Nanoimprinting with Amorphous Metals

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。纳米压印有望在包括数据处理和存储、光子学和生物医学在内的各种应用领域中低成本地制造微米和纳米器件。纳米压印的成功和普及关键依赖于制造坚固耐用的模板。以前的研究一直集中在硅模板的使用。由于其脆性和有限的寿命，本研究的重点是非晶态金属与上级机械性能优于目前使用的材料在纳米压印和没有一个内在的大小限制。在这个提议中，可以压印到非晶态金属中的最小特征将通过利用一些非晶态金属的热塑性成形性来评估。此外，用于热塑性加工的非晶态金属的独特软化行为将被利用来开发用于纳米压印的多功能工具箱。这包括使用非晶态金属作为模具材料和压印材料。此外，将评估通过热塑性成形将母模复制成非晶金属子模和孙模的情况。 这项研究将开发一个使能和基本的纳米制造过程，用于广泛的应用，包括数据存储，生物技术，半导体IC，太阳能电池和催化剂。此外，对金属玻璃基本变形行为的表征将产生纳米图案化的新前沿知识。因此，拟议研究的成功将有助于美国。中国在纳米技术方面的竞争力，使美国工业受益，并可能产生重大的经济影响。这项研究将暴露和培训研究生和本科生的非晶态金属及其在纳米制造新技术领域的使用。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Nanoimprinting promises low cost fabrication of micro- and nano-devices in various fields of application including data processing and storage, photonics, and biomedicine. The success and proliferation of nanoimprinting critically rely on the manufacturing of robust and durable templates. Previous research has been focused on the use of Silicon templates. Due to their brittle nature and limited longevity, this research focuses on amorphous metals with superior mechanical properties over currently used materials in nanoimprinting and the absence of an intrinsic size limitation. Within this proposal the smallest features that can be imprinted into amorphous metals will be evaluated by utilizing the thermoplastic formability of some amorphous metals. Furthermore the unique softening behaviour of amorphous metals, which is utilized for thermoplastic processing will be exploited to develop a versatile toolbox for nanoimprinting. This includes the use of amorphous metals as a mold material and as an imprint material. In addition, the replication of a master mold into amorphous metal daughter and granddaughter molds through thermoplastic forming will be evaluated. This research will develop an enabling and fundamental nanomanufacturing process for a wide range of applications including data storage, biotechnology, semiconductor ICs, solar cells, and catalysts. Furthermore, characterizing of the fundamental deformation behavior of metallic glasses will generate new cutting-edge knowledge in nanopatterning. Thus, the success of the proposed research will aid U.S.'s competitiveness in nanotechnology, benefit U.S industry, and will potentially have significant economic impact. The research will expose and train graduate and undergraduate students to amorphous metals and their usage in the new technology area of nanomanufacturing.