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  Workshop Speakers
   
 

Ahmad Soueid

Ahmad Soueid
HDR Architecture, Inc.

ahmad.soueid@hdrinc.com

 
HDR Architecture, Inc.
Principal, Senior Vice President


Ahmad Soueid is a Principal / Senior Vice President of HDR Architecture, Inc. He joined HDR over twelve years ago as a registered architect after working for architectural firms in New York, Connecticut and Texas. He focuses exclusively on the design and construction of advanced technology facilities for both private and public sector clients.

Ahmad Soueid is a registered architect that offers creative solutions to technically challenging nanotechnology facilities. Mr. Soueid is a leader in the design of nanotechnology facilities and he serves as a hands-on Principal for a prestigious list of nanotechnology projects such as the NIST Advanced Measurement Laboratory, a 511,070 square feet $175M state-of-the-art laboratory; Purdue University's $47M Birck Nanotechnology Center as well as Brookhaven National Laboratory's $28M Center for Functional Nanomaterials.

Mr. Soueid also consulted as a nanotechnology facilities advisor to Mexico's Centro Nacional de Metrología as well as the U.K.'s National Physical Laboratory. Mr. Soueid was co-chairman of the Buildings for Advanced Technology Workshop (January 2003) organized in part under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in conjunction with NIST and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) as well as the Buildings for Advanced Technology Workshop II (January 2004), sponsored by Arizona State University.

Mr. Soueid's is a frequent speaker at technical conferences. Mr. Soueid's presentation on the "Technical Challenges of designing Bio-Nano spaces in a Cleanroom environment" was a featured case study at a recent Tradeline Conference on Nanotechnology facilities. Other presentations include a variety of topics, including "High Accuracy Temperature Control in Metrology Laboratories" at the Quality Manufacturing 2000 Conference in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and a presentation at the "New Trends in Metrology Workshop" the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, United Kingdom as well as "A Case Study for Designing for Nanotechnology" to the Ottawa Valley Chapter of ASHRAE in Canada.

Mr. Soueid graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington where he received both a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Master of Architecture degree.

Presentations

 Buildings for Advanced Technology
As Nanotechnology research compels the scientific world to explore new uncharted territories, scientists are increasingly demanding more stable research environments. Scientists are manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular scales in order to obtain materials and systems with significantly improved properties. This level of research imposes more strenuous demands on the physical environment. These demands include high levels of accuracy in temperature and humidity control, vibration and acoustic isolation, air cleanliness (from particulate and/or biological contaminates), EMI and RFI shielding as well as the need for good quality electrical power. Once dubbed state-of-the-art, laboratory facilities are becoming obsolete to accommodate future research. Scientists are finding themselves spending time working on improving the physical environment and diverting valuable resources away from research. The most economical fix is to introduce self-contained mini environments that improve the environmental characteristics around the experiment, however conflicting environmental criteria are demanding increasingly complex infrastructures. Many institutions are realizing the need for designing and constructing new facilities with criteria that is more and more restrictive. This presentation elaborates on advanced technology facilities and provides a quick overview of international facilities that are either in design, under construction or recently completed.

 
 NIST Advanced Measurement Laboratory Site Overview
 Systems Integration and Competing Criteria
Ahmad Soueid, Dave Bechtol, Hal Amick
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Andras Vladar


Andras Vladar
National Institute of Standards and Technologies

andras.vladar@nist.gov

 
National Institute of Standards and Technology
 SEM Project Leader, Nanometer-Scale Metrology Group


Dr. András E. Vladár is the leader of Scanning Electron Microscope Metrology Project at the Nano–Scale Metrology Group of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He holds M.S. (1977) and Ph.D. (1984) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary. Until 1991 he worked as a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Technical Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.  Dr. Vladár is an expert in scanning electron microscope (SEM) critical dimension (CD) metrology; he has developed several metrology systems based on SEMs. Prior to joining NIST in 1999, he was a member of the technical staff of Hewlett–Packard ULSI Research Laboratory and primarily worked on accurate, fast and effective dimensional measurement methods for 100 nm silicon integrated circuit technology. At Hewlett–Packard he established sound metrology methods, procedures and practices that significantly improved the speed and quality of dimensional measurements, surface inspection and film thickness measurements in the Class 1 integrated circuit fabrication facility. He identified the main sources of measurement errors and developed several successful methods to eliminate many of them.

Dr. Vladár is the member and key contributor to the work of the Advanced Metrology Advisory Group of International SEMATECH (ISMT). This group is the only body of experts in the world that deals with the special issues of dimensional metrology for the leading integrated circuit manufacturing. Dr. Vladár had been instrumental in the development of new methods to deduce the shape of integrated circuit structures from top–down view images through modeling and library–based measurement techniques. Several researchers and CD–SEM tool manufacturers are now implementing this idea. He has advocated the need for the development of a document that can foster the faster development of better SEMs, and especially the so–called critical dimension CD–SEMs. He has also played an important role in the development of standardized metrology procedures for the semiconductor community as a whole through authoring multiple sections in the measurement guidelines described in the Unified Advanced CD–SEM Specification published by ISMT.

Dr. Vladár as the leader of the SEM Metrology Project is the scientific manager for the development and renewal effort of the metrology SEM. This specialized tool is currently undergoing major improvements in hardware and measurement control software. Additionally, for standard calibration purposes, a new scanning electron microscope-based, best-in-the-world dimensional measurement system is being designed. This instrument is planned to be used in the NIST Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML).

 
Presentation
 Scanning Electron Microscopy in Real-World Environments

Electron microscopes are working close to atomic levels and it is expected that they are going to be key imaging and metrology tools in the upcoming nanotechnology. Almost all scanning electron microscopes are limited in their operation by their environment. Usually it is possible to achieve significantly better performance than the specification of these tools by the proper design of their environment and by the use of supplementary compensatory methods. Vibrations transmitted by the building, air (sound) and water and gas supply have obvious detrimental effects to image and measurement quality of these instruments. Low and high frequency electromagnetic fields interfere with the electronics of the microscope and also with the electrons used in the signal generation and detection. This presentation will present detailed specifications and requirements for the environment of SEMs; and will show examples for the various negative effects of the environment, and some possible methods useful to minimize them.

 
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Bea Sennewald
AIA, HDR


Bea Sennewald
HDR Architecture, Inc.

bsennewa@hdrinc.com

 
HDR Architecture, Inc.
Senior Vice President/Principal


Bea Sennewald's Senior Vice President of HDR Architecture and HDR’s principal in London. She joined HDR in 1983. Her work has focused on research, high technology and industrial applications. She has designed over six million square feet of space for corporate, academic and government research facilities, including physical sciences, computer sciences, communications, biology, materials science, microelectronics, and toxicology. She is an expert at specialized requirements, including clean room technology, temperature and vibration control and electromagnetic shielding.

Ms. Sennewald was a contributing author for the Handbook of Laboratory Design, has published frequently in Architecture, Architectural Technology, Specifications, and R&D. She is a regular speaker at conferences.

She was also an advisor to the National Institutes of Health for laboratory design standards.

She was the design director for the Advanced Measurement Laboratories for NIST in Gaithersburg and Boulder. Her recent work includes projects in England, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Ms Sennewald received a Master of Architecture degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Oregon.

 
Presentation
• Measurements of Temperature Stability and Uniformity in Several Types of Laboratories
Julian Hunt, Bea Sennewald

This session will describe a series of temperature measurements of laboratory spaces undertaken by scientists at the National Physical Laboratory in the U.K.

It will show measurements of stability and uniformity in laboratories with varying types of air flow and varying degree of complexity in temperature control design. The labs include spaces with low-velocity non-directional air flow, unidirectional vertical and horizontal airflow. It will also show measurements of the effect of heat sources in horizontal and vertical air flow.

 
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Bob Erdman


Bob Erdman
Erdman Measurement Consulting

Sensimeas@aol.com

 
Erdman Measurement Consulting
President


Bob has over 40 years experience in making sensitive measurements and managing related projects, mainly at Keithley Instruments, the leading manufacturer of very sensitive electronic measuring instruments. He has designed the most sensitive Ammeter and Voltmeter commercially available, advised many scientists on difficult measurement problems and worked with Scientists and Architects to design nanotechnology buildings.

 
Presentation
Interactions between Nanomeasurements and Nanobuilding Design
The building can limit the Experimenter's ability to make sensitive measurements on nanostructures. A discussion of ways to estimate interference and determine whether shielding is needed and how good the shielding has to be are presented, along with instrument characteristics that impact this determination. Generally, electrostatic shielding must be done at the experiment in any case and the building does not impose a limit to measurement. Magnetic interference is determined by loop area enclosed by current-carrying wire. Building design can be more of a limit in this case. Users and building designers must effectively communicate with each other to understand the limitations of both shielding at the experiment and the building, in order to agree on acceptable levels of interference that will permit nanomeasurements to be made.
Grounding Needs of Instrumentation
› Why the "3rd pin" of the power plug is GROUND, not a reference.
Filters and capacitance dump ac currents into this line.
Some equipment has ac power line current in this line.
Therefore the voltage with respect to the earth is different at different points.
It can be volts away from the experiment ground
In general it is not quiet, thus transmits noise into a grounded experiment.

› Impact of this on the measurement and instrumentation:
Discussion of CMRR, related to NMRR from my Wednesday talk.
Calculation of CMRR errors, typical numbers
Quick review of coupling mechanisms from Wednesday:
If the shield is tied to a noisy ground, it becomes an unwanted transmitter

A Reference Bus solves these problems.
How to handle it: rules for connecting 
Tie to earth
Tie to building ground at point of earth connection

 
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Dr. Clayton Teague

Clayton Teague
National Institute of Standards and Technologies

clayton.teague@nist.gov

 
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Division Chief, Manufacturing Metrology Division
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory


Dr. Teague is Chief of the Manufacturing Metrology Division in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

At NIST since 1972, Dr. Teague has designed, constructed, and used precision instrumentation for ultra-high accuracy dimensional metrology of surfaces and micrometer to nanometer-scale features. Beginning with his metal-vacuum-metal tunneling work in the 1970's, he continued to work with such precision instrumentation as scanning tunneling microscopes, atomic force microscopes, displacement and phase-measuring interferometry, stylus instruments, flexure stages, and light scattering apparatus. Because the laboratory and building environments were always factors in the ultimate performance of these instruments, the subject of this workshop has been an ongoing topic of great interest.

Dr. Teague is a member of the American Society for Precision Engineering, has served twice as the Society's President, and is a fellow of the UK Institute of Physics. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Nanotechnology for ten years and is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the journal. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a PhD in physics from the University of North Texas. He has authored or coauthored 70 papers, has presented 50 invited talks in the technical fields described, and jointly with colleagues, has six patents. Dr. Teague has received the Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award from the Department of Commerce, the Kilby International Award by the Kilby Awards Foundation, and an IR-100 Industrial Research and Development Award for his work.

Presentation
• Introduction

This introduction covers the workshop motivations, goals and objectives as well as general logistics. It also includes an overview of the session topics and the general organization of the sessions.

• Technical Survey

During this session, we will present and discuss entries for the technical survey that was developed by the organizers and made available to all speakers and attendees via the workshop’s website.   Developing and making available agreed upon technical performance specifications for the important environmental properties of workspaces in facilities for advanced science and technology is one of the principal goals for the workshop.  Proposed entries in the tables will be based on results from the survey, information contributed during the workshop talks and dialog among workshop participants.  Included in the survey are tables for temperature control, relative humidity, atmosphere control and cleanliness, electrical power, tilt stability and vibration levels of laboratory floors, background acoustic noise levels in laboratories, and background EMI & RFI levels in laboratories.  Four levels of specifications have been chosen for each of the environmental properties: Class 1: the “standard” laboratory; Class 2: the “clean room” laboratory; Class 3: the “atomic manipulation/measurement” laboratory; and Class 4: the “high-accuracy metrology” laboratory.   Entries in the tables for each of the environmental properties will represent both experience and knowledge of what can be achieved and the performance levels required for a specific application.  The goal for this session is to complete the survey and to allow time for participants to present their points of view about the proposed specifications.

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Dave Bechtol


Dave Bechtol
HDR Architecture, Inc.

dbechtol@hdrinc.com

 
HDR Architecture, Inc.
Senior Vice President
Professional Associate
Electrical Section Manager


Mr. Bechtol is a Senior Vice President and a Professional Associate of HDR and the Electrical Section Manager. He has over 23 year of experience in the planning and design of lighting, power and communication systems for laboratory, institutional, health care and justice facilities.

Mr. Bechtol has designed laboratory electrical systems for the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug Administration. His university laboratory experience includes Johns Hopkins, Duke, UNC and UVA. At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Measurement Laboratory, Mr. Bechtol developed a power distribution system to provide two sources of clean isolated power to each lab to reduce the effects of power disturbances from adjacent labs and from building equipment including lights, elevators and mechanical equipment. He is currently the lead electrical engineer for the Purdue University Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Mr. Bechtol received a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering degree from Penn State in 1979. In 1984, he received his Professional Engineer's license. He is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and the International Association of Electrical Inspectors.

 
Presentation
• Designing for Clean Power

The effects on sensitive electronic equipment form external and internal sources of power disturbances can be mitigated by the application of various types of power conditioning equipment and/or by varying the configuration of the power distribution system in a way to provide clean power to the sensitive equipment.

Transient voltage surge suppression devices, isolation transformers, uninterruptible power supplies, generator and other types of power conditioners can be used to protect lab equipment from one or more different types of power disturbances.

Varying the configuration of the power distribution system can in itself improve power quality at the lab. By applying power conditions at selected locations within the distribution system, the quality of power can be greatly enhanced.


 Systems Integration and Competing Criteria

Ahmad Soueid, Dave Bechtol, Hal Amick

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Eric E. Ungar
Sc.D., P.E.


Eric Ungar, PE
Acentech Incorporated

eungar@acentech.com

 
Acentech Incorporated
Chief Engineering Scientist

After receiving his BSME degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Ungar worked for three hears on development of second-generation atomic weapons at Sandia Corporation in Albuquerque, NM. There he also attended the University of New Mexico, from where he received his MS degree. Subsequently, he served as instructor in mechanical engineering at New York University while he pursued his doctoral studies. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Engineering Science from NYU in 1957 and then was appointed assistant professor. In 1959 he joined the renowned research and consulting firm of Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc., in Cambridge, MA, where he held several technical and management positions until his retirement from there in 1996 as Chief Consulting Engineer. Since then he has been serving as Chief Engineering Scientist at Acentech Incorporated in Cambridge, MA.

Dr. Ungar is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and served as that society’s President in 1992-93. He is a Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and held the chairmanship of its Design Engineering Division in 1978-79. He is a board-certified member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering, whose presidency he held in 1985, and he is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In addition to having published well over 200 technical papers and more than a dozen chapters in handbooks and monographs, Dr. Ungar has translated and revised the book “Structure-Borne Sound”, which is considered as a classic in its field. He has chaired highly regarded short courses on Vibration Control at the Pennsylvania State University for more than twenty years and has lectured in these and numerous other courses in the US, Sweden, France, Brazil, and Australia.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded him its Per Bruel Gold Medal “for fundamental contributions to noise and vibration control engineering involving structural damping, vibration isolation, and vibrations of complex structures, as applied to aerospace vehicles, ships, machines, and buildings.” The Acoustical Society of America honored him with its Trent-Crede medal “for his important contributions to our understanding of vibrations in complex structures, the effects of structural damping, and the propagation of structure-borne sound.”

Dr. Ungar has consulted on vibrations of numerous high-technology facilities, including nano-mechanics and microbiology laboratories and installations for advanced, optics, and astronomy research. He also has served as consultant on facilities that require high resistance to vibration-related damage or malfunction, including the President’s helicopter hangar and various aircraft test cells. He has pioneered in the development of what has become the standard method for predicting footfall-induced vibrations in buildings that house sensitive devices and has consulted on vibration isolation of instruments, machinery, and entire buildings.

 
Presentation
• Vibration Isolation at Building Level
(Vibration Control)

In order to discuss the process of vibration control in advanced technology facilities, one must have a rudimentary understanding of how vibrations are characterized. This presentation will open with a discussion of some of the vocabulary and quantities associated with vibrations and their representation. The basic quantities of sinusoidal vibrations will be discussed, along with those associated with random and/or impact excitation. Typical interior and exterior sources are discussed, along with typical approaches to their control.

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Hal Amick

Hal Amick
Colin Gordon and Associates

hal.amick@colingordon.com

 
Colin Gordon and Associates
Vice President, Technology Development


Mr. Amick received a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Architectural Engineering from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, a Master of Science. in Structural Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, California and a Master of .Engineering. In Civil Engineering from the University of California in Berkeley, California. Mr. Amick works on problems related to structural and soil dynamics, rail and transportation vibrations, mechanical vibrations, and community or workplace vibrations. He is experienced in signals processing, finite element modeling and many aspects of structural and soil dynamics. Hal Amick has worked extensively in the design of low vibration environments for advanced technology facilities.

Hal Amick joined Colin Gordon & Associates in 1996, after spending eleven years with Bolt Beranek & Newman and Acentech. Prior to 1990, he worked closely with Colin Gordon at BBN. At Colin Gordon & Associates he focuses on the design and maintenance of low-vibration environments for vibration-sensitive facilities used for research, development and production of microelectronics as well as those used for nanotechnology, optics research, advanced physics and bioscience studies. His early consulting work involved a wide variety of structural settings, including nuclear power plant seismic analysis, container crane design, and structural failure analysis. Since 1993 he has served as vibration consultant for design and renovation of laboratories at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mr. Amick’s selected project experience includes: Advanced Measurement Laboratory (NIST); M. D. Anderson Cancer Research Center; Genentech Hall (Building 24), University of California, San Francisco, Mission Bay Campus;Knudsen Hall West, UCLA; Huntsman Cancer Research Center, University of Utah; California Nano Systems Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara; Birck Nanotechnology Research Center, Purdue University; P-050 Nano Science Research Laboratory, Naval Research Laboratory; and Seagate Research Center.

Hal Amick has written and presented many papers and reports, and has published extensively.

 
Presentation
• Isolating Instruments from Building Vibration
(Reducing Vibration Within the Building)

The ultimate objective of the vibration engineer-when designing buildings for advanced technology-is to protect vibration-sensitive equipment from vibrations. In order to do this in an economical manner, the engineer must
establish the vibration requirements of the items of equipment that will be used. Not all instruments are equally sensitive. The tests used to document vibration sensitivity will be discussed, and this will lead to a presentation of generic vibration criteria.

The first session discussed means by which the designer controls vibrations within the building system itself. In many cases, however, it is desirable to reduce vibrations at the equipment itself, using either external or internal vibration isolation systems. Options are discussed for internal vibration isolation systems-usually within the purview of the equipment designer-as well as external isolation systems-under the control of either the building designer or the equipment user.

 Systems Integration and Competing Criteria

Ahmad Soueid, Dave Bechtol, Hal Amick

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James V. Bartlett
Jr. PE

James Bartlett
.Bartlett Consulting.

james.bartlett@nist.gov

 
Bartlett Consulting
Principal


Mr. Bartlett is the Principal of Bartlett Consulting with over 35 years experience in facilities engineering. He is currently the Quality Assurance Manager for construction of NIST's $200 million Advanced Measurement Laboratory (AML), responsible for ensuring the construction contractor builds the AML in accordance with the very specialized construction features specified in the contract. The AML is designed to meet the stringent requirements of NIST's most sensitive and critical laboratory programs in the areas of temperature and humidity control, vibration isolation, air cleanliness, electrical power quality and electromagnetic interference. All of these requirements are being met on a scale unlike any other in the world. All aspects of the construction process and building trades contribute to the total finished facility.

Prior to this project, Mr. Bartlett was a civilian in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, serving in a series of management and leadership positions: Director of Client Liaison for the Navy's $8 billion facilities enterprise world-wide; Director, Facilities Acquisition Directorate; Director, Interagency Construction Division; Director, Navy Military Construction Division; and, from 1982 to 1987, Director of Program Management for the $2 billion, 10-year construction program to build a TRIDENT Submarine base in Georgia. From 1978 to 1980, he was a Design Engineer for the Smithsonian Institution, preparing plans and specifications and managing Architect/Engineer contracts. From 1967 to 1978, Mr. Bartlett was an officer in the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps and had tours managing construction; Seabee Company Commander in Viet Nam; various public works jobs in Japan; and staff duty with the Strategic Systems Projects Office in Washington, DC. After release from Active Duty, he remained active in the Reserves, including a tour as a Seabee Commanding Officer, and retired in 1997 as a Captain, after 30 years of commissioned service.

Mr. Bartlett holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master's degree in Engineering Administration (Construction Management). He is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia. Mr. Bartlett has served as Chairman, Research Committee; Chairman Fully Integrated and Automated Project Process (FIAPP) Committee, both of the Construction Industry Institute and Chairman, Project Management Committee, of the Federal Facilities Council (a consortium of over 20 federal agencies).

 
Presentation
• Quality Assurance Considerations in Advanced Technology Building Construction
James Barlett, Todd Snouffer

Constructing Advanced Technology Buildings takes special forethought and focus to actually achieve what is required to have them perform. Advanced Technology construction requires special construction methods and rigorous attention to details. This presentation will cover the emphasis needed during the construction process and present some lessons learned.

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James Murday

James Murday
National Nanotechnology Initiative

Naval Research Laboratory

murday@nrl.navy.mil

National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office
Director


Naval Research Laboratory
Head, Chemistry Division



Dr. James S. Murday received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Case Western Reserve in 1964, and a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Cornell in 1970. He joined the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in 1970, led the Surface Chemistry effort from 1975-1987, and has been Superintendent of its Chemistry Division since 1988. From May to August 1997 he served as Acting Director of Research for the Department of Defense, Research and Engineering. He is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society and the Materials Research Society; and a fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS), and the UK Institute of Physics. For the AVS, he has served as trustee for 1981-1984, director for 1986-1988, representative to the American Institute of Physics Governing Board 1986-1992, president for 1991-93, and representative to the Federation of Materials Societies 1998-present.

His research interest in nanoscience began in 1983 as an Office of Naval Research program officer and continues through the NRL Nanoscience Institute. He has organized numerous International STM/NANO conferences and their proceedings. Under his direction, both the AVS and the International Union for Vacuum Science, Technology and Applications created a Nanometer Science/Technology Division. He is Executive Secretary to the U.S. National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science Engineering and Technology (NSET) and Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office.


 
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James Whetstone

James Whetstone
National Institute of Standards and Technologies

james.whetstone@nist.gov

 
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Chief, Process Measurements Division

 














 
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Jeffrey W. Roblee

Jeff Roblee
Precitech, Inc.

jroblee@precitech.com

 
Precitech, Inc.
Vice-President of Engineering

Since February of 2002, Jeffrey W. Roblee has been with Precitech of Keene, New Hampshire where he holds the position of Vice President of Engineering. Precitech is a world leader in the design and manufacture of ultra precision machine and metrology systems.

From 1977 to 1990, Dr. Roblee held research positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. There he developed ultra-precision machine tools and measuring instruments for use in optics fabrication. As part of this work, he was involved in numerous facilities development for these devices. His research work led to a 14 month assignment at Phillips Research Laboratory in The Netherlands in 1986 and then to a research position at Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen, Germany in 1990. As a member of the Optical Process Development Laboratory, he led four projects that improved the fabrication time, precision and finish of optical components by more than a factor of two.

In late 1993 he joined the Optical Engineering Department at Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, Massachussetts. At Polaroid, Dr. Roblee led a program to develop a laser print head for use in making medical images and other purposes. In 1997 he received Polaroid’s title of Distinguished Engineer and the Engineering Excellence Award from the Optical Society of America in recognition of his work on improving optical fabrication processes. Dr. Roblee was named Technical Director in 1998 with responsibility for three departments in Polaroid R&D: Model Shops, CAD Technology Center and Concept Engineering. In early 2001 he was chosen to lead the Optical Engineering Department as well.

Dr. Roblee holds a number of patents and has written numerous papers on temperature control, machine dynamics, air bearing design, optics fabrication and opto-mechanics. He is currently a member of the American Society of Precision Engineering. Jeffrey W. Roblee has a M.S. and Ph.D., both in mechanical engineering, from the University of California at Berkeley, 1979 and 1985. His B.S.M.E. is from the University of Arkansas, 1978.

 
Presentation
• Case Studies of Precision Temperature Control Systems for Air Showers and Liquids at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The impact of temperature fluctuations on the accuracy of machine tools and metrology instruments has been recognized for some time.  Many studies have been done over the years, and thermal effects are clearly the largest source of nonrepeatable error in precision machine tools and measuring machines.  Consequently, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has had numerous programs over the last forty years to mitigate the effects of temperature.  In this talk, I will review some of the more important developments at LLNL in precision temperature control.  I will discuss the principles that were used, and illustrate them with some case studies.  Systems have been developed to precisely control the temperature of large flows of oil, water and compressed gas.  Seperate means were also used to control air showers over individual machines, but similar principles of temperature control were used.  Different implementations are possible for doing precision temperature control, but it was found that very high levels of precision were possible at relatively low cost, if proper principles were followed.  Temperature control systems were essential to the success of the Large Optics Diamond Turning Machine at LLNL, and they will be one of the case studies that will be discussed in detail..  It used 500 l/min of water which was controlled to +/- 0.0002 degrees C, and it used an air shower with 570 cubic meters per minute flow which was controlled to +/- 0.002 degrees C for days at a time.
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John Lawall

John Lawall
National Institute of Standards and Technologies

john.lawall@nist.gov

 
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Dr. Lawall came to NIST as an NRC postdoctoral fellow in the Laser Cooling and Trapping group in 1995.  Since 1997 he has been a staff member in the Quantum Metrology Group.  His current research work involves ultra-high accuracy laser interferometry with stabilized CW lasers, and frequency combs using mode-locked femtosecond lasers.

Dr. Lawall received his B.S. degree in physics from Stanford University and his PhD in experimental atomic physics from Harvard University.  Prior to starting his PhD work, he spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, where he taught mathematics at the Lycée de Segou and constructed energy-efficient wood stoves.  Following his doctoral degree, he was a Chateaubriand postdoctoral fellow in Paris at the Ecole Normale Superieure, where he was instrumental in laser cooling a three-dimensional gas of atoms to 180 nanoKelvin, the record temperature at that time.

In his spare time Dr. Lawall plays the violin and viola in chamber ensembles and enjoys whitewater kayaking.

 
Presentation
• Acoustic and Vibration Control in Vacuum: A Case Study
I will present the approach of an experimental physicist to the problem of control of seismic and acoustic disturbances in a vacuum environment. I will start with a brief discussion of vibration isolation by means of a passive resonant system, illustrated with experimental data taken with springs and elastomers. I will then show the vibration level present on the floor of a good underground laboratory environment, and the amount of suppression one achieves with conventional optical tables. Next, I will show the system we have built at NIST in order to prototype optical interferometers in a high-vacuum environment. The environmental isolation mechanisms are activated sequentially, in order to illustrate the isolation achieved by each stage and the compromises that some stages entail. This approach helps to illustrate what fraction of the vibrations is of acoustic origin and what fraction is seismic, and the importance of controlling both is made manifest. Disturbances are measured with both an accelerometer and a high-finesse Fabry-Perot interferometer. One important conclusion of this work is that the vibration imposed by a maglev turbomolecular pump is easily controlled to the extent that it is unlikely to contribute significantly to the ultimate vibration of even a very quiet system.
It will be shown that our relatively simple system offers vibration isolation not only vastly surpassing that of a conventional floating optical table, but in fact better than the ion-pumped NIST X-ray interferometer.
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