5
Molecular workstations
Five independent systems are running experiments in parallel; a single workstation going down never halts scientific progress.
An integrated platform for atomically precise fabrication.
CBN Nano designs our own proprietary technologies, incorporating them into our instruments and enabling atomically precise fabrication. We run our own quantum chemistry simulations and then build and verify structures one reaction at a time.
Platform today
Capabilities, operations, and traction.
CBN Nano combines purpose-built molecular tools, cryogenic scanning probe microscopes, atomistic simulation, automation, and direct verification in one integrated operating platform.
8,510
Verified atom transfers
Logged additive and subtractive operations across carbon, hydrogen, iodine, and silicon.(Updated Monthly)
2
Fabrication modes
Additive donation and subtractive abstraction demonstrated across hydrogen, silicon, and carbon-based operations.
4 K
Cryogenic operation
Ultra-high-vacuum workflows designed for controlled reactions and atomic-scale imaging.
STM
Closed-loop verification
Fabricated structures are characterized at each step, confirming the performed operation yields the intended product.
In-house
Molecular tool capability
Tool design and synthesis are integrated with experimental requirements and platform development.
Current Platform CapabilitiesCBN Nano currently supports selected R&D collaborations involving atomically precise fabrication, molecular tool development, atomic-scale characterization, and feasibility studies.
Work with us
Built in-house
The whole stack, under one roof.
Most groups working at the atomic scale rent, borrow, or outsource the hardest parts of the problem. CBN Nano owns them. We engineer our own instruments, synthesize our own molecular tools, and run our own simulations — an integration that lets us move from idea to verified structure without waiting on anyone else.
In-house engineering
Building and sustaining our own instruments.
Our engineering team designs, builds, and continuously improves custom ultra-high-vacuum and cryogenic systems, inverted-mode STM, and the Silicon Probe Chip platform — while keeping every workstation productive. With five independent molecular workstations, a single system going offline for maintenance or an upgrade never stops the science.
- Custom UHV & 4 K cryogenic system design
- Inverted-mode STM and Silicon Probe Chip development
- Helium recovery, deep vibration isolation, spare-parts discipline
In-house chemistry · Molecular tools
We design the tools that place atoms.
Deterministic atom placement requires finely-tuned molecular tools. We design and synthesize purpose-built, functionalized molecular tools tailored for the desired application.
- In-house synthetic chemistry capabilities
- New-tool development to grow the fabrication toolkit
- Additive and subtractive Si, C, H, and I chemistry
In-house chemistry · Simulation
We model before and after we build.
Atomistic simulation designs candidate reactions ahead of the experiment and validates what the STM measures afterward — closing the loop between what we intend to build and what we prove we built.
- Reaction design and feasibility ahead of fabrication
- Simulated STM compared directly against experiment
- Tool and structure modeling to guide chemistry
- Simulation and experiment operating as one workflow
Chemistry, engineering, simulation, fabrication, and verification are not partners we coordinate — they are teams that sit together. That integration is the platform.
Inside the lab
This is a working platform, not a concept.
Five independent molecular workstations pair ultra-high-vacuum chambers, cryogenic scanning probe microscopy, and in situ characterization to build and verify structures at the level of chemical bonds — operating in parallel in Ottawa today, so the work never depends on a single system. The lab is housed within a high-security Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited facility, protecting both the instruments and our partners' intellectual property.
CBN Nano molecular workstation · Ottawa, Canada
Real hardware, real atoms
No 3D renders: this is our lab.
A closer look inside our Ottawa facility: the cryogenic ultra-high-vacuum molecular workstations and support infrastructure, where atomistic structures are fabricated and verified, one chemical reaction at a time.
Photographed in CBN Nano's Ottawa laboratory. Every image is real equipment in active use — part of five independent molecular workstations running in parallel.
STM · CBN Nano
Scanning tunneling micrograph of an eighteen-carbon structure fabricated on hydrogenated silicon.
Real Data, Real Atoms
This is not a simulation.
The image beside this text is a direct scanning tunneling micrograph from our lab — individual carbon atoms resolved on a silicon surface, imaged at the atomic scale.
Where others model atomic precision, CBN Nano demonstrates it: we build the structure, then we verify it, closing the loop between design and physical reality.
- Single-atom resolution
- Additive and subtractive fabrication demonstrated using C, Si, H, or I atoms
- STM / XPS / simulations closed-loop confirmation of every feature
- Reproducible, tool-driven placement chemistry
Experiment, meet theory
The same six-carbon structure — designed, modeled, measured.
On the left, a ball-and-stick model of the target structure. In the center, simulated STM image based on the model. On the right a real scanning tunneling micrograph of a six-carbon structure with a footprint spanning two inter-rows on Si(100). We've built this structure by three successive C₂ dimer transfers.
Atomic Fabrication in Action
Writing with single C₂H units.
Our platform doesn't just place atoms — it patterns them. This is a real scanning tunneling micrograph of a 3 × 3 array of inter-row C₂H units, each one mechanosynthetically placed and covalently bonded to the Si(100)-2×1 surface. Every dimer is a designed placement, not an accident of chemistry — nine deliberate pairs of bonds in a regular grid. Repeat that control across a surface and you have programmable matter.
Every dimer is a designed placement, not an accident of chemistry — nine deliberate pairs of bonds in a regular grid. Repeat that control across a surface and you have programmable matter.
9 × C₂H units · deterministic placementSTM image: a 3 × 3 array of C₂H units, each mechanosynthetically and covalently bonded on Si(100)-2×1. Real data — not a rendering.
What we have demonstrated
Progress measured in completed atomic operations.
CBN Nano's evidence base spans complementary donation and abstraction operations, bond formation, patterned structures, and direct experimental verification.
Carbon donation
Controlled transfer of C₂ units to prepared reactive sites.
Carbon-carbon bond formation
Successive fabrication steps used to extend designed carbon structures.
Silicon abstraction
Subtractive removal of selected silicon atoms using molecular tools.
Silicon donation
Controlled placement of silicon atoms onto defined atomic sites as an additive fabrication operation.
Hydrogen abstraction
Targeted removal of hydrogen from passivated silicon sites.
Hydrogen donation
Controlled transfer of hydrogen to selected atomic sites, enabling complementary additive hydrogen operations.
Patterned multi-site placement
Multiple carbon dimers placed in selected arrangements on silicon.
Experiment-theory agreement
Measured STM structures compared against atomistic simulations.
Closed-loop verification
Fabrication results assessed directly before subsequent operations.
Multi-step fabrication
Sequential operations used to move beyond isolated atomic events.
Capability roadmap
From demonstrated reactions to scalable workflows.
The roadmap focuses on expanding capability, repeatability, automation, throughput, and application relevance.
Atomic fabrication foundation
- Additive hydrogen, silicon, and carbon operations
- Subtractive hydrogen and silicon operations
- Carbon structure fabrication and bond formation
- Closed-loop STM verification
Broader and faster workflows
- Expanded reaction set
- Increased automation
- Higher workstation productivity
- Process and tool libraries
Deployable manufacturing systems
- Application-specific structures
- Scalable fabrication architectures
- Higher-throughput operation
- Integrated atomic manufacturing systems
Future capabilities represent development direction and are not commitments to specific delivery dates.
Partner With CBN Nano
Let’s build the impossible — one atom at a time.
We are opening pilot programs with quantum companies and research partners. If atomic precision is on your roadmap, we should talk.
Discuss a Feasibility Study