Reprogrammable Parallel Nanomanufacturing

本项目评估磁记录作为一种将纳米结构平行组装成10纳米分辨率的更大设备的技术，确定这种纳米制造方法的基本局限性，并调查其作为纳米技术的社会和历史背景。在这种方法中，一个纳米定位系统扫描磁记录头，它将比特记录到含有磁性纳米结构的微流体细胞下面的介质上。这些介质/细胞结构的阵列允许以不同的模式并行记录细胞。自下而上的组装将通过使用这些记录模式发出的杂散场来临时固定纳米结构，然后通过固化细胞液永久固定。所得到的纳米结构组件的空间可重复性将与仪器稳定性、纳米级定位、组装过程和记录过程的基本限制的差异有关。作为技术组件的社会必然结果，纳米社区对目前在磁记录中实现的空间公差的认识将被研究。同时，磁性记录社区的历史研究将产生纳米技术子社区（筒仓）的相互作用和隔离模型，以确定当前和未来的纳米技术无法连接的地方，以及对纳米制造创新的影响。如果磁记录能够在微米尺度上实现纳米结构的纳米精度，那么潜在的应用范围将从构建主动纳米光学结构，组装用于替代能源生产的下一代太阳能电池，形成生物和化学传感器技术，到构建用于疾病诊断和治疗的植入式医疗设备。由于它的规模，这项技术可以被整合到一个磁盘驱动器大小的设备中，允许终端用户现场定制。通过利用电子器件进行错误率控制、机械定位以及商用磁盘驱动器中已有的其他属性，这项技术可能会以可靠的方式出现，从而增加其被消费者接受的机会。了解信息存储的需求，通过技术的可扩展性，快速移动到纳米级的磁记录，将有助于增加工程师和科学家之间的交流，以及工业界和学术界。该项目将通过为公众以及不同学科的学生增加一个关于技术制造的教室组件来扩展杜克大学的南卡罗来纳州公民纳米技术学院。

This project assesses magnetic recording as a technology for parallel assembly ofnanostructures into larger devices with 10 nm resolution, determines the fundamentallimitations of this approach for nanomanufacturing, and investigates its societal andhistorical context as a nanotechnology. In this approach, a nanopositioning system scansa magnetic recording head, which records bits onto media underlying a microfluidic cellcontaining magnetic nanostructures. An array of these media/cell structures allows cellrecording in parallel, and with different patterns. Bottom-up assembly will bedemonstrated by using the stray fields emitted by these recorded patterns to temporarilyimmobilize the nanostructures, followed by permanent fixing through curing the cellfluid. The spatial repeatability of resulting nanostructure assemblies will be related tovariances in instrument stability, nanoscale positioning, assembly process, and thefundamental limits of the recording process. As a societal corollary to the technicalcomponents, the nano-community's awareness of the spatial tolerances currentlyachieved in magnetic recording will be investigated. In conjunction, a historical study ofthe magnetic recording community will produce a model of the interactions and isolationsof nanotechnology sub-communities (silos), to identify where current and futurenanotechnologies fail to connect, and the impacts on nanomanufacturing innovation. If magnetic recording enables nanometer precision in aligning nanostructures overmicrometer dimensions, potential applications range from building active nano-opticalstructures, assembling next-generation solar cells for alternative energy production,forming biological and chemical sensor technologies, to building implantable medicaldevices for disease diagnosis and treatment. Because of its scale, this technology could beincorporated into a device the size of a disk drive, allowing on-site customization by theend user. By leveraging the electronics for error rate control, mechanical positioning, andother attributes already available in commercial disk drives, this technology could emergewith proven reliability, increasing its chance of acceptance by consumers. Understandinghow the demand for information storage, enabled by technology scalability, rapidlymoved magnetic recording to the nanoscale, will help increase communication amongengineers and scientists, as well as industry and academia. This project will extendUSC's South Carolina Citizen's School of Nanotechnology by adding a classroomcomponent about technology manufacturing for the general public, as well as for studentsacross different disciplines.