What is it?
The Nanolab is NTNU's state-of-the-art cleanroom, and also my main laboratory during my thesis project. My project is multi-diciplinary, so I spend time in different labs for each part of the work. At the Nanolab, I fabricate the devices I'm using to perform electrical characterization of single nanowires.

Below, I've tried to show you a bit of the Nanolab and explain what you see. Enlarge images by clicking them.

More text below the picture.

When entering the Nanolab, one start in the end of the corridor and work your way towards where this picture is taken.

Ready for action in the ISO5&6 areas (click to enlarge)

The procedure for getting dressed starts even before the dressing corridor. First, you must put on a hairnet and some dark flip-flops. Then, starting in the corridor, you switch to another pair of flip-flops - these are white.

Then you take on the hood, the body suit and then you put on the "booties" outside the white flipflops. Almost done, all that remains is your mouth cover and your gloves.

It's time to enter the lab.
The Nanolab consists of an area for chemical methods and a cleanroom for physical methods (which this sneek-peek is about).

The physical lab is made out of a main corridor (seen in below image) and five arms containing different equipment. The first two arms are of clean room level ISO7, while the three inner arms are of the cleaner ISO 5 and ISO6 (about cleanroom classifications).

Main corridor of the physical methods area

The aim of my thesis project is to characterize semiconductor nanowires. To do this I need to make metal contacts onto the nanowires. A nanowire is typically 2-4 micrometre and 50-100 nanometre in diameter. Making such contacts is done using two machines:

• Electron Beam Lithography
• Electron beam evaporation

I might explain the manchines in a later postm later, but lots of time is spent next to these two machines. Additionally, we use photolithography machine, resist spinners and of course the work benches. The machines can be seen  below.

Light is yellow'ish because of the light sensitive chemicals used in this cleanroom area.

I will try to explain my thesis project in more detail in a later post. Happy easter to you all!

The fourth arm in the physical methods area. This is where I spend my time in the Nanolab. The light is yellow because of the photolithography machine where we use material that are light sensitive.

A photomontage of some chemicals, resist spinners and the border between two very clean environments