A new €12m microscopy lab will enable students and firms to engage in high-end research, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON

FOR INSTRUMENTS involved in cutting-edge research and analysis on the ultra-small nano scale, the new microscopes at Trinity College Dublin are surprisingly huge.

They can be found in the university’s ¤12million advancedmicroscopy laboratory at the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (Crann).

The laboratory, which was launched this week, boasts some of the most powerful and cuttingedge microscopes in the world.

They are taller than their researcher caretakers and weigh several tons each. They allow researchers to get views of substances and structures, and manipulate them in ways not possible in Ireland until now, says Crann director Prof John Boland.

The microscopes can be used for medical research, such as examining the details of cell structures or the materials used in medical devices, as well as for technology industry research into microchip design or new materials for flexible screen displays such as e-paper. “It’s a really important development for Ireland because it allows access to first-class infrastructure to work on a nanoscale,” Boland says.

The ability to do such work in Ireland should be attractive to multinationals and help to draw in high-level research and development (R&D), he says. The centre will provide new opportunities for third-level research as well as for indigenous technology, medical and biotechnology companies.

The facility is already being used by a couple of Ireland’s most prominent multinational technology companies: Intel and HP.

Intel is interested in how nanoscale materials might selfassemble the next generation of microprocessors. “Our motivation is straightforward – it’s in pursuit of Moore’s Law [that microprocessors will halve in size while doubling in power every 18 months],” says Leonard Hobbs, research program manager at Intel.

Microprocessor development is running up against the limits of Moore’s Law, using traditional photolithography methods of etching the surface of microchips with specialised – and very expensive – cameras.

To make chips smaller, Hobbs says, Intel needs to move to the nano level of design, where chemical processes and new materials could enable the channels within a microprocessor to self-assemble out of carbon nanotubes.

Crann has already demonstrated the technology needed to do this, as well as the ability to form basic devices in this way.

“Very few places can do this – take the technology a step further,” says Hobbs.

The ability to do nanoscale work in Ireland meant Intel’s Irish division was able to compete successfully against other Intel locations around the world to get the R&D work.

HP has been working with Crann to develop flexible printed display screens using nanofibres that in future might be used for signage, e-paper and new types of devices. They are working on monochrome displays and should be able to produce colour displays over the coming decade, says HP Ireland R&D manager Pat Harnett. He says there is keen internal competition for R&D projects across HP’s multinational divisions.

“Other countries also want to go further up the value chain,” he says. “A facility like this greatly enhances what we can do at HP Ireland. Without it, it would be very difficult for us to compete.”

Harnett says the facility will benefit HP on three levels. “Here and now, we can use it to improve existing products in development. In the medium term it will drive further products and innovation. And the third element is that it will drive further research. It’s key for us to keep raising the bar.”

The intention is also for the facility to be affordable and accessible for the small, innovative science and technology companies the Government hopes will feature strongly in Ireland’s economic future.

SolarPrint, a young Irish startup developing printable solar energy cells, is doing research with the laboratory into new materials and devices for solar cell technology.

“Access [to the laboratory] is key to understanding materials and devices and how they perform,” says SolarPrint founder and managing director Mazhar Bari.

“This will help us develop new processes en route to manufacturing and gives us an enormous advantage.”

Bari says that, until now, such high-end research would have been outsourced. The fact that it can be done in Ireland means the company can operate from a Dublin base.

“In principle it could be outsourced but, ideally, we want to work with partners. If we outsourced to Germany or Silicon Valley, there’s huge time lost. The proximity to a centre of excellence like this is key.”

SolarPrint started out by having small samples analysed at the laboratory, and will now have a postdoctoral researcher funded for two years jointly with the facility.

Boland says working together in this way will build expertise in energy research at the advanced microscopy laboratory, benefiting the facility as well as SolarPrint.

“It’s part of building relationships through partnerships like this, and it’s critical for us because it gives us an ability to expand what Crann does.”

For a facility like the laboratory to survive, such relationships and expanding skillsets will be important. Funding for the centre, which currently comes from the Government, will run out in 12 to 18 months, says Boland, posing “real challenges”, he says.

The centre has already attracted a pan-European ¤13 million project from the EU, with about a half of it going to Ireland.

Crann has strong working relationships with other multinational companies such as Boston Scientific and is working on expanding its ties with small and mediumsized enterprises.

The centre has also captured research work in the face of competition from leading international centres such as Stanford University and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute.

But according to Boland, the laboratory will need continuing engagement with the Government and long-term investment support to help build its facilities into a true international centre that is able to win global projects consistently, support the development of indigenous companies and lure multinationals.

“We’re in the process of raising awareness across the system because if we can’t sustain this, Ireland will have squandered an investment,” says Boland.

“But if you want sustained outcomes, you have to have sustained investments.”