Nanolithography Facilities
Nano experts at SRON use optical lithography techniques and advanced lithography equipment, to be able to etch or deposit (deposition) the very small structures on a surface. Sometimes this is done accurately down to the nanometre: a billionth of a metre, or a hundred thousandth of a hair, in other words. This is done in dust-free cleanrooms at SRON.
Further Developing Nanotechnology for Space
The nanotechnology scientists further develop and apply the pioneering technology from SRON’s research and development programme. This new technology is groundbreaking, but that does not mean it is already suitable for application in the smallest possible and flightworthy instrument that can handle a launch and do science in space.
Example: Advancing MKID technology
The development of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID) as an example. This type of detector, cooled and superconducting, has been made suitable for measuring sub-colours in TeraHertz and acting as a spectrometer. TeraHertz is radiation with a wavelength that scientists would like to measure with a space instrument, to study, for example, distant clouds of gas and dust from which stars are born.
The MKID is now in use in the DESHIMA instrument used under the ASTE ground-based telescope, to study gas and dust in galaxies shortly after the Big Bang. The technology works with tiny antennas tuned to specific wavelengths. To get them practical and affordable, nanotechnologists have to work very precisely at the nanometre level. The Nano group is now making progress in developing ever-smaller technologies so that they can be used for future space missions.
Scientific demand is thus driving the development of new more sensitive and advanced technology, which is being advanced from large and heavy designs to smaller, handier models to eventually measure in space. The new knowledge will in turn raise new questions that in turn require new technology.
Collaboration with technology partner institutes
An important part of the Nano group is the close collaboration with other technological research institutes, both in the Netherlands and internationally. This happens not only with SRON’s own Technology group, but also with universities such as TU Delft, Eindhoven and Twente.
