Massively Parallel Nanorobotics With Multi-Tip Scanning Probe Microscopes

纳米级器件和系统的潜在应用是革命性的。它们的范围从微型计算机和纳米机电系统（NEMS）到可编程人工细胞和能够进入细胞并修复它们的纳米机器人。一种很有前途的方法来构建这样的纳米结构，包括组装分子大小的积木，使用扫描探针显微镜（SPM）作为机器人。 在USC和其他一些实验室正在开发的SPM纳米操纵技术似乎具有广泛的适用性，但由于单尖端SPM操作是连续的，因此吞吐量很差。该项目的主要目标是开发高通量，大规模并行SPM技术，用于多尖端阵列的纳米操纵，目前正在全球多个实验室开发。第二个目标是研究新的纳米操纵技术，该技术使用SPM尖端阵列在样品表面形成静电势，从而以受控的方式移动单个纳米颗粒或颗粒群。研究的重点是算法开发，通过使用算法设计，几何建模，机器人和计算几何等领域的方法。这些算法将通过模拟研究进行测试，并在可用时通过物理尖端阵列的实施进行测试。

The potential applications of nanometer-scale devices and systems are revolutionary. They range from miniscule computers and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), to programmable artificial cells and nanorobots capable of entering cells and repairing them. A promising approach for building such nanostructures consists of assembling molecular-sized building blocks by using Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPMs) as robots. Techniques for SPM nanomanipulation, which are being developed at USC and a few other laboratories, appear to be of wide applicability, but suffer from poor throughput because single-tip SPM operations are sequential. The primary goal of this project is to develop high-throughput, massively parallel SPM techniques for nanomanipulation with multi-tip arrays, which are currently being developed at several laboratories, worldwide. A secondary goal is to investigate novel nanomanipulation techniques that use an SPM tip array to shape an electrostatic potential over a sample surface, thereby moving single nanoparticles or groups of particles in a controlled fashion.The emphasis of the research is on algorithm development, by using methods from the fields of algorithm design, geometric modeling, robotics and computational geometry. The algorithms will be tested by simulation studies, and also by implementation with physical tip arrays when these become available.