The hands-on projects have been very affirming because they are building on our background knowledge. My confidence about this material is growing.”

2021 Summer Program

• 3-week live-streamed nanotechnology cleanroom training course
• Fully interactive format using teleconferencing
• A dynamic teaching and studying environment
• Program term: Jul 6 – 23, 2021

Nanotechnology Course Topics​

• Nanotechnology and Semiconductor Materials and Device Structures
• Vacuum Technologies
• Sputtering and Deposition Techniques
• Optical Lithography
• Plasma Etching
• Micro- and Nanoscale Characterization Techniques
• Cleanroom Safety

Primary Cohort
• 3-wk accelerated nanotechnology cleanroom training course
• $2,000 stipend
• Mailed lab kits facilitate hands on activities
• Culminating online technical conference
• Professional development seminars
• $500 prize poster contest
• Certificate of completion

Participation Cohort
• 3-wk accelerated nanotechnology cleanroom training course
• Culminating online technical conference
• Professional development seminars
• $500 prize poster contest
• Certificate of completion

SCENE 2021 Applicants

SCENE 2021 Applicants - States and GPAs

 

SCENE 2021 Applicants - Institutions

SCENE 2021 Participants

• 47 participants from 26 institutions and 13 states across the United States
• 74% were URM students
      - 17 Hispanic students, 16 African American students and 2 Vietnamese students among 10 Asian students
       - 12 community college students

SCENE 2021 Applicants - Race

Live-streamed Lectures

• Lectures were given by professors from Penn State University and Norfolk State University. 
• The topics focus on nanotechnology, semiconductors, biomedical applications, and device fabrication process.
• Invited lecture: Dr. Sadegh Yazdi, Research Associate Professor at the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), and the Director of the Facility for Electron Microscopy of Materials (CU FEMM) at the University of Colorado.

Live-streamed Lectures

Live-streamed Labs

Lithography Hands-on Lab
Lithography Lab 1Lithography Lab 2

Thermal Evaporator Hands-on Lab
Thermal Evaporator Lab 1Thermal Evaporator Lab 2

RIE Hands-on Lab
RIE Lab 1
RIE Lab 2

Microscope and Profilometer Hands-on Lab
Microscope LabProfilometer Lab

Nanoparticle Synthesis Lab
Nanoparticle Synthesis Lab
Nanoparticle Synthesis Lab 2

SEM Images of Gold Nanoparticles
SEM Image of Gold Nanoparticles

At-home Hands-on Experiments


Mask Designs for Lithography

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) Experiment using mailed lab kits
EIS LabEIS Lab 2

Neural Electrode Fabrication Process



Neural Electrode Design

 

Neural Electrode Fabrication Process
Neural Electrode Fabrication Process
Neural Electrode Fabrication Process 2

Neural Electrodes
Neural Electrodes      Neural Electrodes 2

SCENE 2021 Technical Poster Competition Winners​

Chaparro Mata, Joshua - University of Puerto Rico- Mayagüez
Rolón Rosa, Astrid - Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico
Tojima , Naohiro - University of California, San Diego
Tran, Lynn - Loyola University Chicago
Yarrington, Tara - Tidewater Community College
Zamora, Emmitt - University of Texas at San Antonio

2020 Summer Program

• July 6 – 24, 2020
• 100% on-line and interactive
• Hands on activities by mailed lab kits
• Culminating online Technical Conference
• Professional development seminars
• Invited lectures

Mask-design-rs.jpg
Mask design for interdigitated electrodes

Fabrication-process-rs.jpg
Fabrication process at NSU Cleanroom

SCENE2020-Electrodes-2rs.jpg
Microscope images and SEM images of interdigitated electrodes

Electrode-Impedance-Analysis-rs.jpg
Electrode Impedance Analysis with PBS as an electrolyte

Nanoparticles-synthesis-rs.jpg
The procedure of making ruby red colloidal gold was performed at NSU Lab

Nanoparticles-synthesis-SEM-rs.jpg
Gold nanoparticles under SEM

  • 3-week live-streamed nanotechnology cleanroom training course
  • Fully interactive format using teleconferencing
  • A dynamic teaching and studying environment

Live-stream-training-1rs.jpg
Live-streamed hands-on experiment from NSU Cleanroom

  • 374 applicants
  • 303 confirmed applicants from 107 institutions, 31 US states and territories.
  • 202 selected participants from 94 institutions, 31 US states and territories.
    36 participants in the Primary Cohort
    166 participants in the Participation Cohort


SCENE 2020 Technical Poster Competition Winners​

Primary Cohort
Frondarina, Errysteinn - Southwestern College
Jimenez, Robbynn - Tidewater Community College
Torres, Enrique - Miami Dade College
Vorobeva, Mariia - Tidewater Community College
Zheng, Talia - Georgia Institute of Technology

Participation Cohort
Chaparro, Eduardo - University of Puerto Rico - Ponce
Gibbons, Ashley - SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Montoya, Ryne - Northwestern University
Sienko, Lauren - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Vázquez-Rosado, Ephraim - University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

2019 Summer Program

  • Program for 4-year college students
    • ​3-week cleanroom training program: Jun 3 - 21, 2019
    • 4-week research program: Jun 24 - Jul 19, 2019
  • Cleanroom Training Program for community college students: Jun 24 - Jul 12, 2019

On/Off-line Lectures

Classroom-13.jpg

Nanotechnology Fabrication TrainingNanotechnology-Fabrication Training.jpg

Project Activities
Project-Activities.jpg

Research Project Activities
Research-Project-Activities.jpg

Student Presentation
Student-Presentation.jpg

Field Trip to Micron Technology, Manassas
Field-Trip-to-Micron-Technology,-Manassas.jpg

Invited Lectures

Prof. J.  Shim (University of Leeds, UK) and Prof. N. Gon (Old Dominion University, VA)
Invited-Lectures.jpg