Scanning Probe Microscopy for Materials Research

这个项目将推动原子力显微镜（AFM）在材料研究方面的最新进展。具体来说，建议设计和制造新的悬臂梁，其尺寸范围为2微米宽，4微米长，以及使用它们所需的新原子力显微镜。这些新的悬臂梁将有可能实现超过兆赫兹的谐振频率，这种悬臂梁足够温和，可以用于包括软生物材料在内的各种材料。这将需要0.1 N/m的弹簧常数，这可以通过50 nm厚的金属悬臂梁来实现。这些新的悬臂梁和原子力显微镜将用于在生物化学反应过程中对单个蛋白质分子的运动进行成像，从而导致生物材料产品（如RNA）的产生。这个项目将推动原子力显微镜（AFM）的发展。具体来说，工作是建议建立下一代原子力显微镜，并展示其在材料研究中的优势。美国目前在商用原子力显微镜的生产方面处于世界领先地位。这一成功部分是基于以前NSF的支持，它导致了当前一代afm的基础原型。下一代原子力显微镜将使用比目前所用尺寸的十分之一还小的悬臂。这笔拨款将资助这些悬臂梁和使用它们的新afm的开发工作。这些新的原子力显微镜将比目前的原子力显微镜更快、更柔和、分辨率更高。＊＊＊

w:\awards\awards96\num.doc 9622169 Hansma This project will advance the state-of-the-art in Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM, for materials research. Specifically, work is proposed to design and fabricate new cantilevers down to the size range of 2 microns wide and 4 microns long together with the new AFMs that will be required to use them. These new cantilevers will make it possible to achieve resonant frequencies of over a mega-Hertz for cantilevers gentle enough to use on a wide range of materials including soft biomaterials. This will require spring constants of order 0.1 N/m, which can be achieved with metallic cantilevers of order 50 nm thick. These new cantilevers and AFMs will be used for imaging the motion of individual protein molecules during the process of biochemical reaction leading biomaterial products such as RNA. %%% This project will advance the state-of-the-art in Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM. Specifically, work is proposed to build the next generation of AFMs and to demonstrate their advantages for materials research. The United States currently leads the world in the production of commercial AFMs. This success is based, in part, on previous NSF support, which lead to prototypes that are the basis of that current generation of AFMs. The next generation of AFMs will use cantilevers that are less than one-tenth the size used currently. This grant will fund work on the development of both these cantilevers and the new AFMs to use them. These new AFMs will be faster, gentler and have higher resolution than current AFMs. ***