By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
Sandia National Laboratories now has a huge place to make tiny things.
A $516 million complex dedicated at Sandia last week will make the lab a world leader in the design and manufacture of the world's tiniest machines, Sandia officials predict.
Called the Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications, or MESA, the three-building complex will house an estimated 650 workers who design and build electronic circuits for nuclear weapons, other national security applications and partnerships with industry and universities.
Sandia officials expect MESA to serve as a magnet for a new generation of talented scientists and engineers.
"What we have now are modern facilities that will provide the workplace for engineers of the future," said Bill Jenkins, project manager for MESA.
The largest construction project ever undertaken at the lab, MESA opened ahead of schedule and under budget.
And, finally, Sandia has its first statue.
The life-size bronze, unveiled Thursday on the MESA campus, honors Willis Whitfield, a long-time Sandia engineer who invented the laminar-flow cleanroom used the world over to manufacture silicon microchips.
Whitfield's invention is a key part of MESA. The three-building complex includes a semiconductor fabrication facility, or "microfab," where engineers make tiny machines etched on silicon microchips.
On Friday, dozens of engineers and technicians worked in the 100,000-square-foot fab. Here, Sandia builds customized microdevices for uses that range from weapons and spacecraft to commercial products.
"The good work that will come out of these facilities will come out of our imaginations," Jenkins said.
The big idea behind MESA is tiny machines, such as a motor just 10 microns across, or one-tenth the width of a hair.
The motor, on display under a microscope in the lobby of Sandia's microsystems lab, turns gears with teeth the size of a human blood cell.
Possible uses for microdevices are virtually unlimited, Jenkins predicts.
For example, they could be used to cool microchips by forcing minute amounts of liquid nitrogen through the chip, Jenkins said. That would allow engineers to multiply the number of transistors on a chip and boost computing power, he said.
Sandia engineers also plan to use microdevices to build a virtually infallible lock for a nuclear bomb.
A tiny motor would drive a pin through a complex mechanical maze. "One mistake and it stops— you're not allowed to go any further," he said.
Other products include sensors, which are used for a growing number of commercial products such as vehicle air bags and anti-lock brakes.
MESA represents the federal government's largest investment in microsystems technology.
MESA also builds "hardened" electronic circuits and computer chips that can survive the harsh radiation environments of space and nuclear warfare, said Gil Herrera, director of microsystems science.
"A lot of the chips out of this lab have flown in space," Herrera said Friday.
One example is the "micro louver," designed by Sandia engineers to help regulate the temperature of small satellites in space.
Gold-plated louvers, many times smaller than a human hair, line the exterior of the satellite, Herrera said. The louvers close when exposed to sunlight, protecting the satellite from heat, and reopen in darkness to allow cooling, he said.
The 400,000-square-foot MESA complex was finished three years ahead of schedule and $40 million under budget, Sandia officials say.
Sandia submitted its design package for MESA to the U.S. Department of Energy one day before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It broke ground on the project in 2003.
Sandia opened the first two buildings last year, including the microfab and a microsystems lab.
On Thursday, officials opened a 170,000-square-foot Weapons Integration Facility for weapons design and analysis.
Jenkins credited timely appropriations secured by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and other members of New Mexico's congressional delegation for keeping the project ahead of schedule and under budget.
"With more money, we were able to award the contracts and move faster," Jenkins said.
Mesa's make-up
Sandia National Laboratories on Thursday dedicated its new Microsystem and Engineering Sciences Application complex, or MESA. The $516 million complex includes three buildings. They are:
The Microsystems Fabrication (Microfab) facility, 100,000 square feet— provides cleanrooms for both semiconductor and gallium-arsenide microsystem components.
Microsystems Laboratory (Microlab), 130,000 square feet— contains chemical, electrical and laser labs for researchers and engineers developing microsystem components.
Weapons Integration Facility, 170,000 square feet— contains both classified and unclassified areas to foster collaboration between Sandia microsystem designers and external partners.
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