SBIR Phase II: Spectroscopy and imaging of irregular surfaces using confocal microscopy

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力？是吗？开发便携式、具有成本效益的共聚焦显微镜，该显微镜可对表面进行轮廓分析，获得光谱，并可为整个研究和工业市场的用户立即识别成分、杂质和形态。该系统将对62亿美元的显微镜市场产生重大影响，短期商业潜力超过5%的市场和显著的增长潜力。该技术将满足材料科学和其他研究实验室、制造质量控制和供应链监控的需求，从而产生积极的经济影响。将地形测绘与一套不同的光谱工具相结合，可以在非常小的尺度上进行全面的材料分析。用户将能够识别电子，光电和结构设备，以及涂层，管道，设备，磁盘和专业镜子的特征和缺陷。社会影响包括部件和系统的设计和制造的改进。由于其紧凑的尺寸和低成本，显微镜可用于教育机构，为学生提供测量复杂物体特性的经验，并帮助他们为各种研究，开发和生产环境的职业生涯做好准备。拟议的项目将把光谱共焦光学轮廓显微镜从实验室工作台转化为具有市场就绪功能和性能的原型。研制的显微镜将使光谱和表面分析的地形复杂的结构。关键的创新是将精密表面轮廓与多种光谱询问方法相结合。用户将捕获不规则表面的精确地形图，并使用它们来提取空间上精确的光谱和成像信息。这种方法将使聚焦，衍射限制的光致发光和拉曼地图为广泛的材料。研究目标包括（1）光学轮廓与光谱扫描的集成，（2）根据客户反馈优化硬件，（3）开发采集和分析软件。成功完成这些目标将产生一种便携式仪器，可以在几分钟内捕获具有数万个样品点的样品的表面形貌和光谱信息，具有10-50纳米的垂直精度和衍射-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估来支持。影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project?is?the development of a portable, cost-effective confocal microscope that profiles surfaces, obtains spectra, and enables immediate identification of composition, impurities, and morphology for users throughout the research and industrial markets.??The system will make a major impact in the $6.2B microscope market, with a near-term commercial potential of over 5% of the market and significant growth potential. This technology will address the needs of materials science and other research laboratories, quality control in manufacturing, and supply chain monitoring, thereby providing a positive economic impact. Integration of topographic mapping with a diverse set of spectroscopic tools enables comprehensive materials analysis at very small scales. Users will be able to identify features and defects in electronic, optoelectronic, and structural devices, as well as coatings, tubing, devices, disks, and specialty mirrors. Societal impacts include improvements in the design and manufacture of components and systems.?Because of its compact size and low cost, the microscope can be used in educational institutions, providing students with experience in measuring properties of complex objects and helping prepare them for careers in various research, development, and production settings.?The proposed project will translate spectroscopic confocal optical profile microscopy from the lab bench to prototypes with market-ready features and performance. The developed microscopes will enable spectroscopic and surface analysis of topographically complex structures.?The key innovation is the integration of precision surface profiling with multiple spectroscopic interrogation methods.??Users will capture accurate topographic maps of irregular surfaces and use them to extract spatially accurate spectroscopic and imaging information.??This approach will enable in-focus, diffraction-limited photoluminescence and Raman maps for a broad range of materials.??Research objectives include (1) integration of optical profiling with spectroscopic scanning, (2) optimization of hardware based on customer feedback, and (3) development of acquisition and analysis software.??Successful completion of these objectives will result in a portable instrument that can capture the surface topography and spectral information of a sample with tens of thousands of sample points in a few minutes, with 10-50 nanometer vertical precision and diffraction-limited spatial resolution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.