Aquisition of a Dual-Beam Focused Ion Beam System

该补助金支持在约翰霍普金斯大学为先进材料和生物科学的纳米科学研究购买双束聚焦离子束（FIB）处理系统。FIB系统使用精细聚焦的高能离子束，以纳米精度从目标上选择性地去除材料，其功能相当于“纳米级铣床”。“FIB还可以通过气态前体的局部刺激来执行特征尺寸低至30纳米的材料的纳米沉积。FIB器件已经在半导体工业中用于集成电路的制造后修复、修改和质量控制分析大约十年。然而，这些系统也有很大的实用性，为基础研究，特别是纳米结构和设备的制造，不能由传统的微光刻技术。获得FIB系统将使新的研究方向能够跨越广泛的范围，包括：（一）研究“自旋电子学”的新材料和器件，“自旋电子学”是一种潜在的新型微电路，利用自旋电流和传统电流来携带和存储信息;（二）开发新的纳米结构制造的模板掩模方法;（iii）研究大分子的电子输运性质;（iv）制造用于原子力和磁力显微镜的高性能杠杆，特别有可能应用于生物科学;（v）与组织工程有关的纳米工程表面上细胞粘附和生长机制的基础研究;（vi）材料表面动力学的基础研究;和（vii）用于纳米结构器件、地质材料和生物矿化的高分辨率透射电子显微镜研究的特定地点样品制备。除了一次离子束，双束仪器将有一个电子束的高分辨率扫描电子显微镜的样品在FIB室。这将允许对FIB产生的敏感纳米级特征进行无损成像和分析。该系统还将配备用于纳米沉积、自动TEM样品制备和原位电学测量的设备，用于纳米器件的制造分析和性能测量。新的FIB仪器将大大提高参与研究的几名博士后研究员和20名研究生的研究培训。由于该工具将提供给更广泛的约翰霍普金斯研究界，其对研究培训的影响预计将随着时间的推移而增长。该仪器将被纳入本科课程，并纳入广泛的教育推广计划，重点是材料研究，已经在约翰霍普金斯高中学生，高中教师和本科生。所有这些计划都在接触传统上代表性不足的群体方面取得了相当大的成功，并且使用FIB系统将提供的最先进仪器的机会增加，将进一步实现这些计划的目标，即培养更多样化和更有才华的科学劳动力。

This grant supports the acquisition of a dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB) processing system for nanoscience research in advanced materials and in the biosciences at Johns Hopkins University. A FIB system uses a finely focused beam of high-energy ions to selectively remove material from a target with nanometer precision, functioning as a "nano-scale milling machine." A FIB can also perform nanodeposition of materials with feature sizes down to 30 nanometers by local stimulation of gaseous precursors. FIB devices have been used in the semiconductor industry for approximately a decade for post-fabrication repairs, modification, and quality control analysis of integrated circuits. However, these systems also have great utility for basic research, particularly for the fabrication of nanostructures and devices that cannot be made by conventional microlithographic techniques. New research directions that acquisition of the FIB system will enable span a wide range and include (i) the study of new materials and devices for "spintronics," a potential new class of microcircuitry that employs spin currents as well as conventional electrical currents to carry and store information; (ii) the development of new stencil mask methods of nanostructure fabrication; (iii) studies of electronic transport properties of macromolecules; (iv) fabrication of high performance cantilevers for atomic force and magnetic force microscopy, with particular potential for applications in the biosciences; (v) fundamental studies of the mechanisms of cell adhesion and growth on nanoengineered surfaces, with relevance for tissue engineering; (vi) fundamental studies of the dynamics of materials' surfaces; and (vii) site-specific sample preparation for high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies of nanostructured devices, geological materials, and biomineralization. In addition to the primary ion beam, the dual beam instrument will have an electron beam for high-resolution scanning electron microscopy of samples in the FIB chamber. This will allow non-destructive imaging and analysis of sensitive nanoscale features produced by the FIB. The system will also be equipped for nanodeposition, automated TEM sample preparation, and in-situ electrical measurements for fabrication analysis and measurements of the properties of nanoscale devices.The new FIB instrument will greatly enhance the research training of several postdoctoral fellows and twenty graduate students involved in the research. As the instrument will be made available to the broader Johns Hopkins research community, its impact on research training is expected to grow with time. The instrument will be integrated into undergraduate courses, and into the extensive Education Outreach Programs focusing on materials research that are already in place at Johns Hopkins for high school students, high school teachers, and undergraduates. All of these programs have had considerable success in reaching traditionally underrepresented groups, and the increased opportunity to use state-of-the art instrumentation that this FIB system will provide will further these programs' goals of developing a more diverse and talented scientific workforce.