This MRI proposal by Brown University requests support for the acquisition of an FEI NOVA 600i Nanolab DualBeam SEM/FIB for nanoscale prototyping, machining, characterization and analysis of structures in the sub-100-nm regime. Research at Brown spanning engineering, physics, chemistry, geology, and medicine is focused on research that has, at its core, the manipulation and characterization of materials on the nanoscale. Some ongoing research that will make use of the new Dual Beam instrument includes: studies of high strain rate deformation of steel where nanoscale features of highly localized adiabatic shear bands (ASB) will be extracted for TEM analysis; creation of nanopore-based prototype device structures for biomolecule analysis that require the selective metallization of e-beam created pores; generation of initiation cracks in multiphase structural materials, in situ monitoring of crack propagation, and the reconstruction of the crack path by serial-sectioning and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD); manipulation of nanoparticle arrays for patterned magnetic media applications; and minimally invasive, selective removal of inclusions for the identification of the origins of priceless archeological glass samples. More broadly, the selected instrument will provide Brown researchers with the ability to create, modify, and characterize complex structures on the nanoscale, e.g. to extract TEM samples from specific morphological features, to produce three-dimensional serial sections for EBSD analysis of microstructure, and to fabricate unique test structures for examining physical properties of nanomaterials. The growth in nano-materials research at Brown has strained the existing capacity of our Electron Microscope Central Facility (EMCF) and has exposed an urgent need for the capabilities that can only be provided by a Dual Beam FIB/SEM instrument. When added to the Brown EMCF user facility, this tool, the only one in Rhode Island, will be available to all researchers in the state and southeast New England.
With the acquisition of a new dual beam SEM/FIB, Brown University researchers will now be able to both see and manipulate nanomaterials in a way that will allow the creation of prototype nanomachines and structures on the nanoscale. In the last century, the electron microscope allowed actual photographic images to be formed of features in materials that are just a few atoms or molecules in size, and impossible to see by other means. Now, a new type of tool (the dual beam SEM/FIB) uses electron beams and focused ion beams to simultaneously see and touch on the nanoscale, allowing scientists to assemble new materials and devices with tailored mechanical, chemical, and/or optical properties. Researchers at Brown in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Biology, and Archeology will use the capabilities of the new dual beam SEM/FIB (the only one in Rhode Island) to create, modify, and characterize nanomaterials in a wide array of applications, including devices for the detection of DNA and other biomolecules, new magnetic storage devices, and design of stronger and lighter materials.
