Strategic Equipment - a Dual Beam FIB/SEM with large area patterning, EBSD and nanoprobe capabilities

提出的FIB/SEM仪器结合了各种组件，为一系列先进的纳米科学提供了一个强大的工具。聚焦到小至5纳米的光斑尺寸的加速离子束可以用来以极高的精度研磨和切片材料，而电子束和各种探测器提供了对所产生的表面进行纳米级成像和表征的手段。纳米操纵器探头允许样品就地旋转，并将纳米级的材料切片拿出来进行进一步研究或在设备中使用。我们将在两个主要方面使用该仪器：1)微型光学元件的制造牛津大学在过去六年中率先使用聚焦离子束在熔融二氧化硅或硅等材料上制造纳米精度和亚纳米粗糙度的表面。这使我们能够创造出以超低的散射损耗存储和操纵光的装置，并且可以精确地控制光与物质之间的相互作用。我们已经在小规模上使用这项技术取得了相当大的成功，但我们可以生产的特征的大小有限。在这台新仪器中，样品可以以极高的精度移动，从而可以对更大的表面进行图案化处理，并能够实现更复杂和更广泛的光学设备，这些设备揭示了新的物理现象，可以用作一系列技术的关键部件。光子学支撑着英国的一系列工业，我们预计我们的工作将导致国防、医疗保健和环境监测的先进信息技术和传感器系统的创新，以及政府目前正在投入大量资源的量子技术新领域。2)材料的表征牛津材料部长期以来一直是世界领先的材料表征中心，在电子显微镜和金属微结构方面做出了特别贡献。它拥有广泛的最先进的仪器，既可用作高端科学工具，也可用作开发微分析新技术的平台。这个工具将在两种情况下使用。它提供的前沿能力是在纳米尺度上对材料缺陷和杂质进行3D表征，这将使旨在以前所未有的细节理解材料的新技术成为可能，并将应用于解决核材料、航空航天合金、催化和高温超导体领域的关键问题。其中许多项目是与工业界合作实施的，为产生商业和社会影响以及发展新知识提供了极好的途径。我们将与当地一家公司(牛津仪器公司)合作，试验原型探测器系统，以加速仪器开发，并保持我们在这一重要领域的领先地位。除了上述项目，还将向外部用户提供一定比例的仪器使用时间，他们将能够通过我们的网站和年度开放日了解仪器，并申请仪器时间进行自己的研究。牛津材料部门有广泛的仪器支持和用户培训计划，以确保所有用户都能从他们的仪器时间获得最好的效果。为确保所开展的科学项目具有最高质量，仪器的使用和时间分配将由一个专家指导委员会进行，该委员会将每季度举行一次会议。

The FIB/SEM instrument proposed combines various components to provide a powerful tool for a range of advanced nanoscale science. An accelerated ion beam focused to a spot size as small as 5 nanometres can be used to mill and slice materials with extreme precision, while an electron beam and various detectors provide means for nanoscale imaging and characterisation of the surfaces produced. A nanomanipulator probe allows samples to be rotated in-situ and for nanoscale slices of material to be lifted out for further study or use in devices. We will use this instrument in two main ways: 1) Fabrication of micro-optical components In Oxford we have in the past six years pioneered the use of focused ion beams to fabricate surfaces on materials such as fused silica or silicon with nanometre precision and sub-nanometre roughness. This allows us to create devices in which light is stored and manipulated with ultra-low scattering losses, and in which the interaction between light and matter is controlled with exquisite accuracy. We have already had considerable success with this technique on a small scale but are limited in the size of features we can produce. In this new instrument the sample can be moved with extremely high accuracy allowing larger surfaces to be patterned and enabling more complex and extended optical devices that reveal new physics and can be used as key components in a range of technologies. Photonics underpins a diverse range of industry in the UK and we anticipate that our work will lead to innovations in advanced information technologies and sensor systems for defence, healthcare and environmental monitoring, as well as the new field of Quantum Technologies in which the government is currently investing significant resources.2) Characterisation of MaterialsOxford Materials department has long been a world-leading centre for materials characterisation, with particular contributions in electron microscopy and the microstructure of metals. It maintains a wide range of state-of-the-art instruments that are used both as high end scientific tools and as platforms for developing new techniques in microanalysis. This instrument will be used in both ways. It offers leading edge capabilities is 3D characterisation of material defects and impurities at the nanoscale that will enable new techniques aimed at understanding materials with unprecedented detail, and will be applied to solving key problems in the fields of nuclear materials, aerospace alloys, catalysis, and high temperature superconductors. Many of these projects are carried out in collaboration with industry, providing excellent routes towards commercial and societal impact as well as development of new knowledge. In collaboration with a local company (Oxford Instruments) we will try out prototype detector systems to accelerate instrument development and maintain our position at the forefront of this important field. As well as the projects described above, a percentage of time on the instrument will be made available to outside users who will be able to find out about the instrument via our website and annual open days, and apply for instrument time to carry out their own research. The Oxford Materials department has extensive instrument support and user training programmes to ensure that all users can obtain the best from their instrument time. To ensure that the scientific projects pursued are of the highest quality, the use of the instrument and time allocation will be carried out by a steering board of experts who will meet at quarterly intervals.