Santa Clara University

Announcements!

New Associate Director for CNS

It is my great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Drazen Fabris, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering to the new position of Associate Director at the Center for Nanostructures.

Drazen received his bachelor's degree from Caltech, and master's and Ph.D. degrees from UC Berkeley, all in mechanical engineering. He joined Santa Clara in 2000. His expertise is in fluid dynamics and thermal science involving the development of optical experimental techniques, with a parallel interest in numerical modeling. At Santa Clara, Drazen has co-developed the microscale boiling laboratory to study high-speed nucleation and bubble growth processes, and spray cooling physics. As a co-investigator, Drazen has been leading the thermal interface materials effort under the Thermal and Electrical Nanoscale Transport (TENT) project. He has organized national workshops in direct liquid cooling (2006), a forum on energy use and policy (2001), and was invited to the Japan-America Frontiers of Engineering (2007) organized by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. In addition, Drazen has received support for education and curriculum development from the National Science Foundation. He is currently a member of the CNS Steering Committee.

As Associate Director, Drazen will be responsible for coordinating all CNS Steering Committee meetings with the Committee Chair, and together with the Center Director and Steering Committee members, spearheading the effort in promoting and fostering additional partnerships between Engineering and Science, Business, as well as the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. I expect these responsibilities will evolve as the size and scope of the Center's activities grow in the coming years.

Please join me in thanking Drazen for accepting this new challenge in addition to his many other responsibilities at the University.

Thank you,
Cary

Updates on TENT Project

With the goal of designing, fabricating, and testing a lightweight, low-resistance (electrical and thermal), longer-lasting chip using new carbon-based interconnect and thermal interface materials, Santa Clara University's Center for Nanostructures (CNS) initiated its thermal and electrical nanoscale transport (TENT) project in February 2007. Cary Yang, principal investigator and CNS director, said the five-year project "is a timely response to the current need of integrated circuit manufacturers for enhanced performance and increased reliability in their most advanced products." The project is sponsored by the U.S. Army with a total funding of over $3 million since its inception.

In addition to utilizing the CNS laboratory here at SCU, nearly 1,300 square feet of space has been leased for a nanostructure characterization facility at NASA Ames Research Center. Specialized equipment, including a high-resolution field-emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), an electrical measurement system consisting of a wafer probe station and DC and ac parameter analyzers, and an atomic force microscope is being used for the research. Additional instruments, including a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, a thermal imaging system, and a thermal resistance measurement apparatus have been designed and assembled using TENT funds, and are being tested. According to Yang, "The resources provided by TENT allow investigators to build upon existing research efforts on electrical interconnects and thermal interfaces, and advance the knowledge base in the four areas of the project, namely, thermal, structural, and electrical characterizations, as well as electrothermal transport modeling."

CNS has been working with the University of California, NASA Ames, Hitachi, and Radiance Technologies as partners and collaborators on this project. Professors Shoba Krishnan (electrical engineering), Drazen Fabris (mechanical engineering), and three research professors are co-investigators on the project. "The TENT project is an example of working closely with government, industry, and academic partners on cutting-edge technology, while at the same time being a product of such collaborative effort," Yang said. "Everyone associated with the Center for Nanostructures has been benefiting from these partnerships, and we all look forward to contributing to the advancement of next-generation chip technology through this exciting project."