MRI: Acquisition of an Electron-Beam Lithography Tool for Research, Education and Training

这一重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持收购最先进的电子束光刻(EBL)工具，以满足宾夕法尼亚大学及其位于大西洋中部地区的学术和工业邻国的纳米级研究和教学需求。EBL仪器使各种材料和设备能够在几十纳米的尺度上形成图案。这一先进仪器的能力是推进不同科学和工程学科前沿研究的核心，包括对电荷、自旋、光、热和运动行为的基础探索，以及在光子学和电子学、量子计算和通信、可穿戴和可植入健康监测、微观和宏观尺度能源技术以及化学/生物和运动传感中的应用。参与的教职员工在教育和外展活动中使用EBL系统，以扩大科学和工程领域代表性不足群体的参与。工程和科学学科的本科生和研究生将在纳米制造技术方面获得宝贵的研究经验和实用知识。该仪器安装在Quattrone纳米加工设施中，这是宾夕法尼亚大学辛格纳米技术中心内的一个多用户研究和培训设施，也是NSF国家纳米技术协调基础设施(NNCI)网站中大西洋中纳米技术中心(MANTH)的所在地。EBL系统配备了多遍曝光的动态时钟和高保真可编程写入顺序控制，使具有纳米级特征和所需复杂性的图案结构能够实现高吞吐量、高放置精度、高剂量分辨率精度。该仪器对于开发创新方法将材料构建成适用于广泛主题的体系结构至关重要：光子和等离子光发射器、拓扑光子和量子逻辑门，以及用于高容量信息传输和处理的集成光子学；具有奇异能带结构的量子材料，用于动态可调的电子、光电和传感器件；具有诱人的铁电、压电和热释电的氧化物和卤化物钙钛矿及其纳米级界面的操纵，以实现新颖的结构和物理性能；大型超轻、坚固的机械超材料；以及用于微纳米级机器人、谐振器和传感器的感兴趣的2D至3D可折叠结构。这项高影响力的研究的应用范围涵盖计算、通信、健康、食品-能源-水安全、国家安全和人机界面。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a state-of-the-art Electron-Beam Lithography (EBL) tool to meet the nanoscale research and teaching needs of the University of Pennsylvania and its academic and industrial neighbors in the Mid-Atlantic region. The EBL instrument enables a wide range of materials and devices to be patterned on the scale of tens of nanometers. The capabilities of this advanced instrument are central to advancing research at the forefront of diverse science and engineering disciplines, including the fundamental exploration of the behavior of charge, spin, light, heat, and motion with applications in photonics and electronics, quantum computation and communication, wearable and implantable health monitoring, micro- and macro-scale energy technologies, and chemo-/bio- and motion sensing. Participating faculty members use the EBL system in educational and outreach activities to broaden participation from underrepresented groups in science and engineering. Undergraduate and graduate students in the engineering and science disciplines will gain valuable research experience and practical knowledge in nanofabrication techniques. The instrument is housed in the Quattrone Nanofabrication Facility, a multi-user research and training facility within the Singh Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania and home to the Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Hub (MANTH), an NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) site. The EBL system is equipped with a dynamic clock for multipass exposure with high-fidelity programmable writing order control, which enables high-throughput, high placement accuracy, high-dose resolution accuracy to pattern structures with nanometer-scale features and desired complexity. The instrument is essential to developing innovative methods to structure materials into architectures for a broad range of topics: photonic and plasmonic light emitters, topological photonic and quantum logical gates, and integrated photonics for high capacity information transmission and processing; quantum materials with exotic band structures for dynamically tunable electronic, optoelectronic, and sensing devices; oxide and halide perovskites with intriguing ferro-, piezo-, and pyro-electricity and the manipulation of their nanoscale interfaces for novel structure and physical properties; large-scale ultralow weight, robust mechanical metamaterials; and 2D to 3D foldable structures of interest for micro- and nano-scale robots, resonators, and sensors. This high-impact research has applications that span computing, communication, health, food-energy-water security, national security, to human-machine interfaces.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.