Construction of Nanostructures by Electric Field and Local Heating

该研究利用界面动力学和近衬底电场在纳米尺度上操纵材料。将聚合物膜加热到玻璃化转变温度以上以获得足够的迁移率。聚合物-空气或聚合物-聚合物界面在基底电场下迁移，形成形态图案。通过调整场分布，动态创建、擦除或重新创建多种纳米结构。来自激光器的光将被用来以“点阵”方式产生局部加热，以形成纳米级特征。该研究将揭示纳米结构的形态和图案对工艺参数的依赖性。实验和计算相结合的工作将解决基本问题，如物质和界面与面内电场的相互作用，界面能量和输运性质，衬底效应，以及场频率/相位的影响。在纳米长度尺度上设计和构建有用结构的能力有望对未来产生巨大影响。一个主要的挑战是如何有效和经济地生产它们。拟议的研究允许以更轻松，灵活和更低的成本构建纳米结构和设备，这将有利于从有机存储设备，可重构传感器到医疗保健聚合物纳米图案化的广泛应用。这项研究还为学生提供了独特的教育机会。所获得的知识将被纳入纳米结构演化和模拟的研究生课程。本科生将通过设计课程和夏季研究机会计划获得宝贵的研究经验。

The research exploits interface dynamics and near-substrate electric field to manipulate materials at the nanoscale. Polymer films are heated to above the glass transition temperature to obtain enough mobility. The polymer-air or polymer-polymer interfaces migrate under the substrate electric field, forming morphological patterns. Diverse nanostructures are created, erased or recreated dynamically by adjusting the field distribution. Light from a laser will be utilized to produce local heating in a 'dot-matrix' fashion to pattern nanoscale features. The research will reveal the dependencies of the morphology and pattern of nanostructures on the processing parameters. The combined experimental and computational work will address fundamental issues such as the matter and interface interaction with in-plane electric field, interface energetics and transport properties, the substrate effect, and the influence of field frequency/phase.The ability of designing and constructing useful structures at the nanometer length scale promises to have a dramatic impact on the future. A main challenge has been to produce them efficiently and economically. The proposed research allows constructing nanostructures and devices with greater ease, flexibility and lower cost, which would benefit a wide range of applications from organic memory devices, reconfigurable sensors, to nanopatterning of polymers for healthcare. The research also provides unique educational opportunities for the students. The acquired knowledge will be incorporated into a graduate course on nanostructure evolution and simulation. Undergraduate students will gain valuable research experience through the design course and the summer research opportunity program.