Smart Lab, as part of the VT team, received a $20M NSF grant

The project is entitled: NSF PCL-Test Bed: AI-enabled, Cloud-based Self-Driving Nanofabrication Node for Accelerating Semiconductor Research and Education. Dr. Kong serves as a Co-PI and is in charge of system integration and automation.

This project will address a longstanding challenge in semiconductor research and innovation, viz., the slow, costly, and difficult-to-reproduce processes involved in developing minuscule, micro-, and nanoscale electronic, photonic, and sensing devices, because many fabrication processes continue to rely on manual testing and expert judgment. The project aims to create a secure, remotely accessible, and broadly usable laboratory that integrates nanofabrication tools, measurement systems, structured data, and computing resources into a unified experimental environment. By using human-supervised AI-assisted workflows, the platform will accelerate learning from experimental data and dramatically reduce the time required to move from promising concepts to validated devices. This investment will strengthen U.S. leadership in semiconductor innovation, enhance national competitiveness, and support technologies essential to computing, communications, health, and national security. The project will also broaden access to advanced research infrastructure and provide hands-on education and workforce training for future semiconductor scientists, engineers, and technical professionals. 

For details, please see: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award?AWD_ID=2607580