Block copolymers and Ionic Liquids for Data Storage (BILDS)

这一精心设计的培训计划将转变一位才华横溢的研究员Amit Kumar Sarkar博士，并为他提供一个完美的平台，使他成为一名独立研究员，开展有影响力的研究，以解决现实世界的问题。在我们现在生活的数字世界中，我们正在指数级地创建越来越多的数据--我们只是在耗尽存储空间。为了应对这一挑战，BILDS将开发一种创新的、负担得起的、与工业相关的下一代数据存储应用材料技术。具有极小(亚5 nm)结构域的嵌段共聚物-离子液体(BCP-IL)复合材料将被开发用于纳米光刻技术，用于为现有的大型数据中心制造高效的高数据存储密度(面密度)的数据存储设备，从而显著减少建造新的大规模设施的需要。将建造一个定制的钻机，以促进复杂的就地掠入射小角度X射线散射(GISAXS)实验，以揭示这些新材料形成的稳健设计规则--这是一项重大的技术进步，将使工业能够更无缝地分层。具体的研究目标(ROS)是：RO1--培训院士和院士与每个东道主之间的双向知识转移；RO2--新型工业相关BCP-IL对的合成、表征和相分离行为；R03--制造具有增强的纳米级分辨率(低于5 nm)的纳米级BCP-IL材料；RO4--为原位GISAXS研究构建新的平台，以阐明纳米成膜的最佳条件。BILDS联合体是多学科和跨部门的，为实现这些雄心勃勃的ROS而精心组建：来自阿斯顿大学(英国)、Babes-Bolyai大学(罗马尼亚)和钻石光源(英国)的学术东道主，以及来自巴斯夫(德国)和SpecialistComputer Center(SCC)的工业顾问。

This carefully designed training program will transform a talented Fellow, Dr Amit Kumar Sarkar, and provide him the perfect platformto become an independent researcher to develop impactful research to address real world issues. In the digital world that we nowlive, we are creating more and more data exponentially - we are simply running out of storage space. To tackle this challenge, BILDSwill develop an innovative, affordable, and industrially relevant next-generation material technology for data storage applications.Block copolymer-ionic liquid (BCP-IL) composite materials with extremely small (sub-5 nm) domains will be developed for use innanolithography techniques used to fabricate efficient data storage devices with high data storage density (areal density) for existinglarge-scale data centers, thus significantly reducing the need to construct new large-scale facilities. A custom-made rig will beconstructed to facilitate sophisticated in situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) experiments to uncover robustdesign rules for the formation of these new materials - a significant technical advancement that will enable a more seamlesstransition to industry. The specific research objectives (ROs) are: RO1- Training of the Fellow and two-way knowledge transferbetween the Fellow and each Host; RO2 - Synthesis, characterization, and phase separation behavior of novel, industrially relevantBCP-IL pairings; RO3 - Fabricate BCP-IL materials with enhanced nanoscale resolution (sub-5nm) for nanopatterning technology;RO4 - Construct new rig for in situ GISAXS studies to elucidate optimal conditions for nanopatterning. The BILDS consortium ismultidisciplinary & intersectoral, scrupulously assembled to achieve these ambitious ROs: academic hosts from Aston University (UK),Babes-Bolyai University (Romania) and Diamond Light Source (UK), plus industrial advisors from BASF (Germany) and SpecialistComputer Centers (SCC).