[sudo-discuss] [CCLmembers] New Project Nano-materials

[Leticia Menchaca]

Hi,
I am requesting your input on this idea since I have no experience 
working in a collective way.
I want to build a Magnetron Sputtering  Vacuum Deposition System to 
produce thin films, ultra thin films, and nanoparticles.
I am interested in working at the interface of materials science and 
bioengineering.
My particular interest is exploring nano-materials for enhanced raman 
spectra signaling - including bio-engineering for enhanced 
fluorescence-emf detection.
However, other subjects also interest me, such as the toxic effects of 
micro and nano-materials and how these materials interact with 
organisms, cells and biological processes in general.


Building a thin film deposition system is a challenge but can be 
extremely interesting.
This kind of equipment is very costly and only some very lucky people 
have access to learning how they are built and how they operate.
This is because the magnetron sputtering chambers are used in the 
private industry only by trained and skilled personnel. In universities 
and technical colleges, only experts and selected talented students get 
access to these machines while working on their thesis projects.

In YouTube I have watched people building their own vacuum chambers, 
rather crude, o.k. for hobby but not likely to work for producing 
nano-materials with real-life applications (sorry for being so critical).
I am contemplating working on building a system using your Collective 
model.
However, I have never worked in an open group setting and I wonder if 
this would be a realistic expectation and if there would be any interest 
at all!
Although I am not alone. There are five of us in my group, we are people 
with similar interests living and working in Berkeley with limited free 
time to work on our own projects, since we have day jobs at UCB.
Only one of us has actually built such equipment before. The rest in our 
group only have used the equipment and/or has worked on experiments 
using nano-materials, mainly plants.

I look forward to your input.

Thanks,
Leticia Menchaca