Collaborative Research: Wafer-Scale, Defect-Free Assembly of Three-Dimensional Plasmonic Nanoarchitectures

该补助金支持在光操纵应用中制造三维功能纳米结构方面贡献基础新知识的研究，从而促进等离子体和先进制造领域的基础科学和技术。通过三维等离子体纳米结构的周期性图案对光的引导操纵提供了以传统光学无法获得的方式利用光的显著机会。然而，它的实际实施仍然受到传统制造工艺的低产率，耗时和有限的可扩展性的挑战，这些工艺在很大程度上依赖于纳米光刻的使用。本研究以三维纳米组装技术为基础，探讨一种新的奈米制造制程，以制造电浆子奈米架构。三维纳米结构与不同衬底的集成越来越多地被用于成像器、传感器和激光器的广泛应用，这极大地造福于美国经济和社会。该项目是多学科的，涉及机械，光学和先进的纳米制造。它为本科生和研究生提供了极好的教育机会，并培养了妇女和代表性不足的少数群体对科学和工程的兴趣。三维（3D）等离子体纳米结构的制造很大程度上依赖于常规纳米光刻技术的利用，所述常规纳米光刻技术涉及使用电子束、聚焦离子束或束干涉。然而，在采用这些常规技术用于包括柔性或弯曲表面的各种衬底时存在重大挑战，特别是因为它们主要被设计成在热或化学后处理的辅助下在辐射敏感材料的平坦表面上形成纳米粒子。这项研究旨在开发一种新的纳米制造技术，该技术可以在合适的接收器衬底上实现3D等离子体纳米结构的确定性组装，从而允许供体晶片重复使用以节省成本。该方法涉及在环境条件下使用水，而不需要额外的化学、热或机械处理，从而基本上将接收器基底的类型扩展到任意材料。合作研究涉及实验，以阐明关键控制参数和支持多尺度/多物理场计算建模支持的固液相互作用，以预测制造工艺参数及其控制，并集成原子模拟。3D等离子体纳米架构与混合像素成像器集成，以展示其检测功能的增强。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This grant supports research that contributes fundamental new knowledge in the manufacturing of three-dimensional functional nanoarchitectures with applications in light manipulation, thus promoting basic science and technology in the fields of plasmonics and advanced manufacturing. Guided manipulation of light through periodic patterns of three-dimensional plasmonic nanoarchitectures provides remarkable opportunities to harness light in a way that cannot be obtained with conventional optics. However, its practical implementation remains challenged by the low-yield, time-consuming, and limited scalability of conventional fabrication processes that largely rely on the use of nanolithography. This research studies a new nanomanufacturing process based on three-dimensional nanoassembly to fabricate the plasmonic nanoarchitectures. The integration of three-dimensional nanoarchitectures with diverse substrates is increasingly preferred for broad applications in imagers, sensors and lasers, which greatly benefits the U.S. economy and society. The project is multidisciplinary and involves mechanics, optics and advanced nanomanufacturing. It provides excellent educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and fosters interest in science and engineering in women and under-represented minority groups. The fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanoarchitectures largely relies upon the utilization of conventional nanolithography techniques that involve the use of either electron-beam, focused ion-beam, or beam interference. However, significant challenges exist in adopting these conventional techniques for diverse substrates including flexible or curved surfaces, especially, since they are principally designed to form nanopatterns on the flat surface of radiation-sensitive materials with the assistance of thermal or chemical post-treatments. This research is to develop a new nanomanufacturing technique that achieves deterministic assembly of 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures on suitable receiver substrates in a way that allows the donor wafer to be reused for cost-savings. The process involves the use of water under ambient conditions without additional need of chemical, thermal or mechanical treatments, thereby substantially extending the type of receiver substrate to arbitrary materials. The collaborative research involves experiments to elucidate critical controlling parameters and underpinning solid-liquid interactions supported by multiscale/multiphysics computation modelling to predict manufacturing process parameters and their control with integration of atomistic simulation. The 3D plasmonic nanoarchitectures are integrated with hybrid pixel imagers to demonstrate the enhancement of their detection functionalities.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.