MRI: Development of Rapid Annealing and in situ Characterization System

摘要：美国韦恩州立大学的一个多学科团队开发了一个快速退火和表征系统（RACS），该系统能够快速退火薄膜样品和外部制备的纳米材料，然后使用各种非侵入性技术对这些样品进行原位表征。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。包括位错、晶界、杂质掺杂和空位在内的缺陷会显著地改变材料的磁性、电学和光学性质。这些缺陷对于建立纳米材料的特性是很重要的，因为它们的表面体积比比在块体系统中要高得多。这项研究的最终目标是控制氮化物和超导薄膜的类型、密度和分布，从而合成具有特定性能的材料。定制设计的具有快速退火能力的真空室与使用JEOL开发的专有气闸的扫描电子显微镜与波色散光谱仪（WDS）相结合，使研究人员能够通过在一个室中进行热退火来修改缺陷结构，然后在第二个室中进行材料性能和缺陷结构的研究，所有这些都不需要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，这是使用其他技术非常难以确定的。RACS的独特功能将被用于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。利用RACS建立优化材料性能的工艺参数将允许开发可扩展的制造协议，这将促进这些新型纳米结构材料与商业设备的结合。这一系统的发展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会地区未被充分代表的少数民族。

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.