Urgent repair and upgrade of high-vacuum variable-temperature scanning probe microscope

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RTI funds are required to return to a state of research readiness a high-vacuum, variable-temperature scanning probe microscope (SPM). With a moderate investment, the proposed upgrade will bring back to operation an existing piece of equipment originally worth more than four times the requested RTI funds and will double its research lifetime. This instrument is the only one of its kind currently available at Western University, and is vital to carry out a number of time-sensitive projects from the applicant team, for which delicate samples cannot be transported to another location. Such projects include bringing existing industrial partnerships to the next level, as well as enhancing new discovery research by team members in the critical areas of organic materials, surfaces and interfaces, biomaterials growth, and nanoscale electrical transport in the 25K-300K temperature domain. SPMs are a class of imaging techniques that form maps of surface and subsurface features using nanosized physical probes. The Scienta Omicron VT for which urgent repair and upgrade is required is an advanced SPM capable of multiple SPM techniques, including, but not limited to: atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and Kelvin-probe microscopy (KPM). Research activities from applicant team members are highly focused on such techniques, with extensive experience in handling instruments of this kind. In addition, due to the unique expertise of the PI in scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), we are here proposing to use this system for cryogenic SNOM at variable temperature. SNOM is an SPM-based nano-optical technique that is capable to obtain super-resolution images beyond the diffraction limit. Fanchini's group has specific expertise in SNOM imaging of plasmonic nanostructures for solar cell efficiency enhancement, plasmonic optical waveguides, and for contact-free imaging the thermal conductivity of nanostructured thin films at the nanoscale. Super-resolution, contact-free, thermal conductivity imaging at variable temperature will be made possible via cryogenic SNOM. This will open unprecedented opportunities towards the fundamental physical understanding of thermal transport, both electron-driven and phonon-driven, in a host of 2D, nanostructured and organic materials, many of which supplied by co-applicants and collaborators at Western. Research in cryogenic SNOM will be unique to Canada and awaits this repair and upgrade to be carried out. Because SPM techniques do not involve elevated budget costs, they are very popular assets in several non-destructive materials characterization facilities, not only in academia, but also several industry-based R&D centers in the materials manufacturing sector. Thus, the repaired and upgraded high-vacuum, variable-temperature SPM will provide our highly-qualified personnel (HQP) with hands-on and essential experiential training in this highly marketable area of advanced materials characterization.