MRI: Development of Rapid Annealing and in situ Characterization System

AbstractThis仪器开发项目由多学科团队从韦恩州立大学创建一个快速退火和表征系统（RACS）能够快速退火薄膜样品和纳米材料制备外部，然后表征这些样品原位使用各种非侵入性技术。有了这个高度灵活的系统，研究人员将开发和改进技术，以表征各种缺陷如何改变材料性能。已经发现包括位错、晶界、杂质掺杂剂和空位的缺陷显著地改变材料的磁、电和光学性质。这些缺陷在确定纳米材料的性质方面是重要的，这是由于纳米材料的表面与体积比在本体系统中高得多。这项研究的最终目标，将集中在氮化物和超导薄膜，是控制类型，密度和缺陷的分布，使材料的合成具有专门定制的性能。定制设计的具有快速退火能力的真空室与使用JEOL开发的专有气闸的带有波色散光谱仪（WDS）的扫描电子显微镜相结合，将允许研究人员通过在一个室中进行热退火来修改缺陷结构，然后在第二个室中对材料特性和缺陷结构进行研究，所有这些都不会将样品暴露在环境条件下。WDS光谱仪是这项研究的重要组成部分，因为它将使研究人员能够确定氧空位的浓度，这是非常难以确定使用其他技术。RACS的独特功能将被用来系统地探测各种缺陷对纳米级系统基本特性的影响，从而更深入地了解如何调整纳米结构材料中的材料特性。建立使用RACS优化材料性能的工艺参数将允许开发可扩展的制造方案，这将促进将这些新型纳米结构材料纳入商业设备。 该系统的开发将为博士后研究人员以及研究生和本科生提供宝贵的培训，特别是包括底特律大都市地区代表性不足的少数民族。

AbstractThis instrument development project by a multi-disciplinary team from Wayne State University creates a Rapid Annealing and Characterization System (RACS) capable of rapidly annealing thin film samples and nanomaterials prepared externally and then characterizing these samples in situ using a variety of non-invasive techniques. With this highly flexible system, the researchers will develop and improve techniques to characterize how a variety of defects modify the materials properties. Defects, including dislocations, grain boundaries, impurity dopants, and vacancies have been found to dramatically alter the magnetic, electrical, and optical properties of materials. These defects are important in establishing the properties of nanomaterials, owing to the much higher surface to volume ratio than in bulk systems. The eventual goal of this study, which will focus on nitrides and superconducting thin films, is to control the type, density, and the distribution of defects to enable the synthesis of materials having specifically tailored properties. The custom designed vacuum chamber with rapid annealing capabilities coupled to a Scanning Electron Microscope with Wave Dispersion Spectrometer (WDS) using a proprietary airlock developed by JEOL will allow researchers to modify the defect structure by thermal annealing in one chamber and then conduct studies on the materials properties and defect structure in the second chamber, all without exposing the samples to ambient conditions. The WDS spectrometer is an important component of this study, as it will allow researchers to determine the concentration of oxygen vacancies, which is exceedingly difficult to determine using other techniques. The unique capabilities of RACS will be utilized to systematically probe the effects of a variety of defects on the fundamental properties of nanoscale systems, leading to a deeper understanding of how to tune the materials properties in nanostructured materials. Establishing the processing parameters for optimizing materials properties using RACS would allow the development of scalable fabrication protocols, which would promote the incorporation of these novel nanostructured materials into commercial devices. The development of this system will provide valuable training for a postdoctoral researcher as well as graduate and undergraduate students, specifically including underrepresented minorities in the Detroit metropolitan area.