MRI: Acquisition of a high-sensitivity low energy ion scattering (LEIS) spectrometer for research into the nature of functional surfaces and interfaces

CBET-0821206科勒哈伊大学在表面和界面的科学和技术研究方面有着悠久的研究和投资历史。这一努力，加上最近对先进材料和纳米技术的重大承诺，往往需要推动表面分析的前沿。在催化、传感器、燃料电池、微电子机械系统(MEMS)、涂层、附着力、自组装单分子膜(SAM)、膜和生物相容性等广泛应用中，需要对固体表面的表面层组成或单分子膜覆盖率进行准确、定量的了解，以设计先进的材料。这项提案寻求资金用于购买高灵敏度、低能量离子散射(HS-LEIS)光谱仪，以满足这些需求并进行新的研究。LEIS被认为是唯一一种对表面最外层、顶层进行定量元素分析的技术。这可以与提供近地表(顶端几纳米)信息的X射线光电子能谱(XPS或ESCA)进行比较。一种具有前所未有的性能的新仪器刚刚问世，它是ION-TOF的QTAC 100系统。具体地说，基于先进的Calipso技术的独特的双环静电能量分析仪提供了比传统离子散射光谱仪高3000倍的灵敏度。该光谱仪将被集成到一个系统中，以实现对表面光谱、表面成像和非破坏性深度剖面图的广泛研究。该系统还具有分析绝缘样品的卓越能力，并通过将快速样品导入、加载和样品传输系统完全集成到系统中，为许多用户提供服务。拟议活动的智力价值。使用这种新仪器进行的基础研究和开发活动将推动对涉及表面和界面的关键技术问题的理解极限。特别是，它将使以前无法获得的关于广泛实用材料最上层的元素组成的信息成为可能。例如，它将在利哈伊会议上关于“设计的活性界面”的紧急主题中发挥关键作用，其中活性界面是指当放置在活性环境中时经历动态分子和/或电子结构转换的表面相。目前正在进行三个方面的研究：多相催化、光学和生物传感器以及新功能玻璃。所要求的HS-LEIS系统可以分析范围广泛的样品，包括金属单晶、半导体晶片、粉末、绝缘体、玻璃、聚合物、生物材料和粗糙样品，并且可以在高温下进行分析。该仪器的巧妙设计还实现了极高分辨率(逐层)的深度分析、绝缘体的电荷补偿、受控环境中的样品加热以及二次电子成像。拟议活动产生的更广泛的影响。HS-LEIS仪器将是美国唯一的此类仪器，也将是世界上第一个专门致力于研究的仪器。这将为利哈伊的尖端研究提供机会，也将为更广泛的社区提供机会。利哈伊的先进材料和纳米技术中心(CAMN)运营和维护着表面分析设施和纳米表征实验室，前者拥有美国唯一的科学仪器ESCA 300仪器，后者拥有美国最大的电子显微镜学术收藏。这些设施每年都会吸引许多来自大学的本科生和研究生以及来自政府和工业实验室的研究人员、技术人员和工程师来到利哈伊。HS-LEIS系统将使这个庞大的社区能够使用这种最先进的设备并解决新的研究项目。此外，该仪器将向NSF国际材料研究所的国际参观者开放。它将立即用于路易斯安那大学的几门科学和工程课程，正在进行的REU项目，并将在一年一度的利哈伊显微镜学校展示。外展还将包括高中生参加一年一度的暑期材料夏令营，以及参加材料教学技术实验室的活动-由CAMN运营的K-12外展项目。

CBET-0821206KoelLehigh University has a long history of research and investment in studies of the science and technology of surfaces and interfaces. This effort, along with more recent major commitments to advanced materials and nanotechnology, has often necessitated pushing the frontiers of surface analysis. An accurate, quantitative knowledge of the surface layer composition or monolayer film coverage at a solid surface is required in a wide range of applications such as catalysis, sensors, fuel cells, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), coatings, adhesion, self-assembled monolayers (SAM), membranes, and biocompatibility to design advanced materials. This proposal seeks funds for acquisition of a high-sensitivity low energy ion scattering (HS-LEIS) spectrometer that will meet these needs and enable new research. LEIS is known as the only technique that provides quantitative elemental analysis of the outermost, top layer at surfaces. This can be compared to x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA) that furnishes near-surface (top few nm) information. A new instrument with unprecedented capability has just become available as the QTAC 100 system from ION-TOF. Specifically, a unique double toroidal electrostatic energy analyzer based on the advanced Calipso technology provides 3,000 times higher sensitivity than conventional ion scattering spectrometers. This spectrometer will be integrated into a system that will enable a wide range of studies of surface spectroscopy, surface imaging and non-destructive depth profiling. This system also has superior capabilities for analyzing insulating samples and for serving many users by incorporating a rapid sample introduction loadlock and sample transfer system fully integrated into the system. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity. The fundamental research and development activities performed by using this new instrument will push the limits of understanding of key technological problems involving surfaces and interfaces. In particular, it will enable previously unobtainable information about the elemental composition in the topmost surface layer of a wide range of practical materials. For example, it will play a key role in an emergent theme at Lehigh on "Designed Active Interfaces", where active interfaces refer to surface phases that undergo dynamic molecular and/or electronic structural transformations when placed in reactive environments. Research is proceeding in three thrusts: heterogeneous catalysis, optical and biosensors, and new functionality glasses. The requested HS-LEIS system can analyze a broad range of samples, including metal single crystals, semiconductor wafers, powders, insulators, glasses, polymers, biomaterials, and rough samples, and analysis can be carried out at high temperatures. Clever design of this instrument also enables depth analysis with extreme resolution (layer-by-layer) up to a depth of 10 nm, charge compensation for insulators, sample heating in controlled environments, and secondary electron imaging. Broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity. The HS-LEIS instrument will be the only one of its kind in the U.S., and it will be the first one in the world to be dedicated solely to research. This will provide opportunities in cutting-edge research at Lehigh, and also for a broader community. The Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (CAMN) at Lehigh operates and maintains the Surface Analysis Facility, which has the only Scienta ESCA 300 instrument in the U.S., and the Nanocharacterization Laboratory, with the largest academic collection of electron microscopes in the U.S. These facilities bring many undergraduate and graduate students from universities, along with researchers, technicians, and engineers from government and industrial laboratories to Lehigh each year. The HS-LEIS system will enable this large community to work with this state-of-the-art equipment and address new research projects. Also, the instrument will be available to international visitors to the NSF International Materials Institute. It will be utilized immediately in several science and engineering courses at LU, ongoing REU programs, and will be showcased at the annual Lehigh Microscopy School. Outreach will also include high school students participating in the annual summer Materials Camp, along with involvement in activities of the Materials Instructional Technology Lab - a K-12 outreach program run by CAMN.