About Us
The Australian National Fabrication Facility ACT is of eight nodes established by the ANFF Limited under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to provide researchers and industry with access to state-of-the-art fabrication facilities.
The eight nodes of the ANFF are distributed across Australia, and benefit from existing infrastructure and expertise. They offer expertise in areas such as advanced materials, nano-electronics, photonics and bio-nano applications.
The ACT facilities are based on photonic/electronic materials growth, deposition and etching processes and device fabrication. We provide a range of capabilities and services for the micro/nanofabrication of photonic and related devices as well as the fabrication of waveguides and photonic crystals. We provide fabrication support for opto-electronic devices such as semiconductor lasers, photo-detectors and modulators are widely used for communications, data storage and medical applications.
Photonic crystals, for example, due to their ability to confine light and guide and control its propagation, promise an entire suite of ultra-compact optical devices analogous to those of semiconductor electronics. Hence the node is internationally recognised for supporting both state-of-the-art research and proof of concept development for industry.
Dedicated, specialist staff are on hand to provide services, training and technical support to users.
ACT Node hosted by the Australian National University
Our facilities, hosted within the Department of Electronic Materials Engineering at the ANU Research School of Physics. The ACT node provides access to an array of state-of-the-art equipment that enables research in the development and fabrication of micro/nano-photonic related devices, photonic crystals and waveguides, primarily focused on III-V compound semi-conductor materials.
Some of the node flagship equipment and services include Electron Beam Lithography, Electron Beam Thermal Evaporation, Focused Ion Beam, Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching, Nano Imprint Lithography/Hot Embossing, Plasma-assisted Atomic Layer Deposition, Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition, a Sputter Coater system and three Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD) Reactors. These reactors enable the fabrication of nano-wires, quantum dots, quantum wells, strained layers and devices. This capability is unique in Australia. We are continuing to extend these capabilities by purchasing additional state-of-the-art small processing equipment enabling further research and development in micro/nano-technology.
Users of the ANFF ACT node also benefit from the close collaboration with well-known research teams within the Research School of Physics, namely, the ANFF OptoFab hub and the Australian Facility For Advanced Ion Implantation Research (AFAiiR) and their facilities. These include high energy ion implantation, Si-etching, optical characterisation and many more characterisation tools.