9724371 Cohn Two surface profiling microscopes will be acquired that are capable of measuring the three dimensional topography of a variety of samples with extreme precision and accuracy. One instrument is referred to as a Mirau correlation microscope or also as a white light scanning interferometer. The other instrument is an atomic force microscope. These prowlers are complementary in terms of scan range, accuracy and measurement speed. The Mirau microscope has a field of view from 60 microns to 8 millimeters (depending on the objective) and vertical range of 0.5 millimeter. The transverse resolution is set by the diffraction limit to between 0.5 micron and 15 microns depending on the objective. The vertical resolution is 1 angstrom. The Mirau correlation microscope can be programmed to profile surfaces of up to 100 millimeters by 100 millimeters by stepping and repeating of the measurements. Stage movements are accurate to 0.5 microns. A single field of view (of up to 736 x 480 sample points) is profiled and converted to a computer file at the rate of 7 microns per second in the vertical direction or up to 70 seconds if the entire 0.5 millimeter range is scanned. The atomic force microscope has transverse scan ranges of up to 100 microns, vertical scan ranges of up to 9 microns and resolution of 1.5 angstroms or less in x, y and z. A three dimensional scan can take from 2-5 minutes and produces a 512 x 512 pixel image. The system can also perform atomic force microscopy in contact, lateral force measurements of surface friction, and surface tunneling microscopy. The profiling microscopes will be used in several funded research studies. Their uses include: 1) characterizing the accuracy of a new method of optically patterning relief patterns into photoresist for applications to diffractive optics; 2) evaluating thickness and roughness of chemical sensing films on suspended silicon platforms. The noncontact measurements possible with the two profilers will be used to avoid mechanical damage to the silicon platforms that could result from contacting stylus prowlers, and damage to films that can result from charge buildup when imaging with scanning electron microscopes; 3) For a study on increasing the reliability of fuel cells through the use of conductive polymer electrodes. The thickening of the polymerized region from nanometers to several microns will be observed with the interferometer during the curing process; 4) evaluating the structure of chemical vapor deposited thin films of diamond. Measurements of individual crystal geometries will be used to understand the nucleation and growth of diamond; 5) for developing and refining the processes of fabricating imaging x-ray detector for space-based telescopes. The equipment will also be available (10 hours per course) for use in two NSF supported laboratory courses: 1) Microfabrication in which students fabricate MEMS devices in a class 100 clean room; 2) an expanded Analytical Techniques offered jointly by Chemistry and Chemical Engineering that will provide theory and hands on training in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron, atomic force, surface tunneling and Mirau correlation microscopy. The proposers' research area can be classified as the development of processes for fabricating microelectro-mechanical and micro-optic devices. The equipment would undoubtedly be of value to numerous other researchers in areas of surface science, rapid prototyping and microscopic imaging. ***
