2011 Annual Report - Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies - Los ...

News from 2011
News from 2011
CINT Technologist Chris Sheehan putting a sample into the Magellan SEM
: New Capabilities
Featured capability:
CINT Magellan HRSEM (High Resolution Electron Microscope)
The FEI Magellan 400 SEM provides sub-nanometer spatial resolution from 1kV to 30 kV.
By using low voltages, only the surface of the sample interacts with the electron beam
and thus insulators/beam sensitive samples can be imaged without the need for conductive
coatings and the amount of surface data is maximized. These capabilities make this
tool ideal for investigations of nanotubes, nanowires, nanocomposites, and other materials
where workhorse SEMs do not have the low-voltage resolution required for sensitive surface
imaging. This system features:
• Schottky thermal emission source with UniColore
mode to give a highly coherent beam (less
than 0.2 eV energy spread)
• spatial resolutions of 0.8 nm at 1kV and above
in secondary electron mode.
• EDAX Apollo XV Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy
(EDS) detector for elemental analysis.
• EDAX Hikari Electron Backscatter Diffraction
(EBSD) detector for crystallographic orientation
determination.
• Nabity electron beam lithography patterning
capability.
• annular STEM detector (spatial resolution of 0.7
nm).
Scientific contacts: Chris Sheehan and Nathan Mara
InP/ZnSe quantum dots taken in STEM mode,
looking through very thin carbon film with the
QDs sitting on it. These measured to be 5 nm,
+/- 1nm.
Other new capabilities:
Holographic Optical Trapping Microscope
The holographic trapping microscope enables the non-contact
optical manipulation of soft materials and nanoparticles and can
also mechanically and spectroscopically probe such materials
in situ. Force measurements based on optical manipulation
methods can be used to investigate the viscoelastic properties of
soft and biological materials or probe adhesion forces. Contact:
Walter Paxton
Nanoink Dip-Pen Nanolithography
Dip-Pen Nanolithography is a scanning probe lithography technique
where a “tip” (e.g., an AFM tip or tip-array) is used to “write”
liquid-phase “inks” onto any substrate with 50 nm to 10 μm resolution.
The inks can comprise solutions of self-assembled-monolayer-(SAM)
forming molecules, pure liquids, nanoparticles, biomolecules,
sol-gel precursors, etc. DPN operates under ambient
conditions and is fully compatible with biomolecules, polymers,
and quantum nanostructures. Contact: Jennifer Hollingsworth
IChrome TVIS Super Continuum Source
This versatile light source serves as an excitation source for
measuring photoluminescence lifetimes down to 1 ps, enables
photon correlation measurements (when paired with the recently
procured time-correlated single-photon counting instrumentation),
provides a bright tunable source for single-nanoelement PL imaging/spectroscopy
and for pump-probe measurements, and serves
as the basis for new imaging modes and spectroscopy including
Rayleigh scattering imaging and absorbance spectroscopy at
single-element levels. Contact: Steve Doorn
Hysitron PI-85 SEM Picoindenter
This in-situ SEM strain stage represents a significant capability
enhancement in support of CINT’s signature efforts in in-situ
nanomechanics. The system has a load range from 1µN to
30mN, offers in-situ indentation, bending, compression and tension
testing capabilities, includes a heating stage rated to 400°C,
an electrical characterization package and has outstanding resolution
of both load (