MRI: Acquisition of NanoFrazor for Nanofabrication of Advanced Nanomaterials with Ultimate Resolution and Flexibility

纳米技术的进步取决于制造、定位和互连纳米级结构的能力。纳米技术在广泛应用中的成功依赖于合适的纳米光刻和纳米图案化方法的存在。传统制造方法在分辨率、3D图案化以及缺乏柔性和新型材料方面的局限性激发了新方法的开发。这项重大研究仪器（MRI）奖支持收购NanoFrazor -一种用于快速制造纳米结构和纳米器件的独特工具，具有极高的分辨率和高通用性。使用该技术进行3D图案化的基础研究，具有低于10 nm的分辨率和高写入速度，有可能在纳米电子学，纳米磁性，纳米光子学，催化和生物医学中带来变革性的应用。NanoFrazor将被纽约（CUNY）和哥伦比亚的研究人员广泛使用，并将促进新的跨学科研究合作。 它位于纽约市立大学的高级科学研究中心，将为本科生和研究生提供研究和培训机会，其中许多人来自代表性不足或低收入家庭，并为公众提供实践活动。NanoFrazor是一款独特的工具，专为需要对非传统材料（包括聚合物、纳米管等一维材料、二维材料和蛋白质等生物分子）的任意纳米级几何形状进行形貌和化学图案化的研究人员开发。甚至3D纳米片也可以在一个步骤中制造，具有无与伦比的1 nm精度。进一步的特征包括无掩模图案化和无标记覆盖/拼接、闭环光刻的原位同时写入和成像、高速（mm/s）和大面积（104 cm 2）。NanoFrazor主要设计用于抗蚀剂的地形图案化，当抗蚀剂被热纳米尖端加热时会蒸发。然而，该MRI项目将在NanoFrazor中实施其他类型的热光刻方法，以扩展其功能。例如，该奖项将使最近的热化学纳米光刻（TCNL）方法，利用局部热量来改变表面的化学性质，在NanoFrazor中实施，以推进潜在的变革性基础研究（i）纳米图案化聚合物，以创建用于干细胞分化和神经科学研究的蛋白质的复杂图案和梯度，（ii）用于电子和光学应用的2D材料的受控纳米级掺杂，（iii）用于自旋电子学研究的磁畴图案化，以及（iv）用于单分子传感应用的纳米图案化纳米管。

Progress in nanotechnology depends on the capability to fabricate, position and interconnect nanoscale structures. The success of nanotechnology for a wide range of applications relies on the existence of suitable nanolithography and nanopatterning approaches. The limitations of conventional fabrication methods in terms of resolution, 3D patterning, and lack of flexibility for soft and novel materials have motivated the development of new methods. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a NanoFrazor --a unique tool for rapid-fabrication of nanostructures and nanodevices with extreme resolution and high versatility. Fundamental research using this technology for 3D patterning with sub-10 nm resolution and high writing speeds has the potential to bring transformative applications in nanoelectronics, nanomagnetism, nanophotonics, catalysis and biomedicine. The NanoFrazor will be broadly accessible to researchers at City University of New York (CUNY) and Columbia and will serve to catalyze new interdisciplinary research collaborations. Housed in CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center, it will provide research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom are from underrepresented or low-income families, and hands-on activities for the general public. The NanoFrazor is a unique tool developed for researchers who need access to topographical and chemical patterning of arbitrary nanoscale geometries of non-conventional materials including polymers, 1D materials such as nanotubes, 2D materials, and biomolecules such as proteins. Even 3D nanopatterns can be fabricated in a single step, with the unmatched precision of 1 nm. Further features include mask-less patterning and marker-free overlay/stitching, in-situ simultaneous writing and imaging for closed loop lithography, high speed (mm/s), and large areas (104 cm2). The NanoFrazor is primarily designed for topographical patterning of resists that evaporate when they are heated by the hot nanotip. However, this MRI project will implement in the NanoFrazor other types of thermal lithographic methods extending its capabilities. For example, this award will enable the recent thermochemical nanolithography (TCNL) method, which utilizes local heat to change the chemistry of surfaces, to be implemented in the NanoFrazor to advance potentially transformative fundamental research on (i) nanopatterning polymers to create complex patterns and gradients of proteins for stem cells differentiation and neuroscience studies, (ii) controlled nanoscale doping of 2D materials for electronics and optics applications, (iii) magnetic domains patterning for spintronics studies, and (iv) nanopatterning nanotubes for single molecule sensing applications.