Novel Instrumentation for High-Speed AFM-based Nano Machining

发展新颖的、颠覆性的纳米制造技术是一个非常重要的研究领域。尽管真空和基于掩模的光刻技术已经在工业上用于半导体器件和衍生的纳米机电系统(NEMS)组件的纳米级制造，但它们仍然有许多与之相关的限制。特别是，这些制造技术依赖于资本密集型设备，同时被限制在平面特征的制造和有限的加工材料集上。此外，由于它们是能源和资源密集型的，并且会产生大量的废物，人们对它们的环境友好性也越来越关注。在此背景下，本提案将重点发展基于纳米级高速原子力显微镜探头的机械加工。该工艺代表了一种替代和创新的解决方案，可以潜在地解决在各种材料中生产纳米结构部件缺乏成本效益、三维和更环保的制造技术的问题。然而，为了充分发挥原子力显微镜探头加工的潜力，仍然需要改变其生产能力。为此，本项目提出的研究旨在开发一种新的驱动装置，该装置可以很容易地安装在商用AFM仪器上，以便在进行基于尖端的加工操作时达到未开发的处理速度。这种新的驱动装置将依赖于压电式执行器，将被固定在原子力显微镜的工作台上，并将被用来产生加工样品相对于原子力显微镜探头尖端的快速旋转位移。我们的愿景是通过使目前的AFM系统能够以比该领域最先进的技术快1000倍的切割速度执行纳米级材料去除操作来增强它们的能力。特别是，开发的设置将被设计为能够达到从几米/分钟到几百米/分钟的切割速度。这一新机构的发展设想有两个主要优势。首先，它将为用于纳米制造的真空和基于掩模的光刻技术提供一种成本效益和环境友好的替代技术。其次，由于原子力显微镜在研究实验室中普遍存在，这将有助于扩大具有内部制造能力的用户基础，用于纳米加工亚微米结构的部件。

The development of novel and disruptive nano-scale manufacturing technologies is a research area of high importance. Although vacuum and mask-based lithography techniques are already employed in industry for nano-scale manufacturing of semi-conductor devices and the derived nano electro mechanical systems (NEMS) components, they still have a number of limitations associated with them. In particular, these fabrication technologies rely on capital-intensive equipment while being restricted to the fabrication of planar features and constrained to a limited set of processed materials. Besides, there are also increased concerns over their environmental friendliness as they are energy and resource intensive and generate significant waste. In this context, this proposal will focus on the development of high-speed AFM probe-based mechanical machining at nano scale. The process represents an alternative and innovative solution that can potentially address the lack of cost effective, 3 dimensional and more environmentally friendly fabrication technologies for producing nano-structured components in a wide range of materials. However, to fully realise the potential of AFM probe-based machining, a step-change in its throughput is still required. For this reason, the research put forward in this project aims to develop a new actuation device that could be readily fitted on commercial AFM instruments to reach untapped processing speeds when conducting tip-based machining operations. This new actuation device, which will rely on piezo-electric actuators, will be fixed onto the stage of AFMs and will be used to create fast rotating displacements of a processed sample with respect to the tip of an AFM probe. The vision is to enhance the capability of current AFM systems by enabling them to perform nano-scale material removal operations at cutting speeds a thousand times faster compared to state of the art in this field. In particular, the developed set-up will be designed so that it enables cutting speeds from a few m/min up to a few hundreds of m/min to be reached. Two major advantages are envisaged with the development of this new set-up. First, it will provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to vacuum and mask-based lithography techniques for nano-scale fabrication. Second, due to the fact that AFMs are widespread in research laboratories, it will contribute to broaden the base of users with in-house manufacturing capabilities for the nano-machining of components with sub-micrometre structures.