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Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, houses the countryís oldest federally sponsored nanotechnology centeróthe Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility (CNSTF). The center, which was built more than 20 years ago, had outgrown its existing faciŒities in the campusí Knight Laboratory. To provide a new state-of-the-art nanotechnology research and teaching facility for the CNSTF, Cornell turned to McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and Welliver McGuire.

As a national center, the CNSTF needed to attract visiting researchers from other universities and industries. Therefore, the new $50 million Duffield Hall had to be one of the countryís most sophisticated research and teaching facilities for nanotechnology. This included the need to feature four types of labs: cleanroom, wet, dry, and specialty labs; including a 20,000-square-foot cleanroom with a teaching laboratory for training students in nanotechnology processes.

In addition, the project required that the existing CNSTF in Knight Laboratory be fully operational with very limited disruptions during construction of Duffield Hallóa daunting task considering how disruptive even minor vibrations are to a nanotechnology lab.

Challenges and Solutions

Construction Vibrations

While being produced, nano objects must be motionless within nanometers (one billionth of a meter, about 3-4 atoms wide) and need extremely stable environments with vibration rigorously controlled. This was especially challenging because the construction of Duffield Hall, including blasting through rock for foundation prep work, was taking place adjacent to the existing lab.

To ensure the blasting and other construction activities would not interfere with CNSTF research, McCarthy/Welliver McGuire met every week with more than 20 representatives from the CNSTF operations staff to carefully schedule construction work. In addition, the construction team installed vibration monitors with such a high level of sensitivity that they can record a door being shut in the adjacent building. The monitors tracked vibration levels and sounded alarms if vibrations reached a certain threshold that might have interfered with research work.

Vibrations in the New Building

In addition to construction vibrations interfering with the existing CNSTF, the Contractor needed to build the new CNSTF facility in a way that avoided vibrations that are typically present in most buildings due to movements in internal systems and factors in the external environment. The cleanroom and electron microscopy suite in the new CNSTF require extremely stable environments due to the sensitive nature of the equipmentóeven movement from a passing truck could create vibrations that could affect research. To diminish vibrations in the new facility, the construction team constructed five isolated or ìfloatingî slabs, which are separated from all building elements, preventing vibrations caused by ground and internal building vibrations from carrying through to the research areas.

Also, machinery in the facility that causes vibrationsófor example, elevator and air conditioning systemsówas installed away from the research areas.

Electromagnetic Fields

Duffield Hall houses the latest in electron microscope technology. This sensitive microscope and other research equipment in the cleanroom can be affected by stray electrical currents, which are typically present in buildings. The Contractor took extra steps during construction to eliminate possible stray electrical currents in the new facility.

The construction team isolated the reinforcing steel rods of the facility from each other and coated them with epoxy to eliminate possible continuity. Isolation transformers were used to segregate wiring throughout the facility to reduce any faint signals. Even the ductwork was built in fiberglass rather than metal to reduce electromagnetism.

Cleanroom Protocols

In a nanofabrication area, even a particle of dust can compromise research, demonstrating the importance of maintaining an extremely clean environment. To provide air that is free of dust, a complex heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system was installed. The HVAC system was built to circulate 10 to 20 times the amount of air provided in a typical laboratory and forced air through filters that trap most particles.

To achieve this clean environment, the contractor implemented several levels of cleanroom protocols, starting during the early stages of construction. By the end of the project, the construction team was gowned in protective gear, used a specialized HEPA filter vacuum system during certain procedures such as welding, and thoroughly wiped down all construction tools and materials before entering lab areas.

Cleanroom Tool Installation

This projectís most critical component was completing the cleanroom finishes and installing its sensitive equipment. To ensure the cleanroom had the latest, most state-of-the-art equipment, the university and construction team held off on procuring equipment until only a few months before it had to be installed, resulting in a very tight timeline to prepare the equipment for transport to the cleanroom.

The equipment transportation preparation process was a challenging one due to stringent clean environment requirements which required new lab equipment to be fabricated in a cleanroom or thoroughly cleaned prior to being admitted into the new facility. The equipment and all of Knight Laboratoryís cleanroom operations had to be moved to Duffield Hall through a special temporary corridor the construction team built to join the two facilities so that equipment and research could be moved from one to the other without ever leaving a clean environment.

Knight Lab Utilities

The project required the demolition of Knight Laboratory, a building with a variety of intricate utilities running through it, to make way for the new atrium. Several of the utilities had to be rerouted to make way for the new construction. The utility work was conducted as the project was nearing completion and the end of its budget, requiring detailed preplanning from the contractor to ensure costs were contained. For this planning process, the construction team referenced old utility and shoring drawings from the 1950s ñ 1970s to research the details of the original building. From these references, assembled detailed drawings were able to be made to understand the scope of the utility work and provide subcontractors with a clear vision of the work before it began in order to reduce surprises.

Harsh Winter Weather

Mother Nature also played a role in this projectís challenges. Ithaca experienced unusually cold weather during key points in the construction process. In late 2003, the area experienced a two-month period without temperatures above freezing. During that time, there also was three to four weeks where the temperature did not rise above 10 degrees. This required the contractors to work diligently to keep the exposed utility lines from the demolished Knight Laboratory from freezing.

Conclusion

By forming a solid partnership and holding regular planning meetings with Cornell University and CNSTF operations staff, McCarthy/Welliver McGuire was able to anticipate challenges and address them in a timely manner, therefore ensuring the highly successful, on-budget and on-time completion of the $42 million Duffield Hall project.

The project, which began in August 2001 and was completed in July 2004, expanded Cornell Universityís nanotechnology facilities by 153,000 square feet and will undoubtedly help to maintain the universityís leadership on the cutting edge of nanotechnology research and teaching. And, with the flexibility the construction team built into the facility, Cornell University will be nimble enough to respond quickly to future trends in engineering researchóincluding being able to easily modify and convert the lab spaces.

Cornell University was impressed with the construction teamís ability to limit disruptions to the existing CNSTF, students and staff while building at the busiest intersection on campus and to stay on schedule despite various challenges.

ìMcCarthy and Welliver McGuire have done a tremendous job in constructing Duffield Hall and especially the cleanroom,î said Robert Stundtner, project director for science and technology project management at Cornell University. ìThe team has met every challenge of building a very sophisticated and sensitive facility that will enhance nanoscale research and development for years to come. In addition to building in the heart of the Engineering College, McCarthy and Welliver McGuire have maintained operations of the existing cleanroom, absorbed $5 million in additional work, achieved an outstanding safety record and still met our demanding schedule needs.î

Cornell University demonstrated how proud it is of the new facility by hosting a ìPresidentís Round Tableî discussion for Bill Gates (of Microsoft fame) in Duffield Hall in April 2004.