Collaborative Research: Pattern Transfer Nanomanufacturing with Magnetically-Recorded Nanotemplates

该合作研究项目的最终目标是检验磁记录可用于将纳米材料组装成复杂的 2D 和 3D 结构的假设，并为快速、低成本的纳米制造提供一条有前途的途径。 该方法是使用磁记录介质（即现代硬盘驱动器中的盘片）来指导磁性纳米颗粒的组装。然后将一层薄薄的聚合物薄膜涂在表面上，沉积的颗粒被剥离，同时保持这种书写图案。 这种纳米制造的变革性方法利用磁记录图案中的纳米级力将载液中的纳米颗粒组装成磁盘驱动器盘片表面上设计的纳米结构。然后用聚合物旋涂纳米颗粒组件，并将基质从磁盘表面剥离，将纳米级图案转移到柔性透明薄膜上。尽管这一概念已经得到论证，但将其商业化的关键挑战仍然存在。通过了解组装如何取决于原始纳米材料：纳米颗粒的形状、尺寸、磁矩和表面功能化，以及流体组装过程的动力学、纳米级定位的变化以及记录过程的基本限制，可以扩展对这一概念的控制。 该合作项目的结构允许工艺和原材料之间的持续反馈，以建立商业发布所需的稳定性。此外，还将探索增加功能的新颖扩展，包括在单层内组装不同的纳米粒子种类，以及将多个层和薄膜组合成更复杂的纳米结构材料。为了实现这些目标，该项目分为三个主要任务组：1. 纳米颗粒合成和组装相互作用控制，2. 100 nm 以下的组装和计量，3. 复杂系统的定向组装，以及一个专注于协作教育和推广的额外小组。这些组件专注于克服技术可扩展性的关键障碍，开发加工和过程计量工具，以及创建新颖、复杂的系统以提高商业相关性。该项目将加深对这种未开发技术的理解，以评估和克服在制造环境中实施的主要障碍。通过优化自下而上纳米结构组装的商业磁记录，更广泛的纳米技术界将可以使用一类创新的廉价技术来制造新设备，包括光电元件、新型生物材料和未来能源技术材料。考虑到目前磁记录组件的制造规模和成本，成功地将这种方法扩展到商业纳米制造的杠杆作用是巨大的。应用当前技术实现未来制造的机会，结合了解抑制纳米商业化的社区结构，为项目研究人员提供了独特而广泛的教育经验。南卡罗来纳州的主要研究型大学南加州大学和克莱姆森大学的学生将参加最近的试点课程，该课程从技术和历史角度看待制造技术，以促进创新和创造新技术。

The ultimate goal of this collaborative research project is to test the hypothesis that magnetic recording can be used to direct the assembly of nanomaterials into complex 2D and 3D structures, and offers a promising route towards rapid and low-cost nanomanufacturing. The approach is to use magnetic recording media (i.e. platters found in modern hard drives) to direct the assembly of magnetic nanoparticles. A thin polymeric film is then coated onto the surface, and the deposited particles are lifted off while maintaining this written pattern. This transformative approach to nanomanufacturing employs nanoscale forces from magnetically-recorded patterns to assemble nanoparticles from a carrier fluid into de-signed nanostructures on the surface of a disk drive platter. The nanoparticle assembly is then spin-coated with a polymer and the matrix is peeled from the disk surface, transferring the nanoscale patterns to a flexible, transparent film. While this concept has been demonstrated, key challenges to commercializing it remain. Control of this concept will be extended by understanding how the assembly depends on the raw nanomaterials: nanoparticle shape, size, magnetic moment, and surface functionalization, in addition to the kinetics of the fluidic assembly process, variances in nanoscale positioning, and the fundamental limits of the recording process. This collaborative project is structured to allow continuous feedback between process and raw materials to build stability needed for commercial launch. In addition, novel extensions will be explored that add functionality, including assembly of different nanoparticle species within a single layer, and combining multiple layers and films into more complex, nanostructured materials. To accomplish these goals the project is divided into three main task groups: 1. Nanoparticle synthesis and assembly interaction control, 2. Assembly and metrology below 100 nm size scales, and 3. Directed assembly of complex systems, plus an additional group focused on collaborative education and outreach. These components focus on overcoming key roadblocks to the technology's scalability, developing the tools for processing and process metrology, and creating novel, complex systems to increase commercial relevance.This project will build understanding of this undeveloped technology to assess and overcome the major hurdles to implementation in a manufacturing environment. By optimizing commercial magnetic recording for bottom-up nanostructure assembly, an innovative class of inexpensive techniques will be available to the wider nanotechnology community for manufacturing new devices, including optoelectronic components, novel biomaterials, and materials for future energy technologies. Given the scale and cost at which magnetic recording components are presently manufactured, the leverage to succeed in scaling this approach to commercial nanomanufacturing is tremendous. The opportunity to apply current technology to enable future manufacturing, combined with understanding the community structures which inhibit nano-commercialization, offers a unique and broad educational experience for the project researchers. Students at both USC and Clemson, the primary research universities in South Carolina, will participate through a recently piloted course that develops a technical and historical perspective on manufactured technologies, to foster innovation and create new ones.