Scanning Probe Microscopy for Materials Research

建议用扫描探针显微镜进行基础材料研究：1)晶体生长和蚀刻将在液-固界面上实时观察，以便与理论模型进行详细比较；2)分子晶体和其他软材料的成像将通过关注静态和动态探针-表面相互作用来研究和改进，3)将继续开发用于材料研究的新型扫描探针显微镜，特别强调成像超快过程的新技术。扫描探针显微镜，特别是原子力显微镜，正在发展成为材料研究的强大工具。他们可以以前所未有的分辨率对材料形成过程进行成像。他们可以想象这些过程在许多情况下发生的情况。商用显微镜已经可以在材料研究中做许多工作，并正在找到进入越来越多的材料研究实验室的方法。这项研究的重点是推动前沿，开发新的显微镜和新的方法来处理越来越多的问题，并找到现有仪器无法解决的问题。例如，将探索获得超快时间分辨率以研究快速过程(如磁畴壁运动)的可能性。作为另一个例子，提出了软材料成像的基础研究。对于目前可用的显微镜来说，软材料很难成像，因为顶端会使它们变形。虽然已经取得了很大进展，但仍有更多工作要做。显微镜现在可以成像一些柔软的表面，但它们很难成像弱附着在表面上的聚合物或涉及聚合物链聚集的过程。长期目标是创造更好的材料，这是对使用新显微镜和操作这些新显微镜的新方法形成材料的基础研究的结果。

Fundamental materials research is proposed with scanning probe microscopes: 1) crystal growth and etching will be observed in real-time as they occur at liquid-solid interfaces for detailed comparison with theoretical models, 2) the imaging of molecular crystals and other soft materials will be investigated and improved by focusing on static and dynamic probe-surface interactions, and 3) the development of new scanning probe microscopes for materials research will be continued with special emphasis on new techniques for imaging ultra-fast processes. %%% Scanning probe microscopes, in particular the Atomic Force Microscope, are evolving into powerful tools for materials research. They can image processes involved in the formation of materials at unprecedented resolution. They can image these processes as they occur in many cases. Commercially available microscopes can already do many jobs in materials research and are finding there way into more and more materials research laboratories. This research is focused on pushing the frontiers and developing new microscopes and new methodologies for handling more and more problems and finding solutions that are impossible with current instrumentation. For example, the possibility of getting ultra-fast time resolution to study fast processes such as magnetic domain wall motion will be explored. As another example, fundamental research on the imaging of soft materials is proposed. Soft materials are hard to image for currently available microscopes because the tips can deform them. Though much progress has been made, more remains to be done. Microscopes can now image some soft surfaces but they have a hard time imaging polymers weakly attached to surfaces or processes involving aggregation of polymer chains. The long term goal is the creation of better materials as the result of fundamental studies done on the formation of materials with new microscopes and new ways to operate those new microscopes.