Pomona College will acquire new EDS microanalysis and nanometer pattern generation systems to enhance the electron microscope facility at Pomona College. These subsystems will be added to the college's field emission scanning electron microscope. The EDS system consists of an X-ray detector, a pulse processor, and an analyzer used for identification of elemental composition and mapping of specific elements with submicron resolution. The nanometer pattern generation system will allow the design and creation of arbitrary patterns in polymers with features smaller than 50 nm with placement accuracy less than 5 nm. We will upgrade the stage controller and In-Lens secondary electron detector as well. The primary research projects will include nanostructure fabrication and characterization, combinatorial methods for materials research and performance optimization, and the exceptional fossil deposits from the period of the 'Cambrian Explosion'. In addition to this, faculty colleagues from across the Claremont Colleges Consortium have expressed interest in adding these specific capabilities for research programs in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Geology, and Physics. We anticipate that curricular modifications of laboratory courses in Chemistry, Geology, and Physics will result in approximately half of all undergraduates enrolled at Pomona College being exposed to this instrumentation. Additionally, each year several programs bring large numbers of under-represented minority K-12 students and teachers to Pomona College. We will use this facility in outreach programs to inspire these students to consider a future in science.
Lay Abstract
Large numbers of our undergraduate students are already experiencing the wonders of electron microscopy. This facility allows students to study carbon nanotubes, nanostructures of thin films, chemical sensors, chemical reactions, and crystal and rock structures formed in a variety of geologic processes. The advantages of this technique over traditional microscopy are a substantial improvement in both magnification and depth of focus in the images. Electron microscopes have played a key role in both the advances in modern electronics, biology, materials science, and the development of nanotechnology. While our current microscope allows us to look at samples, the EDS system will allow us to identify the chemical elements in these samples. In other words, not only will we be able to image the samples, but we will also know what they are made from. The nanometer pattern generation system converts the electron microscope from a tool for taking pictures to one that can draw tiny patterns that can be turned into electronics, sensors, motors, tunnels, optical switches and filters. In this mode an electron beam is focused to a fine point and scanned by a computer in two dimensions to write the patterns. The patterns are written in a special polymer resist film that can then be developed to show the final patterns. These patterns can be transferred from the polymers to other materials by etching, plating, stamping, and many other techniques.
