Collaborative Research: Wafer-Scale, Defect-Free Assembly of Three-Dimensional Plasmonic Nanoarchitectures

该基金支持在三维功能纳米结构制造和光操纵应用方面贡献基础性新知识的研究，从而促进等离子体和先进制造领域的基础科学和技术。通过三维等离子体纳米结构的周期性模式来引导光的操纵，为利用传统光学无法获得的光提供了非凡的机会。然而，它的实际实施仍然受到低产量、耗时和有限的可扩展性的传统制造工艺的挑战，这些工艺主要依赖于纳米光刻的使用。本文研究了一种基于三维纳米组装的等离子体纳米结构纳米制造新工艺。三维纳米结构与各种衬底的集成越来越受到成像仪、传感器和激光器的广泛应用的青睐，这极大地有利于美国的经济和社会。该项目是多学科的，涉及力学、光学和先进纳米制造。它为本科生和研究生提供了良好的教育机会，并培养了妇女和代表性不足的少数群体对科学和工程的兴趣。三维等离子体纳米结构的制造在很大程度上依赖于传统的纳米光刻技术，包括电子束、聚焦离子束或光束干涉的使用。然而，对于包括柔性或弯曲表面在内的各种基材，采用这些传统技术存在重大挑战，特别是因为它们主要设计用于在热或化学后处理的帮助下在辐射敏感材料的平面上形成纳米图案。本研究旨在开发一种新的纳米制造技术，在合适的接收器基板上实现三维等离子体纳米结构的确定性组装，从而使供体晶圆可以重复使用以节省成本。该工艺涉及在环境条件下使用水，而不需要额外的化学，热或机械处理，从而大大扩展了接收器基板的类型到任意材料。合作研究包括通过实验来阐明关键控制参数，并通过多尺度/多物理场计算模型支持固液相互作用，以预测制造过程参数及其控制，并集成原子模拟。三维等离子体纳米结构与混合像素成像仪集成，以展示其检测功能的增强。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 grant supports research that contributes fundamental new knowledge in the manufacturing of three-dimensional functional nanoarchitectures with applications in light manipulation, thus promoting basic science and technology in the fields of plasmonics and advanced manufacturing. Guided manipulation of light through periodic patterns of three-dimensional plasmonic nanoarchitectures provides remarkable opportunities to harness light in a way that cannot be obtained with conventional optics. However, its practical implementation remains challenged by the low-yield, time-consuming, and limited scalability of conventional fabrication processes that largely rely on the use of nanolithography. This research studies a new nanomanufacturing process based on three-dimensional nanoassembly to fabricate the plasmonic nanoarchitectures. The integration of three-dimensional nanoarchitectures with diverse substrates is increasingly preferred for broad applications in imagers, sensors and lasers, which greatly benefits the U.S. economy and society. The project is multidisciplinary and involves mechanics, optics and advanced nanomanufacturing. It provides excellent educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and fosters interest in science and engineering in women and under-represented minority groups. The fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanoarchitectures largely relies upon the utilization of conventional nanolithography techniques that involve the use of either electron-beam, focused ion-beam, or beam interference. However, significant challenges exist in adopting these conventional techniques for diverse substrates including flexible or curved surfaces, especially, since they are principally designed to form nanopatterns on the flat surface of radiation-sensitive materials with the assistance of thermal or chemical post-treatments. This research is to develop a new nanomanufacturing technique that achieves deterministic assembly of 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures on suitable receiver substrates in a way that allows the donor wafer to be reused for cost-savings. The process involves the use of water under ambient conditions without additional need of chemical, thermal or mechanical treatments, thereby substantially extending the type of receiver substrate to arbitrary materials. The collaborative research involves experiments to elucidate critical controlling parameters and underpinning solid-liquid interactions supported by multiscale/multiphysics computation modelling to predict manufacturing process parameters and their control with integration of atomistic simulation. The 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures are integrated with hybrid pixel imagers to demonstrate the enhancement of their detection functionalities.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.