Scanning Probe Microscopy for Materials Research

这个项目将推进原子力显微镜在材料研究方面的最先进水平。具体地说，建议设计和制造尺寸为2微米宽和4微米长的新悬臂梁，以及使用它们所需的新的原子力显微镜。这些新的悬臂将有可能为足够柔和的悬臂实现超过一兆赫兹的共振频率，以用于包括软生物材料在内的各种材料。这将需要0.1 N/m量级的弹性常数，这可以用50 nm厚的金属悬臂梁来实现。这些新的悬臂和原子力显微镜将用于成像单个蛋白质分子在生化反应过程中的运动，领先的生物材料产品如RNA。这个项目将推进原子力显微镜(AFM)的最先进技术。具体地说，提出了建造下一代原子力显微镜并展示其在材料研究方面的优势的工作。美国目前在商用原子力显微镜的生产方面处于世界领先地位。这一成功在一定程度上是基于以前NSF的支持，这些支持导致了作为当前一代AFM基础的原型。下一代原子力显微镜将使用不到目前所用尺寸十分之一的悬臂。这笔赠款将资助开发这些悬臂和使用它们的新型原子力显微镜的工作。这些新的原子力显微镜将比目前的原子力显微镜更快、更温和、分辨率更高。***

w:\awards\awards96\num.doc 9622169 Hansma This project will advance the state-of-the-art in Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM, for materials research. Specifically, work is proposed to design and fabricate new cantilevers down to the size range of 2 microns wide and 4 microns long together with the new AFMs that will be required to use them. These new cantilevers will make it possible to achieve resonant frequencies of over a mega-Hertz for cantilevers gentle enough to use on a wide range of materials including soft biomaterials. This will require spring constants of order 0.1 N/m, which can be achieved with metallic cantilevers of order 50 nm thick. These new cantilevers and AFMs will be used for imaging the motion of individual protein molecules during the process of biochemical reaction leading biomaterial products such as RNA. %%% This project will advance the state-of-the-art in Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM. Specifically, work is proposed to build the next generation of AFMs and to demonstrate their advantages for materials research. The United States currently leads the world in the production of commercial AFMs. This success is based, in part, on previous NSF support, which lead to prototypes that are the basis of that current generation of AFMs. The next generation of AFMs will use cantilevers that are less than one-tenth the size used currently. This grant will fund work on the development of both these cantilevers and the new AFMs to use them. These new AFMs will be faster, gentler and have higher resolution than current AFMs. ***