Micro Machines

Microelectronics are having a moment. In August 2022, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS and Science Act, a $60 billion investment in the research and manufacture of microelectronics. Few entities are as well positioned to take advantage as CINT, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. The 160,000 square feet of lab space is a collaboration between Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs. It includes hundreds of highly specialized nanotools and imaging devices that are spread across multiple facilities. CINT is free to use by any scientist with an approved idea about how to manipulate the building blocks of all things—molecules and atoms—to advance the technologies defining our future: health, energy, climate sciences, quantum computing, and telecommunication. “We have the tools to make devices that could change the world,” says Adam Rondinone, CINT’s co-director. “But our greatest assets may be the people who know how to wield them.” Here’s a by-the-numbers look at what CINT can do.