New Princeton Facilities (PRISM) Inaugurated

271 years ago Princeton University was founded and has long maintained a solid reputation, particularly for science and engineering. This past fall, Angstrom’s president and co-owner Dave Pitts was invited to a special inauguration event at the ivy-league school. The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) has a network of shared facilities, which are located in the recently opened SEAS (School of Engineering and Applied Science) Andlinger Center building. A primary mission of PRISM is to integrate the various fields of science with engineering, working toward the goal of bringing theory into the real world, and then into industry and government. Major investments by Princeton have made these new facilities a one-stop-shop for both fabrication and material’s characterization and analysis. Princeton’s reputation as a leader in interdisciplinary research is further bolstered by the ambitious vision of PRISM, which contains several Angstrom Engineering thin film deposition systems.

Angstrom’s own Dave Pitts was invited to participate in the inauguration of PRISM in late 2016. “We have been working with Princeton for twenty years, and have even had the opportunity to update some of our original tools in their facilities to bring them up to current standards. The facility is very impressive, and it’s clear how excited the people at Princeton are about the capabilities.”

Dave Pitts, Angstrom’s President (farthest back) can be seen donning cleanroom garb for the PRISM facilities tour

Tony Novembre, associate director of PRISM and the Director of Micro/Nano Fabrication Laboratory (MNFL) describes the five Angstrom PVD (physical vapor deposition) tools as vital to their work. They have systems dedicated to sputter coating, electron beam evaporation, and thermal deposition. These systems aid researchers toward their work in quantum materials, creating complex and novel nano-structures, manipulating photonic mechanics, bio-nano interactions, along with more theoretical research. Being a partner of Angstrom Engineering has made his work easier.

“For years now I have been outspoken about how easy it is to get an issue taken care of with Angstrom. Being able to pick up the phone or shoot off an email knowing that someone at the other end will be there to help fix the problem or answer the question is enormously relieving.”

“Angstrom Engineering is as close to an ‘easy button’ for PVD as one can get.”

Tony Novembre
Associate Director, PRISM