CAREER: Laser Direct Writing of Three-Dimensional Functional Nanostructures

该学院早期职业发展（Career）计划资助基础研究，以实现三维多材料纳米结构的高通量制造新工艺。在过去的几年里，纳米技术已经产生了许多具有前所未有的性能和特性的新型纳米技术设备，这些设备有望产生各种各样的产品来改善我们的日常生活。许多设备需要在大面积上任意设计三维纳米结构的多材料集成。然而，用于大规模生产的传统纳米制造工具是为微处理器制造量身定制的，不适合新兴的纳米技术应用。该项目支持基础研究，以实现功能纳米晶体的高通量纳米图案化的新工艺。这种能力允许大规模生产新兴纳米器件，这些器件具有增强的机械、热、光学和电学性能，可用于能源、医疗保健、通信和国防应用。生成三维多材料纳米结构的便捷能力加速了纳米技术产品的创新、商业化和采用，这影响了美国的制造业、经济和安全。这项研究涉及多个学科，包括制造，热物理，化学，光学和材料科学，并激励来自不同背景和代表性不足的群体的个人追求科学和工程的职业生涯。该项目开发了一个综合课程，弥合了纳米制造科学与工业实践之间的差距，并满足了当前和未来先进制造业劳动力的需求。利用纳米晶体作为构件的非常规图像化方法，如纳米级印刷、组装和直接书写，在制造三维和多材料纳米结构方面具有许多优势。然而，高通量和低成本的纳米晶体图案仍然是一个主要的挑战。这个CAREER项目的目标是了解激光与纳米晶体相互作用中的纳米级传输现象，并实现纳米晶体的高效、高速、可扩展的光图案化。具体地说，对光激发、电子-振动耦合、弛豫和转换过程的基本理解，这些过程发生在从飞秒到纳秒的纳米限制系统的广泛时间尺度上。综合数值和实验研究，包括Ab-initio和分子动力学模拟，超快光学探测和材料表征，以获得这种理解，并建立工艺-纳米结构-性能关系。为了证明定向应用的放大能力和可行性，研究了通过高速扫描大量光束阵列在大面积上进行功能纳米结构的并行激光直接写入。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。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program grant supports fundamental research that enables a new process for high-throughput manufacturing of three-dimensional multi-material nanostructures. Over the past years, nanotechnology has given rise to many novel nanotechnology-enabled devices with unprecedented performance and properties, which promise to generate a wide variety of products to improve our daily lives. Many devices require multi-material integration of arbitrarily designed three-dimensional nanostructures over large areas. However, conventional nanomanufacturing tools for mass production are tailored for microprocessor manufacturing and are not suitable for emerging nanotechnology applications. This project supports fundamental investigations into enabling a new process for high-throughput nano-patterning of functional nanocrystals. Such a capability allows mass production of emerging nano-devices with enhanced mechanical, thermal, optical and electrical properties for energy, healthcare, communication and defense applications. A facile capability to generate three-dimensional multi-material nanostructures accelerates innovation, commercialization and adoption of nanotechnology-enabled products, which impacts U.S. manufacturing, economy and security. This research involves multiple disciplines including manufacturing, thermophysics, chemistry, optics and material science, and motivates individuals from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented groups to pursue careers in science and engineering. The project develops an integrated curriculum that bridges the gap between nanomanufacturing science and industrial practice and serves the needs of the current and future workforce in advanced manufacturing.Non-conventional patterning methods using nanocrystals as building blocks, such as nanoscale printing, assembly and direct writing, have many advantages in fabricating three-dimensional and multi-material nanostructures. However, high-throughput and cost-effective patterning of nanocrystals remains a major challenge. The objective of this CAREER project is to understand the nanoscale transport phenomena in laser-nanocrystal interactions and enable efficient, high-speed, scalable photo-patterning of nanocrystals. Specifically, a basic understanding of optical excitation, electron-vibration coupling, relaxation, and transformation processes that occur over a wide range of time scales from femtoseconds to nanoseconds in nano-confined systems is gained. Integrated numerical and experimental studies, including Ab-initio and Molecular Dynamics simulations, ultrafast optical probing and material characterizations are carried out to gain this understanding and establish the process-nanostructure-properties relationships. To demonstrate the scale-up capability and feasibility for targeted applications, parallel laser direct writing of functional nanostructures over large areas by scanning a massive array of beamlets at high speed are explored.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.