NATIONAL
NANOTECHNOLOGY
INITIATIVE (NNI)
INTERAGENCY WORKSHOP
ESTABLISHING THE NEEDS OF CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS IN FACILITIES
SUPPORTING NANOTECHNOLOGY –
THE SCIENCE BEHIND CONFLICT RESOLUTION.
INSTRUMENTATION AND
METROLOGY FOR
NANOTECHNOLOGY GRAND
CHALLENGE WORKSHOP
By:
Ahmad Soueid, RA, NCARB
Principal/Senior Vice-President
HDR Architecture, Inc.
1101 King Street, Suite 400
Alexandria, VA, 22314
USA
JANUARY 27-29, 2004
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
STANDARDS AND
TECHNOLOGY,
GAITHERSBURG, MD
Phone: +1 (703) 518-8552
ahmad.soueid@hdrinc.com
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. As nanoscale research translates into nano fabrication
and manufacturing, the physical environments allowing for both early research
and development and later manufacturing operations impose more strenuous
demands on facilities. These demands include high levels of accuracy in
environmental criteria such as:
 Temperature control
 Humidity control
 Vibration isolation
 Acoustic isolation
 Air cleanliness from particulate matter
 Control of biological contaminants
 Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
 Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), as well as
 Good quality electrical power.
The needs of facilities supporting nanoscale metrology will largely be influenced
by 1) the impact of emerging technologies on measurement sciences (i.e.
nanomaterials, nanoprobes, nanobiology, nanoelectronics, nanophysics, nanoscale building blocks, nanofluidics); 2) the measurement challenges presented
by the emerging technologies and 3) the techniques foreseen to meet those
challenges. (i.e. three-dimensional characterization of nanoscale particles, the
dynamic measurement needs of nonlinear structures and organisms, and
reducing the traceability chain in measurement standards)1.
Workshop on Future Trends in Metrology, 10–11 July 2002, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, United
Kingdom.
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Establishing The Needs Of Critical Environments In Facilities Supporting
Nanotechnology - The Science Behind Conflict Resolution.
Ahmad Soueid, RA, NCARB
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Though once dubbed state-of-the-art, many 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, increasingly stringent environmental criteria
are demanding increasingly complex infrastructures. Many institutions are
realizing the need for renovating older facilities as well as designing and
constructing new facilities with criteria that are more and more restrictive.
To be able to respond to the needs of nanoscale metrology, architects and
engineers must be able to identify key design parameters and laboratory
environmental requirements for the measurement techniques. This is
complicated by the fact that the different environmental requirements could be
conflicting in their physical execution. (For instance, tight temperature control
requires a higher level of air changes, which negatively impacts the vibration
and acoustical criteria.) A delicate balance of managing conflicting criteria is
essential in the development of specialized facilities. Knowing which criterion is
more important than another require a detailed understanding of the functions
within the space. While making comparative measurements against a particular
standard, the control of fluctuations in temperature and humidity are more
important than achieving an absolute accuracy of a temperature or humidity
setpoints. The reverse may be true under different circumstances.
Subtle differences in criteria development could be problematic—such as not
quantifying whether the temperature stability is meant to be applicable to time
variation, or across space. Temperature variation along the length of a laser
beam could result in an erroneous measurement. On the other hand, slow
temperature variation in which all points change at the same rate may not. The
duration of perturbations may also be important. The same could be said about
electromagnetic interferences and vibration. Such examples are more evident
as users of TEM’s are able to actually “see” the distortion caused by an outside
event that is unrelated to the experiment.
There are many available technical sessions/courses dealing with the design of
different types of facilities; however few deal with conflicts in criteria
development. www.NANObuildings.com is a not-for-profit forum that was
specifically created to deal with conflicts of such criteria and communicate them
through a series of technical workshops called “Buildings for Advanced
Technology Workshop” (BAT)2.
Organized in part under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), the original BAT workshop was conducted at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology in January 2003. Arizona State University sponsored a second “Buildings for Advanced
Technology Workshop” (BAT II) in January 2004. The BAT workshop elucidated issues related to designing and constructing
facilities that support advanced technologies such as nanoscale research, high-accuracy metrology, semiconductor fabrication,
and biotechnology. BAT II focused on developing a connection between the emerging science and a range of technical factors to
consider during the design and construction of advanced technology facilities.
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Establishing The Needs Of Critical Environments In Facilities Supporting
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Ahmad Soueid, RA, NCARB
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Such workshops are a way to communicate ideas, solutions and lessons
learned on other similar projects between scientists, users and different design
teams. A perfect facility is illusory, but and ideal environment can be attained. In
order for a facility to come close to providing the ideal environment, a great deal
of communication is required. Project specific workshops are valuable as the
users must communicate to the designers the specifics of the criteria (i.e.,
magnitude, limits on time variation, limits on spatial variation, etc.) as well as
the relative importance of the different criteria (to aid in the resolution of
criterion conflict). Likewise, the designers must communicate to the builders
the specifics for interpretation of criteria, as well as the detailed means by which
they may be evaluated (i.e., spatial averages, time averages, maxima over time
and/or space, etc.). If these two communication steps are adequately carried
out, the probability of achieving the ideal environment is greatly enhanced.
Scientists must be allowed to focus on developing the right research tools and
experiments instead of debugging the HVAC systems serving the space they
occupy. Although the perfect facility may not exist, an ideal environment is
attainable when the right design compromises acceptable for the short term and
long-term needs of the science are reached.
Establishing The Needs Of Critical Environments In Facilities Supporting
Nanotechnology - The Science Behind Conflict Resolution.
Page 4/4
Ahmad Soueid, RA, NCARB
AHMAD SOUEID, RA, NCARB
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.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION:
Master of Architecture,
University of Texas at
Arlington,
REGISTRATION:
NCARB Certified
Registered Architect in
New York, Indiana and
Connecticut
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.
CONTACT INFO
HDR Architecture, Inc.
Phone: +1(703) 518-8552
Fax: +1(703) 518-8686
ahmad.soueid@hdrinc.com
1101 King Street
Suite 400
Alexandria, VA 22314-2944
Phone (703) 518-8500
Fax (703) 518-8686
www.hdrinc.com