MRI: Acquisition of Focused Ion Beam Tool for the USF Nanomanufacturing and Nanomaterials Research Center

这项研究的目标是制造各种纳米级结构，并使用聚焦离子束(FIB)制备透射电子显微镜样品，以支持南佛罗里达大学的几个活跃的研究项目。支持的项目包括碳纳米管器件的定向组装、薄膜微结构和断裂的研究、导电半透明无机和聚合物薄膜的制备和表征、互连层中可靠性问题的研究、纳米结构硬质涂层的制备和表征、捕光“整流天线”阵列原型的制造、磁性纳米结构的制造以及射频MEMS开关原型的制造。该设施将为所有校园和周围社区提供纳米制造、材料加工和分析设施。由于其固有的多功能性，拟议的FIB工具将为美国联邦的材料研究基础设施增加一系列显著的能力，使以前难以或不可能进行的大规模跨学科实验成为可能。该仪器将汇集USF工程和物理系几个最重要的材料研究小组，促进对新的和创新的材料和设备结构的实验。这些群体和整个校园的学生将受益于他们手中有一种最先进的研究工具，使他们能够进行尖端研究，并参与到与来自其他系的同行的跨学科实验中。

The objective of this research is the fabrication of a variety of nano-scale structures and the preparation of transmission electron microscopy samples using focused ion beam (FIB) to support several active research projects at the University of South Florida. Among the projects supported are directed assembly of carbon nanotube devices, the study of microstructure and fracture in thin films, the preparation and characterization of conducting semi-transparent inorganic and polymeric films, the investigation of reliability issues in interconnect layers, the fabrication and characterization of nanostructured hard coatings, the fabrication of light harvesting "rectenna" array prototypes, the fabrication of magnetic nanostructures, and the fabrication RF MEMS Switch prototypes.Broader Impacts: The proposed instrument will be installed in USF's new Nanotechnology building. This facility will provide all campus and the surrounding community with nanofabrication, materials processing, and analytical facilities. Due to its inherent versatility the proposed FIB tool will add a significant range of capabilities to USF's materials research infrastructure, enabling massively cross-disciplinary experiments previously difficult or impossible. This instrument will bring together several of the most significant materials research groups at USF's Engineering and Physics departments, facilitating experiments on new and innovative materials and device structures. The students of these groups and across campus will benefit from having a state-of-the-art research tool on their hands, allowing them to perform cutting edge research, and be involved in interdisciplinary experiments with their peers from other departments.