A unique initiative for accelerating research and development in nanoelectronics in India has been launched in August 2008 at the Centers of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN) at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc) and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). The Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP) intends to facilitate experimentation of research ideas of Indian researchers in the general area of nanoelectronics.

This program provides easy access to latest facilities at CEN in IISc and at IITB, for a wider research community in India. These centers are established with a funding of about 100 Crores from the DIT in 2005.

After IISc and IITB, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) initiated nano centers at IIT Madras (IITM), IIT Delhi (IITD), IIT Guwahati (IITG) and at IIT Kharagpur (IITKgp) as well. Under the new program, 'Indian Nanoelectronics Users' Programme - Idea to Innovation' (INUP-i2i), all six nanocenter are brought under one umbrella with the benefit of the INUP experience and with support from MeitY.

The details of the high end nanotechnology equipments at CEN, IISc are available here:

Infrastructure

INUP is, thus, a great facilitator for those researchers who have novel ideas in nanotechnology but feel constrained due to lack of fabrication and sophisticated characterization facilities. The program envisages providing an interface with the facilities, freeing the research ers from worries about funding, purchase of expensive equipments, installation and maintenance, administrative hurdles and delays, etc. In addition, it provides an invaluable opportunity to work with perhaps the best technical expertise in the domain in the form of CEN technologists and faculty.The very philosophy of this program is to enable researchers from all across the country to execute their research work without unnecessary delays and worries about support for equipment requiring large funds. The approval process in most cases is very quick. Researchers are encouraged to submit their proposals electronically for any of the following three different types of interactions. Short term proposals are for maximum of three months and medium term interactions may extend from 3 to 24 months. The third type of interaction, spending two to five years , that requires collaboration with the faculty of IISc/I ITB on projects jointly proposed and externally funded . In addition, there is a possibility for requesting one-time services.Academic researchers without project funding from other agencies or industry may access the facilities free of cost. The program also offers similar opportunities to researchers from the industry, on a cost-sharing basis.

In addition INUP would organize periodic workshops, training sessions, short collaboration engagements (it can be done at one time and please fill out the form)

The medium-term projects envisaged under the INUP scheme would be of shorter duration. The project would be identified by the outside agency, and responsibility of ensuring its success would lie with them, though IISc/IITB would advise on the practicability of the project. It is suggested that in the case of universities/academic institutions, the funding be available from DIT; whereas for government, research laboratories and industry, their own funds would be utilized. In all cases, the outside agency would be responsible for deputing one or more persons who would spend significant amounts of time at the nano-facility. Although the IISc/IITB nano-facility would provide equipment, operators and engineers for discussion, the responsibility for carrying the wafers through the various steps would be that of the persons from the outside agency.

The short-term engagements are really requests from the outside agencies to carry out specific measurements, perform simple and standard experiments, do straightforward nanolithography, do standard nano-imaging, etc. This would be entertained by the IISc/IITB facilities on a payment basis. In the case of Universities such charges may be waived. Although the outside agency need not send anyone for these interactions, it may be desirable to do so on a case-to-case basis, and would be encouraged.

Major Research Areas

• Nano Materials
• Nanoelectronics
• Process Technology
• MEMS & NEMS
• Modeling & Simulation

Domains covered in Level 3 Proposals

• Photovoltaics
• Microfluidic devices
• MEMS
• RF applications
• Memory devices
• Nanomaterials / Thin film studies
• Photonic devices
• Bio sensors
• Micro-needles
• Gas sensors

Modalities for project execution under INUP at IISc

For the medium-term projects, proposals would be received on-line at any time via a website created and maintained by IISc / IITB. These would be reviewed by an internal IISc / IITB INUP Project Committee. A dialogue between the outside agency and INUP on feasibility, budgeting, etc. would often be necessary. Within 4 weeks of receipt of the proposal, a decision would be taken on the feasibility of the project. This procedure is recommended in order to reduce administrative time, which is crucial in such an activity. Projects from government/industry which bring in their own funding, which are considered feasible, would be approved by the INUP Project Committee. Approved projects would be put in queue, and waiting time generally should not exceed a further 2 months. On the average there would be 4 such projects every year at each of IISc and IITB (3 from academia, and 1 each from research labs / government and industry). During the course of the programme 40 such projects would be completed.

For short-term engagements, requests would be received on-line at any time. The requests would be reviewed by the Member-Secretary of the INUP Project Committee in consultation with the person in-charge of the appropriate equipment. Decisions would be taken within 1 week, and if approved, the job would be put in a queue. Waiting time would not generally exceed 1 month, and should normally be a week or so. It is expected that there would be about 50 such jobs every year at each of IISc and IITB. These jobs generally would be charged to the outside agency, though in some cases (e.g. universities) the charge could be waived.

What INUP at IISc expects after project completion

Always be in touch with INUP Team for executing your research proposal etc.

Always report to INUP office: About your achievement, such as publications (conference and journal), patents etc. whenever asked (through email)

Participants are required to acknowledge INUP /CEN in their publications and they have done so.

Participants are requested to provide the Generic title in addition to the actual project title to put on INUP website.

If any one wish to change the project/research title provided against their names on INUP website/Map, please write to INUP Office immediately.

As a matter of policy, Faculty members of IISc have not been authors of publications or patent applications.

It is compulsory to inform us in case of funded projects (by any funding agency)

The recommended format for Acknowledgement in all Publications is: "This research (or a portion thereof) was performed using facilities at CeNSE, funded by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India, and located at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru."

Click the below button to propose a research project:

apply