Media Contacts:
Mick Kulikowski, NC State News Services, 919/515-3470
Mike McFarland, UNC News Services, 919/962-8593
Darlene Taylor, research associate, UNC Dept. of Chemistry, 919/962-6839

Jan. 16, 2004

NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill Open Nanotechnology Center on Jan. 20

A new research facility designed for the fabrication of very small things may have a big impact on the Triangle’s high-tech science and business scene.

More than 150 leaders from North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina system, industry and government will gather to celebrate the opening of the Triangle National Lithography Center (TNLC) at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the auditorium (Room 136) of the Engineering Graduate Research Center on NC State’s Centennial Campus.

Media coverage is invited.

The new state-of-the-art center will allow faculty and students at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State, along with industry partners, to take a huge step forward in the cutting-edge field of nanofabrication – the design and manufacture of computer chips and other devices so small they’re measured in nanometers – one-billionth of a meter long.

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the new facility and view its high-tech gem – a $12 million, 193-nanometer lithography stepper – at 2:30 p.m. (See note below.) Computer chips, molecular electronics devices, and opto-electronics devices are just a few of the items that can be produced with the stepper, researchers say. Other nanoscale technology that can be produced by the tool includes “lab-on-a-chip” devices that can, for example, screen biologically active reagents like anthrax.

It is believed that no other institute of higher education has such a state-of-the-art tool for nanofabrication.

NC State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox; UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser; Dr. Russ Lea, representing the UNC system; Dr. Robert McMahan, science advisor to Gov.
Mike Easley and executive director of the North Carolina Board of Science & Technology; and Dr. Joe DeSimone, Kenan Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State, will all briefly speak at the ceremony.

- kulikowski -

Note to media: No cameras will be allowed in the facility’s clean room. Beta footage of the clean room will be available at the event.

Reporters without cameras wishing to tour must register with News Services in advance (call 919/515-3470), so a spot can be reserved.

In order to prevent contamination of the clean room facilities, participation in the 15-minute tours requires wearing protective clothing that consists of coveralls, hoods, boots, gloves and masks.