The nanotechnology of the future demands the development of nanofabrication techniques with new principles of design and higher degrees of control. The proposed research program will explore a novel and versatile approach for fabricating nanostructures via a paradigm of nanomechanical architecture of strained bi-layer films. It will apply multi-scale theoretical and computational methods to investigate the fundamental principles governing the formation of a variety of three-dimensional nanostructures resulting from mechanical bending of ultrathin strained bi-layer films.
The reseach program, combining synergistically theoretical and computational efforts with strong experimental collaboration, will cover three complementary research areas: al process Experimental collaboration includes fabrication and characterization of novel nanoarchitectures using Si/SiGe strained bi-layer thin films.
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Intellectual Merit: The scientific objective is to obtain fundamental understanding of the nanomechanical properties of composite layered thin-film structures and to establish design principles for a novel and versatile approach for nanofabrication, i.e., the nanomechanical architecture. The proposed program will also increase our understanding of stress/strain at the atomic level in terms of surface reconstruction and chemical bonding.
Broader Impacts: A goal and natural outcome of this research program is the education of students. It will enrich a new course on nanomaterials and nanomechanics, developed recently by the PI at University of Utah. Some computational techniques developed in this program will be made available as open and shared resources for research and education at large. Conscious efforts will be made to publicize the proposed work, by our educational and outreach activity collaborating with Utah Science Center. These efforts will make significant impact on educating the general public about nanoscience and nanotechnology, which is considered as one major economic stimulus of the 21st century.
