MRI: Acquisition of NanoFrazor for Nanofabrication of Advanced Nanomaterials with Ultimate Resolution and Flexibility

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Progress in nanotechnology depends on the capability to fabricate, position and interconnect nanoscale structures. The success of nanotechnology for a wide range of applications relies on the existence of suitable nanolithography and nanopatterning approaches. The limitations of conventional fabrication methods in terms of resolution, 3D patterning, and lack of flexibility for soft and novel materials have motivated the development of new methods. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a NanoFrazor --a unique tool for rapid-fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices with extreme resolution and high versatility. Fundamental research using this technology for 3D patterning with sub-10 nm resolution and high writing speeds has the potential to bring transformative applications in nanoelectronics, nanomagnetism, nanophotonics, catalysis and biomedicine. The NanoFrazor will be broadly accessible to researchers at City University of New York (CUNY) and Columbia and will serve to catalyze new interdisciplinary research collaborations. Housed in CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center, it will provide research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom are from underrepresented or low-income families, and hands-on activities for the general public. The NanoFrazor is a unique tool developed for researchers who need access to topographical and chemical patterning of arbitrary nanoscale geometries of non-conventional materials including polymers, 1D materials such as nanotubes, 2D materials, and biomolecules such as proteins. Even 3D nanopatterns can be fabricated in a single step, with the unmatched precision of 1 nm. Further features include mask-less patterning and marker-free overlay/stitching, in-situ simultaneous writing and imaging for closed loop lithography, high speed (mm/s), and large areas (104 cm2). The NanoFrazor is primarily designed for topographical patterning of resists that evaporate when they are heated by the hot nanotip. However, this MRI project will implement in the NanoFrazor other types of thermal lithographic methods extending its capabilities. For example, this award will enable the recent thermochemical nanolithography (TCNL) method, which utilizes local heat to change the chemistry of surfaces, to be implemented in the NanoFrazor to advance potentially transformative fundamental research on (i) nanopatterning polymers to create complex patterns and gradients of proteins for stem cells differentiation and neuroscience studies, (ii) controlled nanoscale doping of 2D materials for electronics and optics applications, (iii) magnetic domains patterning for spintronics studies, and (iv) nanopatterning nanotubes for single molecule sensing applications.