Platform for Nanoscale Advanced Materials Engineering (P-NAME)

大多数先进的材料实际上是复合系统，其中每个部分都是专门定制的，通常通过掺杂来提供特定的功能。在电子设备中，这可能是p型或n型行为（导电正电荷或负电荷的偏好），在光学设备中，在给定波长发射光的能力（例如在光纤通信的红外线中），或在磁性材料中，基于磁场方向存储信息的能力。为了实现新设备，必须在给定的设备体积内增加功能密度。简单的微型化（即适应更多相同类型的设备，但尺寸更小）在纳米级范围内是有限的，不仅是众所周知的量子效应的出现，而且是在这种规模上控制材料工程的简单能力。例如，自组装方法可以创造0D（所谓的“量子点”或“人造原子”），1D（线状）和2D（片状）材料，具有独特的性能，但随后的控制和修改这些材料是非平凡的，尚未在许多情况下得到证明。这项研究旨在建立一个纳米级先进材料工程（P-NAME）设施平台，该设施包含一个新工具，该工具将为我们设计和工程材料的能力提供根本改变所需的能力。我们将采用的技术原理是，在20世纪彻底改变了微电子工业（离子掺杂），但首次应用于纳米尺度。此外，P-NAME工具将与可扩展的技术平台兼容，因此与其在高科技设备制造中的使用兼容。如果没有这种能力，在低功耗下提供增强功能的日益复杂的材料的生产将难以实现。P-NAME设施将建立在曼彻斯特大学新的英国国家先进材料实验室（亨利·罗伊斯研究所）内。该工具将提供给从事先进功能材料和设备开发研究的英国学术界和工业界。

Most advanced materials are actually composite systems where each part is specifically tailored to provide a particular functionality often via doping. In electronic devices this may be p- or n-type behaviour (the preference to conduct positive of negative charges), in optical devices the ability to emit light at a given wavelength (such as in the infrared for optical fibre communications), or in magnetic materials the ability to store information based on the direction of a magnetic field for example. To enable the realisation of new devices it is essential to increase the density of functionality within a given device volume. Simple miniaturisation (i.e. to fit more devices of the same type but of smaller size) is limited in scope as the nanoscale regime is reached, not only by the well-known emergence of quantum effects, but by the simple capability to control the materials engineering on this scale. Self-assembly methods for example enable the creation of 0D (so called 'quantum dots' or 'artificial atoms'), 1D (wire-like) and 2D (sheet-like) materials with unique properties, but the subsequent control and modification of these is non-trivial and has yet to be demonstrated in many cases. This research aims to establish a Platform for Nanoscale Advanced Materials Engineering (P-NAME) facility that incorporates a new tool which will provide the capability required to deliver a fundamental change in our ability to design and engineer materials. The principle of the technique that we will adapt, is that which revolutionised the micro-electronics industry in the 20th century (ion-doping) but applied on the nanoscale for the first time. Furthermore, the P-NAME tool will be compatible with a scalable technology platform and therefore compatible with its use in high-tech device manufacture. Without this capability the production of increasingly complex materials offering enhance functionality at lower-power consumption will be difficult to achieve.The P-NAME facility will be established within a new UK National Laboratory for Advanced Materials (the Henry Royce Institute) at the University of Manchester. Access to the tool will be made available to UK academics and industry undertaking research into advanced functional materials and devices development.