MIT.nano Quarterly – June 2025
Characterization.nano's Raman Systems
What is Raman spectroscopy? Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique that uses laser light to probe the molecular structure of a material by measuring how light scatters off its molecules. The resulting spectrum provides a unique “fingerprint” that reveals chemical composition, molecular structure, and interactions.
Thanks to the support of Associate Professor Benedetto Marelli through an ONR Durip grant, and to our MIT.nano Consortium members and PI community contributions, Charcterization.nano has added two state-of-the-art Raman systems:
Alongside the existing Renishaw inVia Reflex Micro Raman microscope, these systems enable powerful, non-destructive, label-free imaging and chemical mapping at sub-micron resolution.Core Capabilities:
Systems Highlights:
Whether you're characterizing 2D materials, probing live cells, or analyzing polymers, these tools are designed to meet your advanced imaging needs.
View a comparison chart of Characterization.nano's Ramans: https://nanousers.mit.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Characterization.nano%20Raman%20Systems_2.pdf
We’re grateful to our collaborators and funding agencies for making these new resources possible—and we look forward to supporting your research.
MIT.nano Infrastructure Update
MIT.nano has completed major installation of five new Applied Materials (AMAT) cluster tools, expanding industrial scale capabilities. In a significant expansion of its capabilities, MIT.nano has completed the installation of a new suite of nanofabrication equipment from Applied Materials. Planning for this ambitious project, the largest tool installation since the facility opened in 2018, began in January 2024 immediately following the announcement of the acquisition and funding. The new equipment dramatically expands MIT.nano's capabilities, enabling compatibility with wafers up to 8-inches.
As of May 30, 2025, all systems are powered on, with equipment coming online throughout the summer. The project was a monumental undertaking, requiring 21,335 labor hoursfrom 27 different contractors and vendors, and incorporating 13.9 miles of pipe and wire. Despite numerous configuration changes and persistent supply chain constraints, the project was delivered on budget with minimal schedule delays.
This expansion has nearly doubled the number of process chambers in the fab, increasing them from 29 to 52, necessitated 60 new gas monitoring points and a 30% increase in our process gas/liquid infrastructure. Startup and qualification of the new tools are currently underway. Stay tuned this summer for further details on new capabilities and instructions on how to submit a process.
Below are photos of MIT.nano's first floor cleanroom (top row) and the sub fab (bottom row). The Applied Materials installation tripled the amount of sub fab equipment.
Immersive Engineering
Graduate student Arman Shantayev (SDM ’25) is advancing immersive engineering in the MIT.nano Immersion Lab. One of the projects pairs the tabletop fiber-extrusion device (FrED) with augmented reality (AR) overlays to evaluate how digital AR guidance can streamline complex manufacturing tasks.
The project includes a study using head-mounted displays to evaluate how AR-driven work instructions can improve operational efficiency. Shantayev built a digital twin of MIT.nano, projecting piping, ventilation, electrical, and safety systems onto the building itself to create “x-ray” effect visualized in AR for faster inspections and smarter maintenance. Early prototypes—and the development workflow behind them—were featured in the IMMERSED seminar series.
From MIT News
New fuel cell could enable electric aviation
These devices could pack three times as much energy per pound as today’s best EV batteries, offering a lightweight option for powering trucks, planes, or ships.
MIT physicists discover a new type of superconductor that’s also a magnet
The “one-of-a-kind” phenomenon was observed in ordinary graphite.
Tabletop factory-in-a-box makes hands-on manufacturing education more accessible
Inaugural cohort of Tecnológico de Monterrey undergraduates participate in immersive practicum at MIT featuring desktop fiber-extrusion devices, or FrEDs.
Bridging Earth and space, and art and science, with global voices
Professor Craig Carter’s precision design for a student-led project now on the moon encodes messages from around the world on a silicon wafer. wafer.
How to solve a bottleneck for CO2 capture and conversion
Today’s carbon capture systems suffer a tradeoff between efficient capture and release, but a new approach developed at MIT can boost overall efficiency.
MIT engineers print synthetic “metamaterials” that are both strong and stretchy
A new method could enable stretchable ceramics, glass, and metals, for tear-proof textiles or stretchy semiconductors.
SLB joins the MIT.nano Consortium
The energy innovation company becomes a sustaining member.
Artificial muscle flexes in multiple directions, offering a path to soft, wiggly robots
MIT engineers developed a way to grow artificial tissues that look and act like their natural counterparts.
We're excited to celebrate research carried out, in part, through the use of MIT.nano facilities. Below is a selection from the past few months.
Pentiptycene ether sulfone macromonomers for the synthesis of polymers of intrinsic microporosityAshton R. Davis, Timothy M. Swager. Polymer.
Aligned Carbon Nanotube Polymer Nanocomposite Bipolar Plates Technology for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries. Jae-Moon Jeong, Jingyao Dai, Luiz Acauan, Kwang Il Jeong, Jeonyoon Lee, Carina Xiaochen Li, Hyunsoo Hong, Brian L. Wardle, Seong Su Kim. Energy & Environmental Materials.
Efficient superconducting diodes and rectifiers for quantum circuitry. Josep Ingla-Aynés, Yasen Hou, Sarah Wang, En-De Chu, Oleg A. Mukhanov, Peng Wei, Jagadeesh S. Moodera. Nat Electron.
Material Composition of Greenstone Acquisition and Use in the Jovel Valley, Chiapas, Mexico. Meanwell JL, Paris EH, López Bravo R. Ancient Mesoamerica.
Ligand Shell Thickness of Colloidal Nanocrystals: A Comparison of Small-Angle Neutron and X-ray Scattering. Eliza K. Price, Guilherme Bejar, Jimin Kwag, Niamh Brown, Lilin He, and William A. Tisdale. Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Bandwidth of Lightwave-Driven Electronic Response from Metallic Nanoantennas. Matthew Yeung, Lu-Ting Chou, Felix Ritzkowsky, Marco Turchetti, Karl K. Berggren, Shih-Hsuan Chia, Phillip D. Keathley. Nano Letters.
Machine Learning Prediction of Organic–Inorganic Halide Perovskite Solar Cell Performance from Optical Properties. Ruiqi Zhang, Brandon Motes, Shaun Tan, Yongli Lu, Meng-Chen Shih, Yilun Hao, Karen Yang, Shreyas Srinivasan, Moungi G. Bawendi, Vladimir Bulović. ACS Energy Letters.
An asymmetric nautilus-like HflK/C assembly controls FtsH proteolysis of membrane proteins. Alireza Ghanbarpour, Bertina Telusma, Barrett M Powell, Jia Jia Zhang, Isabella Bolstad, Carolyn Vargas, Sandro Keller, Tania A Baker, Robert T Sauer, Joseph H Davis. EMBO J.
Elucidating the effect of Fe substitution on structural and redox stability of Na2Mn3O7. Hugh B. Smith, Gi-Hyeok Lee, Bachu Sravan Kumar, Aubrey N. Penn, Victor Venturi, Yifan Gao, Ryan C. Davis, Kevin Hunter Stone, Adrian Hunt, Iradwikanari Waluyo, Eli Stavitski, Wanli Yangb, Iwnetim I. Abate. J. Mater. Chem. A.
Heterovalent Click Reactions on DNA Origami. Grant A. Knappe, Jeffrey Gorman, Andrew N. Bigley, Steven P. Harvey, Mark Bathe. Bioconjugate Chemistry.
Discrete Ferroelectric Polarization Switching in Nanoscale Oxide-Channel Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistors Yanjie Shao, Elham Rafie Borujeny, Jorge Navarro Fidalgo, John Chao-Chung Huang, Tyra E. Espedal, Dimitri A. Antoniadis, Jesús A. del Alamo. Nano Letters.
H NMR Trajectories for Analyzing the Growth and Purification of 2D Polyaramids. Zitang Wei, Yu-Ming Tu, Wonjun Yim, Michelle Quien, Ali A. Alizadehmojarad, Xun Gong, Michael S. Strano. Journal of the American Chemical Society.
High-Energy, High-Power Sodium-Ion Batteries from a Layered Organic Cathode Tianyang Chen, Jiande Wang, Bowen Tan, Kimberly J. Zhang, Harish Banda, Yugang Zhang, Dong-Ha Kim, Mircea Dincă. Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Nonlinear Ion Dynamics Enable Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity of Electrochemical Ionic Synapses. M. Huang, L. Xu, J. A. del Alamo, J. Li, B. Yildiz. Adv. Mater.
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