CAREER: Scalable Maskless Patterning of Nanostructures Using High-Speed Scanning Probe Arrays

这项学院早期职业发展(Career)补助金将研究一种以高速和低成本执行纳米级图案化的新工艺。纳米级图案化是确定关键尺寸和几何形状的关键过程，主要用于制造重要的半导体产品，如微处理器和数据存储设备。许多研究表明，纳米级图案有可能彻底改变我们日常生活中使用的各种产品的功能。然而，大规模生产这些设备的工具通常每个成本数千万美元，只有老牌半导体行业才能负担得起。该奖项支持基础研究，为开发新的低成本纳米级图案化工艺提供所需的知识，这将使大规模生产用于能源、医疗保健、民用、国防和安全等各种应用的新型纳米技术产品成为可能。该方法名义上被称为“飞行图案”，包括高速扫描一组电或光探头，以在衬底上形成各种几何形状的纳米结构。这项研究的结果将在许多应用中为未开发的微小长度尺度提供经济途径，对美国经济和社会产生重大影响。这项研究涉及多个学科，包括制造、光学、化学和材料科学。该奖项将创造一个多学科的环境，帮助未被充分代表的群体更广泛地参与研究，并对工程教育产生积极影响。使用扫描探头的纳米制造已经随着不同的技术和不同程度的成熟而激增。高速扫描探头阵列的能力可以将基于扫描探头的技术的独特优势转化为可扩展的纳米制造技术。然而，要实现这一转变，还需要克服几个基本和技术障碍，包括绕过光学衍射限制、快速扫描探头阵列和在高功率下运行探头。其中一些障碍也是其他纳米级图案化工艺所共有的，因为它们需要通过在高速和高功率下利用大量并行图案化设备来克服其吞吐量瓶颈。本研究旨在填补利用高速探头阵列产生纳米图形的机理方面的知识空白。光学耦合原理利用失配的表面等离子体和避雷针效应在纳米尺度上实现有效的能量集中。研究团队将进行综合的数值和实验研究，以了解纳米级强能量输入驱动的微观机制，设计并实现用于高通量和高分辨率图案的探针阵列的高速扫描，并展示这一新工艺用于目标应用的可行性和兼容性。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant will investigate a novel process to perform nanoscale patterning at high speed and low cost. Nanoscale patterning is the key process of defining critical dimensions and geometries mainly used to manufacture important semiconductor products such as microprocessors and data storage devices. Many studies have shown that nanoscale patterning has the potential to revolutionize the functions of a broad range of products that we use in our daily lives. However tools for mass production of these devices usually cost tens of millions of U.S. dollars each and are affordable only to the established semiconductor industry. This award supports fundamental research to provide needed knowledge for the development of a new low-cost process for nanoscale patterning, which will enable mass production of new kinds of nanotechnology-enabled products for a wide variety of applications in energy, healthcare, civil, defense and security. Nominally called "pattern-on-the-fly", the method involves scanning an array of electrical or optical probes at high speed to form nanostructures of various geometries on a substrate. The results of this research will provide economical access to untapped tiny length scales in many applications with significant impacts on U.S. economy and society. This research involves several disciplines including manufacturing, optics, chemistry, and materials science. This award will create a multi-disciplinary environment to help broaden participation of underrepresented groups in research and positively impact engineering education.Nanoscale fabrication using scanning probes has proliferated with diverse techniques and varying degrees of maturity. The capability of scanning probe arrays at high speed can transform the unique strength of scanning probe-based techniques into a scalable nanomanufacturing technology. However, several fundamental and technical barriers are yet to be overcome to achieve this transformation, including circumventing the optical diffraction limit, fast scanning of probe arrays and operating of probes at high power. Some of the barriers are also common to other nanoscale patterning processes as they need to overcome their throughput bottlenecks by utilizing a massive number of parallel patterning devices at high speed and high power. This research is to fill the knowledge gap on the mechanisms of nanoscale pattern generation using high-speed probe arrays. The optical coupling principle uses mismatched surface plasmons and lightning-rod effects to achieve efficient energy concentration at nanoscale. The research team will perform integrated numerical and experimental studies to understand the microscopic mechanisms driven by strong energy input at nanoscale, design and implement the high-speed scanning of probe arrays for high throughput and fine resolution patterning, and demonstrate the feasibility and compatibility of this new process for targeted applications.