Tip-based Nanochemistry for Printing Soft Materials

集成电路的普遍应用表明，工业有能力制造半导体、金属和绝缘体的超高分辨率排列。然而，在用于图案化这些种类的硬材料的方法与用于图案化诸如化学品、聚合物或生物材料的软材料的方法之间存在巨大的脱节。如果能够以与硬材料相同的可靠性和分辨率对软材料进行图案化，则将能够制造无数结构和设备，包括具有多路复用生物传感器阵列的电子器件或用于可拉伸电子器件中的应用的纳米级有机电子器件。 虽然增材制造策略在宏观尺度上非常有用，但这些方法在纳米尺度上对软材料进行图案化时尚未实现制造级再现性。该奖项将通过提供实现具有行业要求的可靠性和纳米级分辨率的图案化所需的工具和理解，实现软材料的纳米级制造。这项跨学科的工作跨越流体力学，控制理论和纳米科学，并有助于工程专业学生的本科和研究生水平的教育。此外，这项工作为来自广泛背景的学生提供了机会，使他们能够以以前无法达到的规模设计材料并与之互动。这项研究工作的主要目标是发展的基础和技术基础，过渡到一个制造工具的软材料的尖端为基础的纳米图案。这种方法是基于材料从油墨涂覆的扫描探针到表面的转移。尽管经过了十多年的研究，但再现性和可控性仍然是在制造环境中采用该技术的关键障碍。这项研究工作解决了一些以前没有受到关注的处理问题。它研究和开发新的方法，例如，一种用于精确监控探针上的油墨量的方法，一种允许人们用同一探针进行图案化和成像的油墨配方，以及一种用于在图案化期间监控和控制油墨中试剂浓度的程序。同样重要的是，这些研究旨在更深入地了解图案化过程，并回答有关违反连续统假设的系统中纳米级毛细作用和统计力学的悬而未决的问题。此外，这些新方法与先进的图案化模型相结合，形成一个自动化的闭环反馈系统，迭代地提高原位图案化的质量。

The ubiquitous utilization of integrated circuits shows that industry is exceptionally capable of manufacturing ultra-high resolution arrangements of semiconductors, metals and insulators. However, there is a vast disconnect between the methods for patterning these sorts of hard materials and those that exist for patterning soft materials such as chemicals, polymers or biological materials. If it were possible to pattern soft materials with the same reliability and resolution as hard materials, it would enable the manufacture of myriad structures and devices including electronics with multiplexed biosensor arrays or nanoscale organic electronic devices for applications in stretchable electronics. While additive manufacturing strategies are very useful at the macroscopic scale, these approaches have not achieved manufacturing-level reproducibility when patterning soft materials at the nanoscale. This award will enable nanoscale manufacturing of soft materials by providing the tools and understanding needed to realize patterning with industry-required reliably and nanoscale resolution. This interdisciplinary work spans fluid mechanics, control theory, and nanoscience and contributes to the undergraduate and graduate level education of engineering students. Furthermore, this work provides opportunities for students from broad backgrounds to design and interact with materials at previously inaccessible scales. The main goal of this research work is to develop the fundamental and technological foundation to transition tip-based nanopatterning of soft materials into a manufacturing tool. This approach is based on the transfer of material from an ink-coated scanning probe to a surface. Despite over a decade of research, reproducibility and controllability have remained key barriers for the adoption of this technique in a manufacturing setting. This research work addresses a number of processing issues that have not previously received attention. It investigates and develops novel approaches, e.g., a method for precisely monitoring the quantity of ink that is on a probe, an ink formulation that allows one to pattern and image with the same probe, and a procedure for monitoring and controlling the concentration of reagents in the ink during patterning. Equally important, these studies are designed to provide deeper insight into the patterning process and answer open questions about nanoscale capillarity and statistical mechanics in systems that violate the continuum hypothesis. Additionally, these new approaches are combined with advanced models of patterning to form an automated closed-loop feedback system that iteratively improves the quality of patterning in situ.