SBIR Phase I: Integrated Thermal Scanning Probe Development

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发具有锋利尖端的高分辨率热探头，集成有高灵敏度热传感元件，能够实现非常高的横向热分辨率（20 nm），用于扫描热显微镜。 这些尖端将用于各种应用中，例如映射记录头上的热效应，用于涉及利用集成激光脉冲的记录技术的应用，以及用于小的软和/或自组装结构的热映射。 20 nm分辨率的热成像将在分子自组装和软材料的成像中产生范式转变。其核心知识优势包括使用可扩展的半导体加工技术创建热传感器纳米纤维工艺，以最大限度地降低制造成本并确保可重复性和再现性。 探头的设计将最大限度地提高从样品到尖锐探头的热流，并最大限度地减少从样品到悬臂的背景热流，以实现高空间分辨率。 传感元件的位置、尺寸和材料将被设计为实现高灵敏度。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是一套新的产品，将取代目前的热探针解决方案，并显着增加纳米热产品的市场潜力。 这些新产品将对半导体和磁记录等行业产生重大影响，并将影响新兴的纳米技术领域。 这项创新将大大有助于在目前尚未解决的领域产生新的研究和应用。 将纳米电子学与生物分子自组装结构相结合的新努力将得到高分辨率热导率和温度映射能力的帮助。 此外，具有高空间分辨率和灵敏度的热特性测量是一个重大挑战，但越来越需要在半导体和数据存储行业的过程监控，材料表征和故障分析，以及在纳米技术的科学研究。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop high resolution thermal probes with sharp tips, integrated with highly sensitive thermal sensing elements that are capable of achieving very high lateral thermal resolution ( 20 nm) for scanning thermal microscopy. These tips will be used in various applications, such as mapping thermal effects on recording heads, for applications involving recording technologies which utilize integrated laser pulsing, and for thermal mapping of small soft and/or self-assembled structures. Thermal mapping with 20 nm resolution will create paradigm shifts in mapping molecular self-assembly and soft materials. The core intellectual merits include the creation of thermal sensor nanofabrication processes using scalable semiconductor processing techniques to minimize the cost of manufacturing and ensure repeatability and reproducibility. The probe will be designed to maximize the heat flow from the sample to the sharp probe and to minimize the background heat flow from the sample to the cantilever to achieve high spatial resolution. The position, size, and material of the sensing element will be designed to achieve high sensitivity.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be a new suite of products which will replace current thermal probe solutions and significantly increase the market potential of nano-thermal products. These new products will have significant impacts in industries such as semiconductors and magnetic recording, and will impact the emerging field of nanotechnology. The innovation will significantly help generate new research and applications in areas that are not currently being addressed. New efforts to integrate nanoelectronics with biomolecular self-assembled structures will be aided by the ability to map thermal conductivity and temperature with high resolution. Moreover, the measurement of thermal properties with high spatial resolution and sensitivity is a significant challenge but increasingly needed for process monitoring, material characterization, and failure analysis in the semiconductor and data storage industries, as well as for scientific research in nanotechnology.