SEK 30 million for nano-equipment will improve performance

The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has awarded Lund University SEK 30 million for nanotechnology equipment.

“Of course it feels great to get this grant, which will further strengthen the Lund Nanolab and Lund University’s profile in nanoscience”, says Lars Montelius, chair of Lund NanoLab, part of the Nanometre Structure Consortium.

The grant will be used to develop a unique system that will make it possible to produce nanomaterials with properties far beyond what can be achieved today, with applications in energy, information technology and biotechnology.

“When we hand craft nanomaterials, we often build different layers of material on top of one another. In order to achieve optimal final performance, each step in the manufacturing process must also be optimal. In the system we will create, we will be able to control and characterise both the surfaces of these different layers and the final nanostructure, down to atom level in a full system perspective.

This engineering atomic control will provide us with nanomaterials of superior and consistent performance” says Lars Montelius.
The system will also benefit Sweden as a whole through collaboration with the national cleanroom project MyFab.

In total, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation awarded SEK 112 million for equipment in engineering and physics in this year’s round of grants. Besides the grant to Lund University, the money went to Onsala Space Observatory and nanotechnology equipment at Chalmers and KTH.