The objective of this program is to purchase a remote-ready, versatile, multifunctional, customized state-of-the-art Nova NanoLab dual-beam system that combines the power of e-beam writing with scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an e-beam writer and focused ion beam (FIB) technologies, on a single integrated customized platform. This tool will endow Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a quantum leap in its ability to pattern features, structures and devices from its current capability of 0.5 mm to sub-20 nm dimensions. In particular, this tool will enable the will allow fabrication and engineering of novel nano systems, devices and structures through nanopatterning, and support the study of surface phenomena with nm resolution therough chiseling, modification, and probing of surfaces and nanostructures of a wide variety of inorganic, organic and biological materials systems with up to ~10 nm resolution.. The unique capabilities of integrated high resolution nanopatterning, selective surface modification/engineering of very fine patterns, simultaneous nanomilling and imaging will enable key activities at the interfaces of nano-, information- and bio-technologies. and provide services on the tool. Additionally, we are also pleased to provide an additional $80,000 towards the acquisition of tool from RPI's portion of the Focus Center-NY (a MARCO-DARPA-SEMI funded center of excellence for Interconnects) funds bringing Rensselaer's direct cost sharing to ($400,016). More The multifunctional tool will impact 11515 major research projects involving 36 faculty, 48 graduate & 22 undergraduate students including 26 women/minorities, and 15 post-docs in across 7 departments and 52 major research centersin these interdisciplinary areas critically need a tool that can 1) Nanopattern, 2) provide surface-specific information with lateral resolution of ~10 nm to 0.5 ?m, and 3) locally modify surfaces at similar length scales, to permit key advances in these rapidly evolving fields. Such capabilities are currently unavailable at RPI, or in the region The dual beam system will help several critical interdisciplinary projects involving nanostructures and biomaterials in RPI's NSF-funded Nanotechnology Science & Engineering Center (NSEC), and those germane to future electronics devices at Focus Center-New York, RPI (FC-NY, RPI) and CAIST (Center for Advanced Interconnect Systems Technologies). . The tool acquisition will directly benefit more than 3 In addition, it will help attract bright undergraduate and graduate students and provide hands-on-training on modern instrumentation to train tomorrow's science & technology leaders. The remote-ready instrument will serve as a resource for graduate and undergraduate teaching, allow live projection of experiments in distance-learning courses, and will be accessible to regional educational institutions and industry.
