Nanomanufacturing Process and Applications Based on Dynamic Nano-Inscribing

本项目的研究目标是研究新的纳米制造技术。光电子、照明、太阳能电池和生物工业对纳米结构的需求日益增长，刺激了许多新兴的纳米图案化技术。然而，对于这些大面积的应用，大多数技术不能提供足够的吞吐量，并且呈现出高昂的成本。这个项目是研究新的纳米制造技术，直接在各种特征尺寸降至50纳米以下的金属或聚合物材料中创建连续的微到纳米图案。第一种被称为动态纳米刻写，在常温环境下高速进行，或在几十微秒量级的非常短的加热时间内进行，可以将对热敏材料的潜在损害降至最低。第二种技术是基于最近的一项发现，即当被平坦的解理边刻写时，在金属薄膜覆盖的聚合物层上产生从纳米到微米的周期性结构。这项研究将从理论上理解这些技术的影响，并探索这些技术在光电子学和纳米光子学领域的应用。这些技术将以前所未有的速度进行纳米修饰。这项研究将通过整合教育和宣传部分得到加强，其中包括为不同层次的学生和几个代表性不足的群体(妇女、非裔美国人等)创造一个多学科(材料科学、机械工程、光学科学、电气工程)的科学学习环境；将研究成果纳入纳米制造课程。尤其重要的是，拟议中的技术可能在未来产生商业影响。

The research objective of this project is to investigate new nanofabrication techniques. The increasing demands for nanoscale structures in photonics, lighting, solar cells and bio-industries have stimulated many emerging technologies for nanoscale patterning. However most of the techniques cannot offer sufficient throughput and present high cost for these large area applications. This project is to investigate new nanofabrication techniques for directly creating continuous micro- to nano- patterns in a variety of metal or polymer materials with feature size down to sub-50 nm. The first one is termed dynamic nano-inscribing performed at high speed at ambient environment or with a very brief heating time on the order of tens microseconds, which can minimize potential damage to thermo-sensitive materials. The second technique is based on a recent finding of generation of periodic structures from nano- to microscale on a thin metal film coated polymer layer when inscribed by a flat cleaved edge. The research will develop theoretical understanding of the effects and explore applications of these techniques in the area of optoelectronics and nanophotonics.These techniques will aim at an unprecedented speed for nanopatterning. This research will be enhanced by the integration of the education and outreach component which includes the creation of a multidisciplinary (materials science, mechanical engineering, optical science, electrical engineering) scientific learning environment for students at a variety of levels and from several underrepresented groups (women, African-Americans, etc); and incorporation of research results into a course on nanofabrication. Of particular importance is the potential for the proposed technology to have commercial impact in the future.