Goals of PST

The Department of Precision Engineering, which is now The Department of Precision Science & Technology, was born in Osaka University in 1939, making full use of "the precision" of natural phenomena based on physics, and was the first department in the world that aimed to establish advanced “Manufacturing” technology rich in creativity. Since then, the department has developed in such a way that it shoulders the role as a frontier position of key technologies, which opens up to most advanced technologies that relate to semiconductors, energy, information and communication, and space. Many fruitful results have been obtained in Nano-technology and information technology (IT), not only in conventional technologies. After the governmental started a policy in 1995 that placed increasing importance on graduate schools, the Department of Precision Engineering changed its name to the Department of Precision Science & Technology to indicate its clearer change in direction to fundamental science, and became an organization whose members were able to collaborate effectively with one another. Under such a joint research collaborative system, we were selected as the Center of Excellence (COE) Program by the Ministry of Education in Japan, in 1996. Aiming at the subject "Creation of a Perfect Surface", an international base "the Ultra Precision Machining Research Center" was founded at the Department of Precision Science & Technology and a big research project began. In 2001, following a high level of evaluation of the research results, the "Ultra Precision Machining Research Center" emerged anew as the "Research Center for Ultra-Precision Science & Technology", officially linked to the Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University.

"Manufacturing" at the atomic or molecular scale, is required by advanced technology when considering the future development of our society. For example, to develop a CPU for the next generation of ultra-high-speed computers which will support the IT society, or a highly accumulated semiconductor memory which exceeds 100 GB by within a single chip, technology is needed to fabricate an atomically flat surface or a structure controlled at the nanometer order, so called Nano-technology. However, these cannot be made simply by improving or polishing conventional empirical production technology. It is important that there be novel technological developments such as new materials, processes and devices, as well as extreme measurements. In particular, the development of a new “Manufacturing” technology, or so-called "Atomistic fabrication technology" is necessary, which would be able to utilize a high level of physical or chemical phenomena related to the fabrication process, by deeply understanding them from an atomic or electronic viewpoint. This new research area, which supports the development of "Atomistic fabrication technology", is termed "Precision science". The present department of Precision Science & Technology is developing "Manufacturing" technology, in which the scale of the target focused on even the size of the atom or molecule, and is beginning to open a new research area of "Precision science". "Atomistic fabrication technology", which the Department of Precision Science & Technology aims to establish, is expected to be a key technology of technological innovation in the 21st century, in every most advanced science and technological field.

In the Precision Science & Technology group, the undergraduate school belongs to the division of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Science. Based on a full educational complement of all scientific fields, the department is composed of a global division of Precision Science & Technology in the Graduate School of Engineering, which has six Laboratories: Functional Materials, Scientific Hardware Systems, Quantum Measurement and Instrumentation, Atomically Controlled Processes, Ultra-Precision Machining, and Computational Physics. In addition, there is also an Applied Surface Science Laboratory that belongs to the course of Material and Life Science, and finally the Research Center for Ultra-Precision Science & Technology, which is linked to the Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University. Each of them takes charge of either of the four key fields in "Manufacturing" based on "Precision science", namely materials, processing, measurement and calculation physics, and they perform education and research under intense interaction and co-operation. The Department of Precision Science & Technology has completed the original most advanced research facility, the "Ultra Clean Room", and is developing original apparatuses that would allow "Atomistic fabrication technology" to attempt the creation of a perfectly controlled surface, in which even one atomic disorder cannot be found. Technology that creates surfaces for the world’s top performance needs has been established, and is presently the world leader in the field of ultra-precision machining technologies. Furthermore, we also succeeded in the development of original deposition methods and a nano-structure formation process, and are trying to apply research for realizing concrete "Manufacturing" aimed at high performance X-ray optical devices, the next generation of semiconductor devices, and high efficiency solar cells. These results are the key to an advanced industry which shoulders the future of Japan, and also the development of a fundamental science that can elucidate the root of Nature. "Precision science" is, after all, the pursuit of an ultimate "precision" in natural phenomena.

The Department of Precision Science & Technology challenges the establishment of "Manufacturing" technology rich in creativity, which will always define an age, both present and future. We are convinced that our young researchers will become scientists rich with originality ready to lead the world, and believe that they can become pioneers of future science and technology.