UW Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF)

What UW Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) does

The Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) is an open-access nanofabrication user facility operated by the University of Washington in Fluke Hall, Seattle, and housed within UW's Institute for Nano-engineered Systems (NanoES). It is one of 16 sites in the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) network and the largest publicly accessible nanofabrication facility in the Pacific Northwest, comprising 15,000 square feet of ISO Class 5/6 cleanroom, laboratory, and user space following a $37 million renovation in 2015 that tripled the facility's footprint. The facility supports basic and applied research, advanced R&D, and prototype production in disciplines including quantum information science, photonics, electronics, biomedical engineering, and materials science.

WNF's core service is providing researchers and engineers with access to specialized nanofabrication tools and process expertise that commercial foundries will not accommodate, including a JEOL JBX-6300FS electron beam lithography system, Nanoscribe GT two-photon lithography, Picosun atomic layer deposition reactors, electrochemical deposition/electroplating, chemical mechanical polishing, and pulsed chemical vapor deposition. Users register and reserve equipment through the CORAL online management system, complete safety training, and consume services under one of three user agreements (UW academic, industry on-site, remote/foundry). The facility is staffed by a small team of specialized research engineers led by Director Dr. Maria Huffman.

WNF's revenue model is a hybrid of usage-based user fees charged at differentiated academic and commercial rates, NSF and other federal grant funding (most recently a five-year, $5M NNCI grant shared with Oregon State University in 2020), and institutional support from UW. Primary customer segments are UW academic researchers (dominant), other academic institutions, industrial firms and startups (e.g., UW spinout Tunoptix, which has won DARPA STTR and NASA SBIR funding), and government labs including PNNL and DARPA-funded programs. WNF is governed as a university research facility — not a separately incorporated entity — and reports through NanoES director Karl Böhringer.

Name

UW Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF)

Legal name

Washington Nanofabrication Facility

Website

https://wnf.washington.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

WNF is an open-access nanofabrication user facility at the University of Washington, operating a $37M ISO Class 5/6 cleanroom as one of 16 NSF NNCI sites serving academic researchers, startups, and industrial users with specialized lithography, deposition, and process tooling.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nanofabrication and Cleanroom Research Facility Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Nanotechnology (541713), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Foundry Platform & Design Enablement Services (PDK/DFM/Process Qualification) (HDAHACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Physical Design, DFM & Manufacturing/Mask Data Prep (HDAHAFAC), Advanced Packaging (2.5D/3D-IC, Fan-Out WLP, Chiplets) (HDAHADAB)

Keywords

• Nanofabrication services
• Cleanroom facilities
• Electron beam lithography
• Atomic layer deposition
• Open-access user facility

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Facility Access and Usage Fees: WNF operates as an open-access user facility where researchers and engineers pay for access to nanofabrication equipment, tools, and cleanroom space. User fees cover equipment usage, materials, and technical support services. Academic and industrial users are charged according to facility rate schedules.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WNF is an open-access nanofabrication user facility providing academic researchers, industrial users, and startups with access to advanced cleanroom infrastructure and specialized fabrication tools for basic research, advanced R&D, and prototype production at the nanoscale. Core capabilities include electron beam lithography, atomic layer deposition, electrochemical deposition, chemical mechanical polishing, and two-photon lithography, supported by experienced engineering staff.

Product overview

WNF is a single, open-access nanofabrication facility providing researchers and engineers with access to nanoscale fabrication capabilities. The facility offers core clean room infrastructure (15,000 sq ft of clean room, laboratory, and user spaces with ISO Class 5/6 rating), equipment access (including electron beam lithography, atomic layer deposition, electrochemical deposition, chemical mechanical polishing, and two-photon lithography), and services (process development, training, user support). Users access these capabilities through the CORAL lab management system for reservations and billing. WNF also provides educational programs including an undergraduate lab assistant program and nanofab short course. The facility serves both academic and industrial users across disciplines including aerospace, information technology, medical research, and quantum science.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open-Access Nanofabrication Services WNF provides researchers and engineers with access to nanofabrication tools, equipment, and expertise for fabricating materials, structures, and devices at the nanoscale, supporting basic and applied research, advanced R&D, and prototype production.
• Clean Room Facilities 15,000 square feet of combined clean room, laboratory, and user spaces including an ISO Class 5/6 clean room for high-quality nanoscale device fabrication.
• Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Processing Process development and deposition services using atomic layer deposition systems including Picosun ALD Reactors for conformal thin film coatings.
• Electron Beam Lithography High-resolution electron beam lithography using the JEOL JBX-6300FS system supporting resolutions far below what is achievable with standard ultra-violet light lithography.
• Electrochemical Deposition/Electroplating Through-silicon-via copper plating, solder plating for wafer-level packaging, and plating of ferromagnetic alloys for microelectronics process integration.
• Chemical Mechanical Polishing CMP processing services for damascene copper interconnect formation and surface planarization.
• Two-Photon Lithography (Nanoscribe GT) 3D printing/fabrication using two-photon lithography for creating nanoscale 3D structures and metamaterials with precise optical field control capabilities.
• CORAL Lab Management System Online system for prospective and current users to register, complete safety trainings, reserve space or instrumentation, manage account details, and handle billing.
• Nanofab Short Course Educational course taught by WNF research engineers offering nanofabrication training, often offered for UW students in the spring.
• Undergraduate Lab Assistant Program Student employment program providing hands-on training in nanofabrication, cleanroom operations, equipment maintenance, and networking with professionals in semiconductor and nanotechnology industries.
• QuantumX Student Grants $4,000 grants for undergraduate and masters students to fabricate nanoscale quantum devices and structures at WNF, funded by the Washington Research Foundation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Largest publicly accessible nanofabrication facility in Pacific Northwest with 15,000 sq ft
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core, key and minor.

• Northwest Quantum Nexus (NQN)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 March 2019Coalition formed in March 2019 by QuantumX (UW), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Microsoft Quantum to bring about a revolution in quantum research and technology. Objectives include forming cross-disciplinary research teams, cultivating quantum workforce through education and training, promoting public-private partnerships, and translating QIS research to applications in sustainability and clean energy. WNF serves as key resource for the growing quantum innovation ecosystem.
• National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWNF is one of 16 sites in NSF's NNCI network of open-access nanotechnology user facilities. The network provides researchers from academia and industry access to leading-edge fabrication and characterization tools. NNCI designation brings NSF funding and national visibility.
• Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NNI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership between UW and Oregon State University serving as Pacific Northwest node of NNCI. Includes WNF and Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF) at UW, providing world-class fabrication and characterization facilities for researchers.
• Institute for Nano-engineered Systems (NanoES)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWNF is part of UW's Institute for Nano-engineered Systems which seeks to catalyze innovative, interdisciplinary, and industry-relevant research in design, fabrication, and integration of scalable nano-engineered devices and systems.
• TunoptixkeyTechnology or IntegrationSeattle-based optics startup co-founded by UW ECE professors Karl Böhringer and Arka Majumdar. Using WNF for fabrication of large aperture metasurfaces for imaging satellites. Awarded DARPA STTR Phase I ($223k), STTR Phase II ($1.5M), and NASA SBIR Phase I funding. Developing meta-optics for defense, aerospace, and commercial imaging applications.
• ClassOne TechnologyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership announced in 2014 with ClassOne Technology's wet process tool division (formerly Semitool) for advanced wafer-level electroplating within WNF. Initial focus on Through Silicon Via copper plating, with future exploration of solder plating for Wafer-Level Packaging and ferromagnetic alloys plating.
• Montana Nanotechnology FacilitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint NNCI initiative partner in Northwest Nanotechnology Laboratory Alliance (NWNLA). Collaborates on biennial workshops bringing together staff and management of micro and nanofabrication facilities and imaging/analysis facilities from academia, industry, and government in the northwest.
• Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner facility within NNI providing complementary characterization capabilities alongside WNF's fabrication services. Both facilities are part of the Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF): A long-standing open-access nanofabrication facility at Cornell and NNCI node. Matches WNF on user-facility model, tool breadth (EBL, ALD, plasma etch), and academic+industrial customer mix.
• Minnesota Nano Center: University of Minnesota's open-access nanofabrication and characterization facility and an NNCI node, offering a comparable suite of lithography, deposition, and etch tools to WNF users.
• MIT.nano: MIT's 200mm-capable nanofabrication facility that opened in 2018 and is an NNCI site. Competes for the same elite research users and offers a comparable advanced cleanroom + characterization stack.
• Molecular Foundry (LBNL): DOE-funded user facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with nanofabrication and characterization capabilities; an NNCI node operating the same open-access model as WNF for academic and industrial researchers.
• Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN): Georgia Tech's NNCI-affiliated user facility with a similar open-access nanofabrication and characterization model serving academic and industry users in semiconductors, MEMS, and bio-nano.
• University of Texas at Dallas Cleanroom: UT-Dallas operates an NNCI-affiliated open-access nanofabrication facility serving regional academic and industry users with comparable lithography and deposition capabilities.
• Lund Nano Lab (LNL): Sweden's leading open-access nanofabrication facility at Lund University, previously directed by WNF's current director Maria Huffman. Directly comparable in tool set, academic+industrial model, and research focus.
• Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF): Stanford's open-access nanofabrication user facility and an NNCI site. Directly comparable to WNF as a university-based, fee-for-service nanofab with EBL, photolithography, deposition, and cleanroom services for academic and industrial users.

Others

• ClassOne Technology: Supplier of wet process and electroplating tools with a strategic partnership with WNF (formerly Semitool). Comparable because it sells into and co-develops equipment used by nanofabrication user facilities and foundries.

Emerging players

• Tunoptix: UW spinout using WNF for meta-optic fabrication, backed by DARPA STTR and NASA SBIR. Comparable because it is a direct WNF customer and exemplifies the startup/spinout pipeline the facility enables.

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WNFUW
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/uwhuskies
• Facebookfacebook.com/UofWA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/washington-nanofabrication-facility
• Instagraminstagram.com/uofwa
• Pinterestpinterest.com/uofwa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about UW Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF)