MRI: Development of an Ion-Beam-assisted Glancing Angle Deposition Tool (iGLAD) for 3D Nanostructure Thin Film Preparation with in-situ Ellipsometry control

这项重大研究仪器 (MRI) 拨款将支持创建一种新工具 - 离子束辅助掠角沉积工具 (iGLAD) - 用于制备高度定义的雕刻柱状薄膜 (SCTF)，这是一种新兴的具有高表面积的高度有序纳米工程材料。 除了传统蒸发源之外，iGLAD 工具还将配备离子束源，提供多种生长模式。离子源将允许在制造之前进行基板清洁和预图案化，而无需将样品暴露于周围环境，从而增强对纳米材料有序排列的控制。 iGLAD 工具将采用新颖的自适应光学设计，用于原位实时诊断，以跟踪整个制造过程中的基板运动。 这将首次允许通过广义光谱椭偏仪监测和控制纳米材料的形成过程，从而为纳米材料的形成机制和改善其结构、几何和材料性能的策略提供有价值的见解。iGLAD 工具将使一类新型纳米材料得到广泛应用，并将为内部和外部学生和研究人员提供独特的研究培训和经验。 该仪器将极大地推进纳米材料制造和控制的研究，以及对新型纳米工程光学材料的结构-性能关系和设计的理解。 它将实现新的生物传感器和新的色谱原理、新的组织工程和基因传递概念、新的高速电子、能量存储和环境传感研究。这项研究将激发高度有序 3D 纳米材料的新应用，具有潜在的变革性科学和商业影响，而与国家实验室和私营企业的合作将进一步增强这种影响。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant will enable the creation of a new tool - Ion-Beam-assisted Glancing Angle Deposition Tool (iGLAD) - for preparation of highly-defined sculptured columnar thin films (SCTFs), an emerging class of highly-ordered, nano-engineered materials with high surface area. The iGLAD tool will feature ion beam sources in addition to traditional evaporation sources, providing multiple growth modes. The ion sources will allow for substrate cleaning and prepatterning without sample exposure to the ambient environment prior to fabrication, thereby enhancing control of the ordered arrangement of the nanomaterials. The iGLAD tool will feature a novel adaptive optics design for in-situ real-time diagnostics to track substrate movements throughout the fabrication process. This will allow, for the first time, monitoring and control of the nanomaterial formation process by generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry--providing valuable insights into nanomaterial formation mechanisms and strategies for improving their structural, geometrical and material properties.The iGLAD tool will make a new class of nanomaterials widely available and will enable unique research training and experience for internal and external students and researchers. The instrumentation will substantially advance research in nanomaterials fabrication and control and understanding of structure-property relations and design of novel nano-engineered optical materials. It will enable new biosensors and new chromatography principles, new tissue engineering and gene delivery concepts, new high-speed electronics, energy storage, and environmental sensing research. This research will inspire new applications for highly-ordered 3D nanomaterials with potentially transformative scientific and commercial impacts, which are further enhanced by partnerships with national laboratories and private sector firms.