MRI: Acquisition of Advanced Electron Beam Lithography System for Nanotechnology

0216248 Tiwari纳米技术的研究在很大程度上依赖于PI在纳米尺度上形成结构图案的能力。 电子束光刻是使这种图案化成为可能的主要工具，用于各种各样的项目。 这种能力的获得和可用性对于国家纳米技术倡议的成功至关重要。 该MRI提案旨在为收购先进的热场发射电子束光刻系统提供资金，以升级康奈尔纳米工厂（CNF）的纳米光刻能力。 这将使CNF能够继续为全国规模庞大且快速增长的纳米科学研究人员社区提供最先进的纳米光刻能力，与国家纳米制造用户网络（NNUN）的现有能力相比，速度，分辨率和位置都有所提高。 2001年，该网络为大约1800名用户提供服务，其中约600人来自康奈尔大学。这项提议是在一个关键时刻提出的，因为目前CNF中两个充分利用的电子束光刻系统之一，一个有15年历史的剑桥仪器EBMF系统，已经不再得到制造商的支持，不符合新的纳米科学项目的要求。光束光刻仪器是一项重大投资，只有大量用户需求加上实现这一目标所需的基础设施才能证明其合理性。快速、高效、可靠地满足需求。CNF为来自全国各地的大量不断增长的用户提供创新项目。 它拥有必要的员工，软件和硬件基础设施，以常规实现最先进的纳米光刻，并使用集成处理将图案化结构转换为感兴趣的设备和系统。 CNF在过去25年中提供了强有力的用户支持，大量的专业知识和有效维护的国家社区资源。 去年，超过130名研究人员使用了PI的电子束工具。不支持EBMF的系统现在已经超过了它的使用寿命。保守估计，机器的严重故障和丢失将使新用户的延迟从六周增加到六个月。与此同时，国家纳米技术计划正在增加国家对10-100 nm范围内电子束光刻的需求，超出了EBMF系统的能力。CNF是全国为数不多的既提供开放获取，又提供成功的纳米纤维解决方案的机构之一。 购买的机器将在Leica GB 6和JEOL 9300之间进行选择，最终决定取决于选择时机器的能力。选择将基于可用的资金，系统的可靠性，系统的速度，软件对研究项目的可用性，分辨率和提供的字段大小，以及制造商快速可靠地维护机器的能力，以满足规格并最大限度地降低成本。CNF的研究人员作为设备的用户得到了非常强的实践培训。 这使工作人员能够同时处理多个项目，并为新用户和没有经验的用户提供特别支持。 CNF的这种实际重点反映在全国各地（工业界和学术界）的大量电子束光刻专家中，他们通过康奈尔大学获得了他们的主要经验。 除了这个研究生的研究重点，PI同样成功地在教育和推广工作，在本科层次和对代表性不足的群体，通过整合他们的研究和教育工作。为了解决代表性不足的纳米技术专家的国家资源需求，他们将补充他们的其他努力与一个计划，将确定和支持每年从霍华德大学的五个研究生研究人员的研究，通过培训和使用拟议的电子束光刻系统。

0216248TiwariResearch in nanotechnology is strongly dependent on the PIs' ability to pattern structures at the nano-scale. Electron-beam lithography is the leading tool that makes such patterning possible for a vast variety of projects. Access and availability of this capability is critical to the success of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. This MRI proposal seeks funding for the acquisition of an advanced thermal-field-emission electron-beam lithography system to upgrade the nanolithography capabilities of Cornell Nanofabrication Facility (CNF). This will allow CNF to continue to provide state-of-the-art nanolithography capabilities to the nation's large and rapidly growing community of nanoscience researchers, with improved speed, resolution and placement compared to the existing capabilities in the National Nanofabrication Users Network (NNUN). In 2001, this network served about 1800 users, with ~600 coming to Cornell. This proposal comes at a critical time because one of the two fully-utilized e-beam lithography systems currently in the CNF, a 15-year old Cambridge Instruments EBMF system, has ceased to be supported by the manufacturer and does not meet the requirements of new nanoscience projects.A new E-Beam lithography instrument is a major investment that can only be justified by a large user demand coupled with the infrastructure necessary to fulfill that demand quickly, efficiently and reliably. CNF serves a large and growing group of users with innovative projects from across the nation. It has the necessary staff, software, and hardware infrastructure to routinely achieve state-of-the-art nanolithography, and to transform the patterned structures into devices and systems of interest using integrated processing. CNF has a proven track record over the last 25 years of providing strong user support, a critical mass of expertise, and an effectively maintained resource to the national community. Over 130 researchers used the PIs' e-beam tools last year. The manufacturer-unsupported EBMF system is now beyond its lifetime. A critical failure and loss of the machine is conservatively expected to increase the delay for new users from a period of six weeks to six months. At the same time, the National Nanotechnology Initiative is increasing the nation's demand for e-beam lithography in the 10-100 nm range beyond the capabilities of the EBMF system. CNF is one of the very few institutions throughout the nation that both provides open access and has a record of providing successful nanofabrication solutions. The machine to be purchased will be a choice between Leica GB6 and JEOL 9300, with the final decision to be determined by the capabilities of the machines at the time of the selection. The selection will be based on funds available, reliability of the system, speed of the system, the usability of the software for research projects, the resolution and field-size afforded, and the ability of the manufacturer to service the machine rapidly and reliably, to meet the specifications and to minimize the costs.Researchers at CNF get very strong hands-on training as users of the facility. This allows the staff to work on multiple projects simultaneously and to lend special support to new and inexperienced users. This practical emphasis at CNF is reflected in the large number of electron-beam lithography experts throughout the nation (in industry and in academia) who obtained their major experience through Cornell. In addition to this graduate research emphasis, the PIs have similarly been successful in educational and outreach efforts at the undergraduate level and towards under-represented groups by integrating their research and educational efforts. To address the national resource need of under-represented nanotechnology experts, they will complement their other effort with a program that will identify and support the research of five graduate researchers per year from Howard University through the training and use of the proposed electron-beam lithography system.