Norwegian Micro- and Nanofabrication Facility II Driftsbevilgning 2015

NorFab provides access to state-of-the-art laboratories for Norwegian researchers, independent of their academic, institute or company affiliation. The laboratories include the three academic nodes NTNU NanoLab in Trondheim, SINTEF MiNaLab and UiO MiNaLab in Oslo, and University college of Southeast Norway MST-Lab located between Tønsberg and Horten. NorFab provides national access to an infrastructure that contains generic and state-of-the-art equipment applicable for micro- and nanotechnology. All partners have a complementary profile and are committed to a national coordination on investments and further development of the infrastructure. Since inception in 2010 NorFab has already addressed a broad spectrum of users ranging from academic groups focusing on fundamental research and education, to innovative companies with the need for a small scale production facility. NorFab cover all thematic areas described in the National Strategy for Nanotechnology, and the aim of the current project is to further expand the user community. The vision of NorFab is to be a robust and competent backbone consortia supporting and enabling research and innovation for the emerging micro- and nanosystems industry in Norway. The NorFab project therefore aims to maintain a competitive infrastructure for development and pilot fabrication. In order to fulfil this vision, the infrastructure must be maintained at top international level, also in the coming years. This requires continuous upgrading of the equipment and the associated knowledge. This project applies for a continuation of the funding for a new 5 year period (2015-19).

NorFab is the Norwegian national infrastructure for micro- and nanofabrication consisting of 4 partners: MiNaLab (SINTEF and UiO), NTNU NanoLab and MSTLab at HiVe. NorFab provides national access to an infrastructure that contains generic and state of the art equipment applicable for micro- and nanotechnology (MNT). By a continuous and systematic build-up of a cleanroom process knowledge base, which is shared between the nodes and made available to the users, the infrastructure is made accessible to users from academia, institutes and industry. The vision is to develop the infrastructure towards a robust and competent backbone for research and innovation based on MNT in Norway. The main goals are to improve the quality and volume of the MNT research and enhanceinnovation in the sector. NorFab aims at supporting all areas of basic knowledge development, innovation and commercialization, and responsible technology development. All partners have a complementary profile and are committed to a national coordination on investments and further development of the infrastructure. Since the start in 2010 NorFab has already addressed a broad spectrum of users ranging from academic groups focusing on fundamental research and education, to innovative companies with the need for a small scale production facility. NorFab cover all thematic areas described in the National Strategy for Nanotechnology and the aim is to further expand the user community. In order to fulfil the vision, the infrastructure must be maintained at top international level also in the coming years. This requires continuous upgrading of the equipment and the associated knowledge. This proposal applies for funding to cover parts of the operational costs for the 2015 activity in order to secure the continuation of NorFab as a national infrastructure.The project has a budget of 70MNOK. The applied funding of 6,5MNOK will co-finance barrier lowering measures, basic running costs and networking activities.