Nanofabrication Facility
Welcome to SNF!
The Stanford Nanofabrication Facility serves academic, industrial, and governmental researchers across the U.S. and around the globe. More than a lab, it's a vibrant research community. Part of nano@stanford, under the NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, SNF includes a 10,000 sq ft cleanroom for device fabrication, satellite labs supporting Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, new Experimental Fabrication methods and the Ideation & Prototyping Laboratory. We welcome researchers from all disciplines wishing to explore micro- /nano- fabrication and systems.
nano@stanford Town Hall, May 5
Please join us in our first merger Town Hall, starting at 11:30 in the AllenX Auditorium. Stay for pizza afterward on the Patio. For more information, check out the new nano at stanford Community pages where updates and events will be posted.
4/8/25 Seminar on GenAI for Lab Operations
By popular demand, Prof. Samantha Roberts, faculty director of the nanofabrication facility at CUNY, has provided slides from her presentation. We also have links to the Zoom AI Companion summary and video of the seminar (passcode: 3djnnu.E).
SNF in the news!
- School of Engineering to upgrade Stanford Nanofabrication Facility. There will be a lot more new tools -- and a lab expansion! This will be a multi-year project, with new tools starting to make their appearance in late 2025 - stay tuned for more info in coming months!
- MicroDicer and microGrater make quick work of tumor dissection. This Stanford Report describes the work of Sindy Tang's lab which makes extensive use of the PT-DSE and the Nanoscribe. Bonus SNF points: This work began as an E241 project!
- Researchers make mouse skin transparent using a common food dye. Also known as the "Doritos mouse skin" discovery featured on NPR and NBC News.
New equipment @SNF
2025 will see a lot of new equipment in the lab, with even more acquisitions under discussion. For more information, check out our new Equipment Acquisition site (please note, access requires a SUNet ID.)
The Chen Ideation and Prototyping Laboratory (IPL)
The Electronics Shop now has a new name: the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Ideation and Prototyping Laboratory, in honor of a generous contribution from the Chen Institute through Stanford's eWear program to support investment in shared lab resources for design, assembly, and packaging of systems. We look forward to adding new capabilities and welcoming new expertise to our shared fab community!
SNF enters the new hydrogen (and nitrogen) economy!
On Nov. 7, SNF said "Goodbye" to its bulk liquid hydrogen tank and moved to on-site hydrogen generation. And while we are still coming up the learning curve, it's already a money saver (over $100K/year) and with much smaller environmental footprint. What's next? You might see the construction teams in the Allen yard working on installing a new nitrogen generator. Bulk liquid nitrogen accounts for over 10% of SNF's operating costs - and has a large environmental footprint compared with on-site generation. Fabs are expensive and resource-intensive facilities to operate -- anything we can do to reduce costs and reduce ecological impact will help everyone's research dollars go farther and with easier conscience! This investment in SNF's future is made possible by the contributions of the School of Engineering and EH&S.
NW AI Hub of Microelectronics Commons
Stanford and UC Berkeley co-lead the Pacific Northwest AI Hardware Hub, one of eight Microelectronics Commons Hubs, funded by the CHIPS Act under the DoD. The NW AI Hub is comprised of physical and virtual resources (including SNF), brought together to support regional and national needs for lab-to-fab transition of AI hardware. The Northwest-AI-Hub consists of dozens of academic institutions, National Labs, and industry partners, spanning the entire semiconductor value chain, from materials, devices, EDA and chip design, packaging, as well as system prototyping and testing.