Core Research Facilities
Advanced equipment, in-depth consultation and individualized services to advance research on any scale or timeline
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Uniting Arizona State University’s transdisciplinary expertise and vast array of advanced equipment under a streamlined, pay-for-use model, ASU Core Research Facilities provide cost-effective solutions to your most pressing research needs.
Whether you seek unique fabrication, project development, sample processing, assistance with proposals and grant writing, or workforce development, we have the right tools — and people — for every job.
Offering unparalleled experience, our scientists and technicians deliver individualized guidance and consultation to clients ranging from academic researchers and two-person startups all the way to Fortune 500 companies.
Our distinct focus areas support research and development spanning microelectronics, biosciences, advanced manufacturing, materials sciences, clinical research, and computing and data services.
Access to the Core Facilities has really helped Swift Coat to grow and gain more customers. Some of our early growth was spurred on by grants from NSF and the Department of Energy, and when we were applying for these grants as a twoperson company, a lot of the questions we got from the program directors were, ‘Can you do this test? Are you able to do this development work?’ And we were able to respond with ‘yes,’ which gave both the program directors and NSF and DOE and our future customers confidence we were able to do the work we said we were going to.”
Peter Firth Co-founder Swift Coat Inc.
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Instrument Design and Fabrication
Whether it’s machining an out-of-production bolt or wholesale designing and building a custom piece of instrumentation, this facility is fully equipped for the job, no matter the size. Capable of designing, building, modifying or repairing instruments, the Instrument Design and Fabrication core keeps research progressing in a timely, cost-effective manner.
Materials Characterization and Synthesis
Providing premier analytical, characterization, modeling and synthesis services, this core and its component facilities support research across a range of disciplines, including physics, chemistry, life sciences, earth and space sciences, environmental sciences, and engineering. Two primary facilities comprise the core, the Eyring Materials Center and The Metals, Environmental and Terrestrial Analytical Laboratory, or METAL, and offer a range of services.
Semiconductor Device Processing
With more than 45,000 combined square feet of clean room space, the Semiconductor Device Processing facilities encompass a range of capabilities, including nanofabrication, nanoscale processing and electronics design, solar cell fabrication and testing, and more.
Collectively, the NanoFab, the Advanced Electronics and Photonics facility and the Solar Fab facility possess a range of specialized services.
• Electronics prototyping, design, fabrication and repair.
• Full-service machine shop.
• AS9100D and ISO 9001:2015 certifications.
• Scanning electron microscopy.
• Transmission electron microscopy.
• Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy.
• Small angle X-ray spectroscopy.
• X-ray diffraction.
• Elemental and ionic quantitation.
• Measurement of isotope ratios.
• Greenhouse gas analysis.
• Thin film deposition and characterization.
• Optical and electron-beam lithography.
• Dry etching.
• Thermal and wet chemical processing.
• Start-to-finish solar cell fabrication, characterization and testing.
• Screen printing and electroplating.
• Backplane electronics design.
abilities
Biosciences
The ten facilities within the Biosciences core provide services, equipment and expertise across the breadth of life sciences. Underpinning vital research at ASU’s Biodesign Institute and serving clinical partners such as the Barrow Neurological Institute and the Mayo Clinic, the Biosciences core provides clients with support across the entire lifespan of a project.
• Genomics.
• Mass spectrometry.
• Advanced light microscopy.
• Flow cytometry.
• Regenerative medicine.
• Preclinical imaging.
• Ultra-fast laser spectroscopy.
• Magnetic resonance research.
• Bioinformatics.
• Histology.
Clinical Research Services
The Clinical Research Services core provides a fullservice suite of facilities, staff and equipment to support or conduct high-quality human clinical research. Services can be provided off-site or at three Phoenix metro area locations: the ASU Health Futures Center at Mayo Clinic, 850 PBC and the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative.
Tge core’s facilities and capabilities support research to positively impact health challenges in our community.
Research Computing
• Clinical exam rooms and sample prep labs.
• Research and teaching kitchen.
• Nutritional and sample collection services.
• Human imaging and body composition testing.
• Exercise and physiology laboratory.
• Ultra-fast laser spectroscopy.
• Magnetic resonance research.
Research Computing leverages advanced computational resources and data management to address large-scale challenges in science, engineering and health with speed and precision. Capabilities include artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing, parallel computing, big data storage and analytics, scientific visualization, high-speed networking, and cybersecurity. Research Computing supports over 1,700 software modules representing over 600 applications, including more than 130 Python environments.
Research Computing is home to a versatile supercomputing infrastructure, including the recently launched Sol supercomputer. Sol contains over 18,000 CPU cores, including more than 240 A100 and 15 A30 GPUs, and five highmemory nodes equipped with 2TB of RAM each.
By the numbers
people trained every year, including principal investigators, undergraduate students and industry personnel
499 1,400
45,000+ square feet of clean room space
518
capital equipment assets and growing
ASU-led sponsored projects supported in 2023 served in 2023
Over
34,000
CPU cores and over
580
GPU accelerators across two supercomputers
Supported $58 million in research expenditures in 2023
115+ industry clients
We do nontraditional semiconductors. Where the majority of companies in the United States are doing semiconductors on silicon wafers, we are doing semiconductors on large glass panels and flexible substrates. ASU has critical technology that has been extremely vital to our ability to advance that.”
Lindsay Pack CEO InnovaFlex
We’ve delivered flight hardware to NASA that was 10 times better than anyone has been able to do in terms of precision, and it was the combination of the Instrument Design and Fabrication facility and the Eyring Materials Center that allowed us to not only build that structure, but then prove we made it correctly.”
Christopher Groppi Professor
ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration
Supporting a sustainable future
In a time marked by escalating changes to the global climate, pioneering sustainable technology has emerged as a defining priority for our world. Against this backdrop, researchers and engineers play a pivotal role in advancing novel technology aimed at mitigating environmental degradation and promoting a more sustainable future. ASU Core Research Facilities provide essential support to this scientific progress in service of a more sustainable tomorrow.
Prototyping solutions
Reducing carbon emissions is a top priority to alleviate the impacts of climate change. But even the most optimistic estimates for curbing emissions will still leave excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — requiring additional solutions to create a more sustainable world. One solution, direct air capture, was pioneered at ASU and supported by the Instrument Design and Fabrication facility. In 2019, Instrument Design and Fabrication created components for Professor Klaus Lackner’s prototype device that passively removes excess CO2 from the air and stores it for conversion into other products, such as synthetic fuels. The prototype device was later displayed at the Science Museum in London as part of their Our Future Planet exhibition. Lackner’s technology was licensed to Carbon Collect Ltd., who went on to install the first MechanicalTree™ on ASU’s Tempe campus in 2022.
Creating better solar panels
The transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is vital in the fight against climate change. ASU scientists are aiding this transition with the development of multi-junction solar cells, which combine various materials into layers that are capable of absorbing different wavelengths of light. Multijunction cells are many times more efficient than traditional cells, but their prohibitive costs prevent widespread adoption. Using the capabilities of the Solar Fab and Photonics facilities, ASU researchers are rapidly iterating this important technology to secure commercial viability.
Looking cool
Impermeable surfaces in urban environments, such as roofs, roads, parking lots and sidewalks, play an important role in shaping urban microclimates. These surfaces affect energy consumption and contribute to the urban heat island effect, which increases heatrelated injuries and deaths. One soluton that has emerged is “cool” roofs and pavements, which provide relief from heat by reflecting more solar energy. Researchers in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, are investigating the benefits and tradeoffs of cool roofs and pavements. Using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy at the Eyring Materials Center, the researchers are measuring coated pavement samples to evaluate the changes in their chemistry and reflectivity over time to determine the efficiency of cool surfaces as they age.
Understanding the past to inform the future
ASU researcher Becky Ball has analyzed Antarctic core samples using the sequencing capabilities of the ASU Genomics Facility. Her work focuses on the factors that control nutrient dynamics and decomposition in soils and her lab works to understand how deserts — such as the Sonoran Desert and Antarctica — will respond to various forms of global change.
Developing advanced technology
Novel and creative technology holds the key to addressing complex global challenges, allowing us to push the boundaries of human knowledge and improve quality of life. ASU’s Core Research Facilities provide vital resources and expertise to academic and industry clients to unlock new possibilities.
Harnessing quantum potential
In 2022, ASU launched the Quantum Collaborative, a bold new initiative to promote and realize the potential of quantum technology. The Research Computing facility was an important contributor to this effort that brought quantum computing to ASU with their focus on cyberinfrastructure and quantum workforce development. Since its inception, the Quantum Collaborative has forged connections with established companies, academic institutions and startups to deliver advances across the emerging quantum technology landscape, as well as develop training and education for the future quantum workforce. Partners include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, IBM, Google Quantum AI, Purdue University, Virginia Tech and more.
Foundational support for groundbreaking technology
In 2023, ASU secured the largest National Science Foundation award in the university’s history to advance groundbreaking X-ray science. The $90.8 million award supports a 5-year project to build the world’s first compact X-ray free electron laser (CXFEL) at the Biodesign Institute. As the CXFEL aims to dramatically reduce the physical footprint of existing, mile-long X-ray free electron laser facilities, it necessitated a complete rethinking and redesign. The Instrument Design and Fabrication facility constructed hundreds of custom components for all facets of the novel instrument. The project reached a major milestone in February 2023 when the first phase of the CXFEL, the compact X-ray light source, produced its first X-rays.
Speeding innovative tech to market
Representing approximately $270 million in corporate and state investment, the Materials-to-Fab Center is a collaborative effort by ASU and Applied Materials to accelerate innovations from idea to prototype. Slated to open in the ASU Research Park by 2025, the shared research, development and prototyping facility will enable collaboration with industry partners, startups, government agencies and academic institutions and provide hands-on experience for students and faculty with equipment used in leading production fabs. The Materials-to-Fab Center will be housed alongside the Advanced Electronics and Photonics facility and draw on the facility’s long-standing comprehensive electronics development capabilities.
Novel platforms to better investigate disease
In 2023, Mehdi Nikkhah, an associate professor in the School of Biological Health Systems Engineering, was inducted as a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors for his development of tissueon-a chip technology. This microsystem — supported broadly by the Biosciences core — was engineered to simulate human tissue and organs in structure and function to better understand the biological mechanisms of complicated diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular abnormalities.
The relationship between ASU and ASM is very synergistic, and in this state of semiconductor revolution, where we are right at the edge of going to nanometer-scale development, it becomes very vital to have a community partner so that we both can mutually grow and benefit from this.”
Dorai Iyer Senior Metrology Engineer II Advanced Semiconductor Materials
Bolstering national security
In the 1990s, the United States produced approximately 37% of the global microchip supply. Today that figure has fallen to just 12%. These devices are essential components of computers, cell phones, transportation infrastructure, medical technologies and even fighter aircraft — and our dependence on them and their overseas production is a key strategic concern at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
There are myriad national efforts to secure U.S. leadership in cross-functional, next-generation microelectronics research, development and manufacturing. The ASU Core Research Facilities serve as an essential component in ASU’s contribution to this goal. Central to this effort are the Advanced Electronics and Photonics facility, the NanoFab facility, the Solar Fab facility, the Ultrafast Laser facility, and the Eyring Materials Center.
Certified for specialized service
When researchers need new tools, they can’t just go to the hardware store. Their work demands unique and sensitive instruments requiring custom fabrication at highly certified and specially outfitted commercial aerospace machine shops. But contracting with such companies can be a time-consuming and costly process.
Fortunately for clients of ASU Core Research Facilities, the Instrument Design and Fabrication facility holds AS9100D and ISO 9001:2015 certifications, distinguishing it as one of only a few U.S. university facilities to do so. Such certifications allow Instrument Design and Fabrication to take on one-off, custom jobs in-house, and enable them to measure and verify that fabricated components meet the rigorous standards of the Federal Aviation Administration as well as those of the aerospace, defense and space industries.
Empowering tomorrow’s workforce
The vast array of equipment and expertise within ASU’s Core Research Facilities not only serves academia and industry clients with fundamental research and development, but also advances the demands of the workforce, providing hands-on experience for students and training for industry personnel.
Training veterans for the microelectronics industry
ASU NanoFab is a key partner in the Microelectronics and Nanomanufacturing Certificate Program, which is specifically designed to help veterans gain entry to the growing microelectronics and semiconductor workforce. Funded by the National Science Foundation and facilitated by Penn State, the 12-week program equips veterans with the principles and practices they need to succeed in the semiconductor industry, including on-site training in a clean room environment. Alongside Rio Salado Community College, NanoFab represents one of seven regional partners in the program providing this valuable training and experience through the MNCP.
Fostering a microelectronics talent pipeline Microelectronics are ubiquitous — and jobs in the industry are set to grow by 33% by 2030. As the largest school for engineering and technological talent in the nation, ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering is working to prepare students to meet the demands of this growing sector. To do so, they require facilities and tools to equip students with the skills they need. ASU Core Research Facilities are a cornerstone of this effort, providing lab space, training and hands-on experience for students preparing to enter the workforce.
Advancing microelectronics production
ASU also leads the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub, funded with $40 million from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The SWAP Hub brings together more than 170 leading corporate, startup, academic and national lab partners from the semiconductor and defense sectors to jump-start microelectronics projects. SWAP Hub draws on the decadeslong experience of ASU Core Research Facilities such as the Advanced Electronics and Photonics facilities.
Fueling space research and exploration
ASU is committed to high-impact scientific discovery as its scientists and students explore Earth, our solar system and the far reaches of the universe in dozens of active space missions, both in flight and in development.
Behind the scenes, the Instrument Design and Fabrication facility has supported more than 10 NASA missions, including its pivotal role in equipping the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft with the first space instrument built entirely on the ASU campus. The facility conceptualized and crafted the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), a mission-critical instrument that was used to map asteroid Bennu’s mineralogy and surface temperature, data that helped mission scientists choose a site to collect a surface sample to return to Earth.
Marking a significant milestone in space exploration, the spacecraft delivered safely to Earth a sample of the asteroid that may hold clues about the origin of life. Bennu contains rocks that date to the earliest epoch of the solar system, and the mission delivered samples of these “fossils” that date back 4 billion years.
Other NASA missions supported by Instrument Design and Fabrication include:
• A shoebox-sized spacecraft designed and built at ASU called the Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map), which entered orbit around the moon and demonstrated that its neutron spectrometer can detect water and ice at the lunar surface.
• The Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System built by ASU scientists and engineers to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa.
• The Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, with an orbiter equipped with a interferometric thermal infrared spectrometer developed by ASU and NAU researchers with components manufactured by Instrument Design and Fabrication.
• The Terahertz Intensity Mapper, a balloon-borne observatory that will look at the light from early galaxies. Instrument Design and Fabrication constructed the long-wavelength optics of the 2-meter diameter telescope from machined aluminum.
The Advanced Electronics and Photonics facility provides comprehensive electronics capabilities bridging the high-risk, resourceintensive gap between innovation and product development in an information-secure environment. ASU experimental astrophysicist Christopher Groppi has received a NASA grant to develop very thin, lightweight planar filters and focusing optics to improve the performance and availability of large-aperture far-infrared filters for space observatories and ground-based experiments. AEP is fabricating specialized long wavelength lenses and filters for the project.
Meanwhile, AEP is fabricating and developing a LiDAR detector for space applications for a small company.
Advancing discovery and innovation
Research Computing has advanced the work conducted by the following researchers:
Michael Line and his colleagues at the School of Earth and Space Exploration use the ASU’s supercomputer, Sol, to study the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs with the goal of understanding their composition, climates and origins.
Craig Hardgrove, from the School Of Earth and Space Exploration, and his colleagues use the supercomputer to detect hydrogen deposits at the moon’s south pole for the LunaH-Map mission.
The Solar Fab worked with Arizona-based company Solestial to develop its “solar blankets.” Solestial is now working with NASA to further develop those next-generation solar arrays.
Advancing health solutions
Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, advanced equipment and capabilities, and staffed with experienced personnel, ASU Core Research Facilities offer a variety of services to advance research dedicated to human health.
Furthering knowledge through sequencing
The ASU Genomics Facility assists a range of researchers in their work with both traditional and next-generation sequencing services and library preparation options. For instance, the facility has supported wastewater epidemiological studies by Otakuye ConroyBen, an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. The work included evaluating antibiotic resistant bacteria and identifying viruses in wastewater.
The Genomics Facility has also provided analysis of gut microbiome samples to compare intestinal diseases for Todd Sandrin, dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. A trained microbiologist, Sandrin’s works at the intersection of microbiology and chemistry. He not only studies microbiomes in pediatric intestinal disease to identify biomarkers, but is improving STEM outreach to undergraduates with
support from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.
The Genomics Facility has also contributed to the pioneering gut microbiome and autism research of Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes. She has led numerous studies on gut microbiota in Parkinson’s disease, obesity and autism as well as the use of microbial systems for bioremediation, supported by Genomics Core capabilities and equipment. This work has been funded by the Flinn Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy and National Institutes for Health.
External researchers, such as Nafisa Jadavji, have also tapped into the Genomics Facility’s expertise and services. A neuroscientist at Midwestern University, she studies how the brain responds to various biological processes over a lifetime and how maternal nutrition contributes to offspring neurodevelopment, neurological diseases and aging. She’s leveraged Genomics to analyze spatial gene expression data in dementia to examine what is happening at the single cell level.
Computing better health outcomes
Protecting patients’ personal health information is paramount in health research. The Research Computing Core Facility supports and advances such research with the KE Secure Cloud, an advanced computing environment specifically designed for restricted research. The KE Secure Cloud enables health data access and collaboration among researchers in the domains of infectious disease, clinical research, social determinants of health and others.
ASU is driving the future of health care, through the forthcoming Health Observatory at ASU, a real-time early warning system that will help leaders identify trends and make health-related decisions based on the latest available information and data in Arizona. Research Computing is developing a platform for the Health Observatory that enables data integration across multiple domains, including social and environmental factors, and facilitates collaboration with improved secure data-sharing capabilities. This will build a platform for computational support for genomics research of various viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens for the Arizona Department of Health Services and state of Arizona.
Research Computing has been the most useful resource to develop my research starting day one. The ease of use and resources provided by the personnel have been outstanding to kickstart my research at
Anita Sanchez Assistant Professor ASU Department of Physics
ASU.”