Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP)

Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP) is an initiative to create and spread the expertise of nanoelectronics in India, jointly run by the Centres of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc), with financial support from the Department of Information Technology (DIT), the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), Government of India.

Vision

To facilitate and support the generation of expertise and knowledge in nanoelectronics through participation and utilization of the facilities established at the Centers of Excellence in Nanoelectronics at IISc and IITB by external users.

Objectives

To open up the R&D infrastructure setup at the Centres of Excellence in Nanoelectronics to Indian researchers from outside of IISc and IITB.

To impart hands-on training in Nanoelectronics to researchers from other institutions in the country and assist in the initiation of research in Nanoelectronics by enabling the execution of the work of the external users at these centers.

To collaborate with research teams at other Indian centers and develop joint academic and research programs in Nanoelectronics.

To provide a platform for researchers in Nanoelectronics to come together and benefit from complementary expertise.

To conduct regular workshops for the wider dissemination of the knowledge in the area of Nanoelectronics.

Types of Programs offered under INUP

There would be three kinds of interaction with external users for the Nanoelectronics facilities at IISc and IITB:

Medium-term projects:

The medium-term projects envisaged under the INUP scheme would be of shorter duration. The project would be identified by the outside agency, and responsibility of ensuring its success would lie with them, though IISc/IITB would advise on the practicability of the project. In the case of universities/academic institutions, the funding would be made available through INUP. For government, research laboratories, industry and other institutions, the funding has to be provided by the respective organizations. In all cases, the outside agency would be responsible for deputing one or more persons who would spend significant amounts of time at the nano-facility. Although the IISc/IITB nano-facility would provide equipment, operators and engineers for discussion, the responsibility for carrying the wafers through the various steps would be that of the persons from the outside agency.

Short-term measurements / fabrication:

The short-term measurements are really requests from the outside agencies to carry out specific measurements, perform simple and standard experiments, do straightforward nanolithography, do standard nano-imaging, etc. This would be entertained by the IISc/IITB facilities on a payment basis. In the case of Universities such charges would be waived. Although the outside agency need not send anyone for these interactions, it may be desirable to do so on a case-to-case basis, and would be encouraged.

Services:

Other projects which may involve a one time measurement/unit process will be treated as “services”.The execution and payment terms for these services are as same as short term measurements.

Salient Features

INUP would organize various training programs at IISc/IITB for all potential users of the nanofacilities, whether medium-term, short-term or services. In addition, special training modules required by specific users would be given as and when necessary.

Users (post-graduate students and professional scientists and engineers) from academic, research and industrial R&D institutions will be trained through this project at three levels.

Short term workshops to disseminate the outcome of the research activities. These are also expected to provide exposure and awareness and also a platform for peer review of the research output of the program (Level 1).
Hands-on training for selected researchers from outside agencies (Level 2).
Execution of research projects (medium-term) by external users by providing support for fabrication and expert guidance (Level 3).

Investigators

IIT Bombay

	Chief Investigator	Chief Investigator	Co-Chief Investigator	Co-Chief Investigator
Name	Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao	Prof. A. Q. Contractor	Prof. J. Vasi	Prof. Anil Kottantharayil
Designation	Professor	Professor	Professor	Assistant Professor
Department	Electrical Engineering	Chemistry	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Address	IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076	IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076	IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076	IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076
Email	rrao@ee.iitb.ac.in	aqcontractor@iitb.ac.in	vasi@ee.iitb.ac.in	anilkg@ee.iitb.ac.in

IISC Bangalore

	Chief Investigator	Chief Investigator	Co-Chief Investigator	Co-Chief Investigator
Name	Prof. S.A. Shivashankar	Prof. V. Venkataraman	Prof. G. K. Ananthasuresh	Dr. K.J. Vinoy
Designation	Professor	Associate Professor	Associate Professor	Assistant Professor
Department	Materials Research Centre	Physics	Mechanical Engineering	Electrical Communication Engineering
Address	IISc, Bangalore-560012	IISc, Bangalore-560012	IISc, Bangalore-560012	IISc, Bangalore-560012
Email	shivu@mrc.iisc.ernet.in	venki@physics.iisc.ernet.in	suresh@mecheng.iisc.ernet.in	kjvinoy@ece.iisc.ernet.in