Acquisition of a Multi-Probe Scanning Tunneling Microscope with SEM for Student Training in Research

有了材料研究仪器计划和主要研究仪器计划颁发的这一奖项，马里兰大学将能够获得扫描探头/扫描电子显微镜组合。由于纳米器件的电子性质随结构的变化，该仪器将用于解决纳米电子学的关键问题。例如，在评估与纳米器件的电接触、器件中的结构缺陷、甚至热波动如何或是否会限制纳米器件的性能和重复性时，这个问题是至关重要的。这也是开发源自其固有特性的纳米结构应用的关键：即，在器件特性随结构和/或局部环境的强烈变化是自然特征的情况下，这些特性可被用作响应机制。将开发在同时测量电子传输特性的同时对纳米结构的原子结构进行成像的技术。这些实验将通过探索结构的动态变化(由温度、电场、电流和化学势驱动)对纳米器件的电输运特性的影响来建立纳米器件的结构和电子性质之间的关联。我们还将从理论上研究纳米结构的结构与电学响应之间的关系。新的仪器，扫描探针/扫描电子显微镜的组合，也将用于上述研究领域的研究生培训。随着材料结构的尺寸接近纳米级，预计材料结构将出现重要的新技术特性。定位这样的小型结构以允许直接测量其性能是一项严重的技术挑战，测量本身也是如此。材料仪器研究计划和主要研究仪器计划颁发的这一奖项将帮助马里兰大学购买一种结合了两个显微镜和一个精细定位工作台的仪器。一台显微镜用于定位微小结构，扫描工作台用于将微小结构移动到第二台显微镜的测量范围内。第二台显微镜将是一台超高分辨率显微镜，能够对单个原子的位置进行成像。将进行实验，其中小结构中单个原子位置的变化的影响与小结构的电特性(例如载流能力)相关。新工具还将用于上述研究领域的研究生培训。

With this award from the Instrumentation for Materials Research program and the Major Research Instrumentation program, the University of Maryland will be able to acquire a combined scanning probe/scanning electron microscope. The instrument will be used to address critical issues of nano-electronics due to the variability of nano-device electronic properties with structure. This issue is critical, for instance, in assessing how or whether electrical contacts to nano-devices, structural defects in the devices, or even thermal fluctuations will limit nano-device performance and reproducibility. It is also key to developing applications of nano-structures that derive from their intrinsic properties: i.e. where strong variations of device properties with structure and/or local environment are a natural characteristic, these properties may be exploited as response mechanisms. Techniques to image the atomic structure of nanostructures while simultaneously measuring electronic transport properties will be developed. These experiments will establish the correlations between structure and the electronic properties of nanodevices, by probing the effects of dynamic changes in structure (driven by temperature, electric field, current and chemical potential) on the electrical transport properties of the nanodevices. The relationship between structure and the electrical response of nanostructures will also be investigated theoretically. The new instrument, a combined scanning probe/scanning electron microscope will also be used for graduate student training in the research areas described above.Important new technological properties are expected to occur in materials structures as their size approaches the nanoscale. Location of such small structures to allow the direct measurement of their properties is a serious technical challenge, as is the measurement itself. This award from the Instrumentation for Materials Research program and the Major Research Instrumentation program will help the University of Maryland with the purchase of an instrument that combines two microscopes and a fine positioning stage. One microscope will be used to locate small structures, and the scanning stage will be used to move the small structures into the measurement range of the second microscope. The second microscope will be an ultra-high resolution microscope with the capability of imaging the positions of individual atoms. Experiments will be performed in which the effect of changes in the positions of individual atoms in small structures are correlated with the electrical properties (e.g. the ability to carry electrical current) of the small structures. The new instrument will also be used for graduate student training in the research areas described above.