SBIR Phase II: Spectroscopy and imaging of irregular surfaces using confocal microscopy

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二期项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是？开发一种便携式，具有成本效益的共聚焦显微镜，该显微镜可以对表面进行分析，获得光谱，并可以在整个研究和工业市场中为用户立即识别成分，杂质和形态。该系统将对62亿美元的显微镜市场产生重大影响，近期商业潜力超过5%的市场和显着的增长潜力。这项技术将满足材料科学和其他研究实验室、制造质量控制和供应链监控的需求，从而提供积极的经济影响。地形测绘与各种光谱工具的集成可以在非常小的尺度上进行全面的材料分析。用户将能够识别电子、光电和结构器件，以及涂层、管道、器件、磁盘和特种反射镜的特征和缺陷。社会影响包括组件和系统的设计和制造的改进。由于其小巧的尺寸和低成本，显微镜可以在教育机构中使用，为学生提供测量复杂物体特性的经验，并帮助他们为各种研究，开发和生产环境的职业生涯做好准备。拟议的项目将把光谱共聚焦光学轮廓显微镜从实验室工作台转化为具有市场特征和性能的原型。所开发的显微镜将能够对地形复杂的结构进行光谱和表面分析。关键的创新是精密表面轮廓与多种光谱询问方法的集成。用户将捕获不规则表面的精确地形图，并使用它们提取空间精确的光谱和成像信息。这种方法将为广泛的材料实现聚焦，衍射限制光致发光和拉曼图。研究目标包括：(1)光学轮廓与光谱扫描的集成，(2)基于客户反馈的硬件优化，(3)采集和分析软件的开发。这些物镜的成功完成将产生一种便携式仪器，可以在几分钟内捕获具有数万个样品点的样品的表面形貌和光谱信息，具有10-50纳米的垂直精度和衍射限制的空间分辨率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project?is?the development of a portable, cost-effective confocal microscope that profiles surfaces, obtains spectra, and enables immediate identification of composition, impurities, and morphology for users throughout the research and industrial markets.??The system will make a major impact in the $6.2B microscope market, with a near-term commercial potential of over 5% of the market and significant growth potential. This technology will address the needs of materials science and other research laboratories, quality control in manufacturing, and supply chain monitoring, thereby providing a positive economic impact. Integration of topographic mapping with a diverse set of spectroscopic tools enables comprehensive materials analysis at very small scales. Users will be able to identify features and defects in electronic, optoelectronic, and structural devices, as well as coatings, tubing, devices, disks, and specialty mirrors. Societal impacts include improvements in the design and manufacture of components and systems.?Because of its compact size and low cost, the microscope can be used in educational institutions, providing students with experience in measuring properties of complex objects and helping prepare them for careers in various research, development, and production settings.?The proposed project will translate spectroscopic confocal optical profile microscopy from the lab bench to prototypes with market-ready features and performance. The developed microscopes will enable spectroscopic and surface analysis of topographically complex structures.?The key innovation is the integration of precision surface profiling with multiple spectroscopic interrogation methods.??Users will capture accurate topographic maps of irregular surfaces and use them to extract spatially accurate spectroscopic and imaging information.??This approach will enable in-focus, diffraction-limited photoluminescence and Raman maps for a broad range of materials.??Research objectives include (1) integration of optical profiling with spectroscopic scanning, (2) optimization of hardware based on customer feedback, and (3) development of acquisition and analysis software.??Successful completion of these objectives will result in a portable instrument that can capture the surface topography and spectral information of a sample with tens of thousands of sample points in a few minutes, with 10-50 nanometer vertical precision and diffraction-limited spatial resolution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.