MRI: Track 2 Acquisition of a TriBeam Microscope for a 3D Materials Education and Science Hub (3DMESH)

这一重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持购买一种新型显微镜--TriBeam，该显微镜可在多种材料上产生高分辨率3D信息。这包括聚合物、复合材料、陶瓷、金属、半导体、电化学和生物材料。这样的3D数据支撑着设计和预测各种工程和生物系统行为的能力，但通常需要几个月到几年的时间才能获得。这种仪器极大地加快了这一过程，在几天到几周内就能生成关键信息。TriBeam的数据将用于设计电池电极、添加剂制造、耐磨涂层和高功率半导体设备的新材料。此外，它还将使人们能够对极端空间和核环境中的心脏组织和先进材料的结构和功能有新的见解。该仪器还将为机器学习算法的训练提供关键的3D数据，并为材料结构和性能的量化开辟新的前沿。为了扩大该仪器的影响，将成立一个名为3DMESH的中心，以提供TriBeam培训，并增加社区对3D数据集和分析协议的访问。随着这些新仪器变得越来越普遍，这将使更广泛的工程界受益。该仪器被命名为三光束，因为它在一个腔体中容纳电子、聚焦离子和飞秒激光。飞秒激光允许对具有亚微米切片厚度的毫米平方尺度的表面进行极快(几秒级)的原位连续切片，并通过离子束对某些材料的表面进行进一步的清理。电子束和其他原位探测器能够从每个切片中获取化学、结构和结晶学信息。这些信息随后被处理以创建3D多模式数据集，其中合并了所有材料信息。这些丰富的模式导致每个切片产生许多GB的数据，每个数据集产生许多TB的数据--这需要同时开发用于数据管理、分析和共享的方法。亚微米分辨率的大体积对于理解控制各种材料的机械、电子和磁性的机制至关重要，因为它们通常受到1-100微米尺度的微结构特征或层状结构的存在的影响。该项目由重大仪器研究计划(MRI)和民用、机械和制造创新部门(CMMI)联合资助。该项目反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a new type of microscope, the TriBeam, that generates high resolution 3D information on a broad range of materials. This includes polymers, composites, ceramics, metals, semiconductors, electrochemical and biomaterials. Such 3D data underpins the ability to design and predict the behavior of a broad array of engineering and biological systems, but often requires many months to years to acquire. This instrument dramatically speeds up the process, generating critical information in days to weeks. The TriBeam data will be deployed to design new materials for battery electrodes, additive manufacturing, wear-resistant coatings, and high power semiconductor devices. Additionally, it will enable new insights on structure and function of heart tissue and advanced materials in extreme space and nuclear environments. The instrument will also provide critical 3D data for training of machine learning algorithms and open new frontiers for the quantification of material structure and properties. To broaden the instrument’s impact, a Hub, 3DMESH, will be formed to provide TriBeam training and increase community access to 3D datasets and analysis protocols. This will benefit the broader engineering community as these new instruments become more widely available. The instrument is designated as TriBeam because it hosts electron, focused ion and femtosecond laser beams in one chamber. The femtosecond laser allows for extremely rapid (of the order of seconds) in-situ serial sectioning of millimeter squared-scale surfaces with sub-micron slice thickness, with further cleanup of the surface by the ion beam for some materials. The electron beam and other in-situ detectors enable acquisition of chemical, structural and crystallographic information from each slice. This information is subsequently processed to create 3D multimodal datasets, with all of the materials information merged. These rich modalities result in many gigabytes of data per slice, and many terabytes of data per dataset - requiring simultaneous development of methods for data management, analysis, and sharing. Large volumes at sub-micron resolution are critical for understanding the mechanisms that govern mechanical, electronic, and magnetic properties in a wide range of materials, since they are often governed by the presence of microstructural features or layered structures at the 1-100 micrometer scale. Examples include additively manufactured metallic structures with 100 micrometer-scale melt pools; melt tracks, transistors and diodes in electronic and light emitting device structures and soft; and biological materials that possess complex structure at the microscale, cellular and tissue levels.This project is jointly funded by the Major Instrumentation Research Program (MRI) and the division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).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.