John O'Brien Nanofabrication Laboratory

The John O'Brien Nanofabrication Laboratory will act as an innovation hub for a diverse range of research activities spanning from basic science to applied technology. The facility will contain lithography, characterization (surface, optical, electrical), imaging, and device integration resources. It will also contain multiple growth and deposition systems, allowing separate toolsets for conventional and unconventional material systems. Enabling interdisciplinary research with next generation nanomaterials is a strong focus of the facility. This emphasis is unique among nanofabrication facilities and will enable researchers to translate novel materials into transformational devices for a wide range of applications.

The laboratory will support USC researchers as well as academic institutions, national laboratories, and industrial partners. The expert staff support training of users as well as perform processing runs. The facility is located adjacent to USC’s Electron and Optical Microscopy Characterization Laboratory (Core Center of Excellence in Nano Imaging (CNI) to further enable nanoscale characterization and accelerate research progress. Both the John O'Brien Nanofabrication Laboratory and CNI will be in the new Michelson Center for Convergent Biosciences (MCB). MCB will open in the Fall of 2017, and both core facilities have anticipated opening dates in Spring/Summer 2018.