MRI: Development of a Scanning Probe Microscope for Resolving Fast Local Dynamics in Nanostructured Materials

技术描述：这一重大研究仪器奖支持开发一种扫描探针显微镜，能够以约100纳秒的时间分辨率跟踪电荷密度、离子运动、极化和分子合作现象的动态局部变化。该仪器将允许在光、电或热激励后测量这些瞬时现象，同时在受控大气和不同温度下以纳米级空间分辨率探测系统响应。该仪器将提供的功能包括：(1)通过分析瞬时激励后的悬臂动态运动来测量~100 ns时间尺度上发生的事件的能力；(2)通过与悬臂运动同步的光脉冲来激发样品，并使用坚固耐用的商用AFM尖端以高分辨率检测产生的瞬时电、热和介电弛豫过程的能力；以及(3)执行基于高带宽非接触调频的介电测量的能力，并在更宽的频率范围内将其与接触模式介电谱进行比较的能力。通过允许在高带宽和高空间分辨率下进行这些动态测量，该仪器将通过将性能与特定的结构特征直接联系起来，从而实现未来材料的进步，即使是在实际技术材料和应用中经常遇到的异质薄膜中也是如此。*非技术描述：华盛顿大学的研究人员将建造并委托使用一种独特的扫描探针显微镜，能够跟踪电子、离子和分子性质的局部动态变化。该显微镜将能够捕捉到发生变化的速度超过100亿分之一秒的特征，这些特征的大小小于20亿分之一米(比一根头发小2万倍)。一旦建成，该显微镜将作为现有共享用户设施的一部分投入使用，为华盛顿大学内外的研究人员提供研究适用于经济和环境重要技术的新材料的能力，这些技术包括用于生产低成本能源的新型太阳能光伏组件、用于消费电子和交通应用的锂离子电池、用于废热回收和热管理的热电材料、用于柔性电子产品和传感器的新型铁电材料，以及用于工业和环境重要分离的薄膜。这些设备将支持该大学能源和分子工程高级材料及科学研究所正在进行的培训和外联工作。该计划将支持学生和博士后学者在构建和使用下一代仪器方面的培训，并通过鼓励与业界的联系，不仅为他们提供教育丰富，还将支持未来商业化和广泛采用所开发的仪器的可能性。

Technical Description: This Major Research Instrumentation award supports development of a scanning probe microscope capable of following dynamic local changes in charge density, ionic motion, polarization, and molecular cooperative phenomena with ~100 nanosecond temporal resolution. The instrument will allow these transient phenomena to be measured following optical, electrical, or thermal excitation while probing the system response with nanometer-scale spatial resolution in a controlled atmosphere and at varying temperatures. The instrument will offer capabilities including: (1) the ability to measure events taking place on ~100 ns timescales by analysis of the dynamic cantilever motion following a transient excitation; (2) the ability to excite the sample with optical pulses synchronized to the cantilever motion and to detect the resulting transient electrical, thermal, and dielectric relaxation processes with high resolution using robust, commercial AFM tips, and; (3) the ability to perform high-bandwidth non-contact frequency-modulation based dielectric measurements, and compare them with contact mode dielectric spectroscopy over a wide frequency range. By permitting these dynamic measurements to be performed at high bandwidth and high spatial resolution, the instrument will allow for future materials advances by directly connecting performance with specific structural features, even in heterogeneous films as are often encountered in real technological materials and applications.*******Non-Technical Description:The investigators at the University of Washington will build, and commission a unique scanning probe microscope capable of following dynamic local changes in electronic, ionic, and molecular properties. The microscope will be able to capture changes happening faster than 100 billionths of a second in features smaller than 20 billionths of a meter (20,000 times smaller than a hair) in size. Once completed, the microscope will be made available as part of an existing shared user facility, providing researchers within and beyond the University of Washington with capabilities to study new materials for applications that advance economically and environmentally important technologies such as new solar photovoltaics for generating low cost energy, Li-ion batteries for consumer electronics and transportation applications, thermoelectric materials for waste heat recovery and thermal management, novel ferroelectrics for use in flexible electronics and sensors, and membranes for industrially and environmentally important separations. The equipment will support the ongoing training and outreach efforts of the Advanced Materials for Energy and Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institutes at the University. The program will support training of student and postdoctoral scholars in the construction and use of next generation of instrumentation, and by encouraging ties with industry will not only provide them with educational enrichment but also support future possibilities for commercialization and widespread adoption of the developed instrumentation.