NIRT/GOALI: Development of a Multiscale Hierarchical Nanomanufacturing Tool

这项研究是对活跃的纳米结构和纳米系统倡议的响应，NSF 06-595，NIRT类。该项目的目标是开发一种高通量分级纳米制造工具，用于生产特征尺寸从纳米到厘米的元件和设备。将要使用的技术方法是基于普渡大学最近开发的能够以高效率将光集中到纳米尺寸的纳米级光学天线。天线的集中辐射将作为纳米制造的能源。对于高通量制造，将使用数千个这样的天线阵列，每个天线可以单独控制，但并行工作，将用于扩大制造过程。由于许多产品都具有纳米和更大尺寸的特征，微米级的衍射光学元件将与所提出的制造工具集成在一起，以制造更大尺寸的特征。纳米级天线和微米级衍射光学元件的结合使用将进一步加快不同特征尺寸的器件的制造。在工具开发的同时，将进行研究，以调查与拟议的制造工艺有关的基本原理，包括纳米光学或近场光学和衍射光学。这些光学器件的理论和实验研究将进一步提高它们的光集中度和光传输效率，从而提高制造产能。拟议中的项目也是与希捷科技公司的合作，希捷科技公司对使用纳米级天线开发下一代数据存储技术感兴趣。过去十年的研究表明，临界尺寸在100 nm以下的器件具有优越的功能。为了将这些新设备从实验室推向市场，需要全新的、低成本的大规模制造技术。拟议的低成本、高产量、分级制造工具将生产具有纳米级特征的设备，这些设备可能会影响许多行业。该研究还将在许多科学和工程领域做出贡献，包括纳米光学科学和纳米尺度辐射增强、体积衍射光学、纳米尺度光学成像以及复杂系统的力学和动力学。此外，能够以高效率将光集中到纳米光点将对许多其他科学技术领域产生重大影响。与已建立的方法相结合，并行纳米级光源可用于例如微电子中表面缺陷的检查、用于高速生物检测和医学筛选以及用于高密度数据存储。该项目还将有助于人力资源开发。它将通过实习为研究生和本科生提供跨学科领域的培训和行业经验。将特别努力从代表性不足的群体中招收学生。研究成果将作为新的单元或专题引入一些本科生和研究生水平的课程，包括本科生和研究生实验室课程。该项目还将通过现有的普渡外展计划外展到高中生。通过这些努力，该项目将为纳米科学与工程以及教育和人力资源开发做出重大贡献。

This research was received in response to the Active Nanostructures and Nanosystems initiative, NSF 06-595, category NIRT. The goal of this project is to develop a high-throughput hierarchical nano-manufacturing tool for producing components and devices with feature dimensions ranging from nanometers to centimeters. The technical approach to be used is based on a nanoscale optical antenna capable of concentrating light into a nanometer size with high efficiency, which was recently developed at Purdue. The concentrated radiation from the antenna will be used as the energy source for nano-manufacturing. For high-throughput manufacturing, an array of thousands of such antennas, each can be individually controlled but working in parallel, will be used for scaling up the manufacturing process. Since many products have features with both nanometer and larger dimensions, micrometer-size diffractive optical elements will be integrated with the proposed manufacturing tool for fabricating larger size features. The combined use of nanometer-scale antennas and micrometer-scale diffractive optical elements will further speed up manufacturing of devices with different feature dimensions. Parallel to the tool development, research will be conducted to investigate fundamentals relevant to the proposed manufacturing process, including nano-optics or near-field optics and diffractive optics. Theoretical and experimental studies of these optical devices will further improve their light concentration and light transmission efficiency, which in turn will improve the manufacturing throughput. The proposed project is also a collaboration with Seagate Technology, who is interested in using the nanoscale antenna for developing next generation data storage technologies. Researches in the last decade have shown that devices with critical dimensions below 100 nm have superior functionalities. In order to bring these new devices from laboratories to the market, drastically new, low cost, large scale manufacturing techniques are necessary. The proposed low-cost, high-throughput, hierarchical manufacturing tool will produce devices with nanoscale features that can impact many industries. The proposed research will also contribute to many fields in science and engineering, including nano-optical science and nanoscale radiation enhancement, volume diffractive optics, nanoscale optical imaging, and mechanics and dynamics in complex systems. Furthermore, being able to concentrate light into a nanometer spot with high efficiency will have significant impact on many other areas of science and technology. Combined with established methods, parallel nanoscale light sources can be used, for example, for inspection of surface defects in microelectronics, for high speed biological detection and medical screening, and for high density data storage. This project will also contribute to human resource development. It will provide graduate and undergraduate students with trainings in interdisciplinary areas and industrial experience through internships. Special efforts will be made to recruit students from under-represented groups. Research outcomes will be introduced as new modules or special topics in a number of undergraduate and graduate level courses, including undergraduate and graduate laboratory courses. The project will also be outreached to high school students through existing Purdue outreach programs. Through these efforts, this project will make significant contributions to nano-science and engineering and to the education and human resource development.