A state-of-the-art nanotechnology laboratory will be a model of environmental responsibility when it is fully operational at Simon Fraser University later this year.

4D LABS will be an example of how university-based research labs in Canada can meet semiconductor industry standards for ensuring personal safety as well as environmental protection from combustible and toxic gases.

“Meeting these industry standards is costly and often unaffordable for university-based research labs, especially in these tough economic times,” says Byron Gates, 4D LABS’ director of nanofabrication.

The lab’s nanofabrication facilities will enable industrial and university researchers to develop the next generation of materials and devices for technologies related to health, information, and energy applications.  Researchers use specialty gases to develop critical materials and nanostructures for these technologies.

SFU’s 4D LABS, science faculty and environmental health and safety (EHS) department collaborated on building a system to contain and neutralize gases.  Designers had to integrate an extensive gas-piping network with thermal processing and neutralization equipment.  The system uses a special burner and water treatment to break down, scrub and transform the gases into safe air emissions.

“Our facility has benefited tremendously from the science faculty’s and EHS’s assistance,” explains Michael Driscoll, 4D LABS’ senior clean room engineer.  “With the technical expertise of SFU machine shop personnel such as Hendrik van der Wal, we’ve been able to meet industry standards in a timely and cost-effective way.”

An intricate, stainless steel pipe system will deliver gases safely to the nanofabrication facility’s equipment and transport the lab’s byproducts to the thermal processing and neutralization system.

“The design of this system is intended not only to protect the researchers and our environment, but also to raise environmental awareness of students, faculty, and visitors,” says Tom Cherng, 4D LABS’ process engineer.