Science Saturday --- October 1, 2005

NanotechnologyExciting new science and technology

for the 21st century

IBM chip UMass Logo TI mirror array

Nanotechnology• Is a broad, interdisciplinary topic involving physics, chemistry, biology and engineering

• It has potential impact in electronics, medicine, materials, and a wide variety of application areas.

How small are nanostructures?

Single Hair

Width = 0.1 mm

= 100 micrometers

= 100,000 nanometers !

1 nanometer = one billionth (10-9) meter

Smaller still

Hair

.

Red blood cell

6,000 nanometersDNA

3 nanometers

How do we make nanostructures?

How do we see nanostructures?

First,how do we make nanostructures?

• Lithography

• Self-assembly

Lithography

MarkTuominen

MarkTuominen

MarkTuominen

Making a microscopic mask

Silicon crystal

Polymer film

Electron Beam

Nanoscopic Mask !

Lithography

IBMCopperWiringOn aComputerChip

PatternedSeveral Times

SELF ASSEMBLYBlock “A” Block “B”

10% A 30% A 50% A 70% A 90% A

~10 nm

Ordered Phases

PMMA PS

Scale set by molecular size

DiblockCopolymer

BASIC NANOPOROUS TEMPLATEPROCESS APPLICATIONS Deposition

Template

EtchingMask

NanoporousMembrane

Remove polymerblock within cylinders(UV or ebeam exposure;Acetic acid rinse)

“A versatile, self-assembling, nanoscale lithographic system”

SEM IMAGE OF NANOPOROUS POLYMER TEMPLATE

Array Period = 24 nm Pore Diameter = 14 nm

MW = 42,000PS/PMMA

NIRTUMass Amherst

FUNCTIONAL NANOARRAYS

Glass Pillars

PatternedMedia

CopolymerTemplateSeparations

& Sensors

Template Transfer Nanowires

Devices

NANOWIRE ARRAYS using ELECTRODEPOSITION

1.2 trillion wires/in2

200 nm

20 nm 100 nm

silicongold

electrodepositedcobaltnanowires

unfilled polymertemplate

cobaltnanowires

• ULTRA-HIGH DENSITY MAGNETIC DATA STORAGE

1 0 1 1 0

unexposed regionof copolymer film

“patterned” nanowirearray

vertically-orienteddiblock copolymer film

“patterned” nanoporouspolymer template

LATERALLY-PATTERNED MEDIA

HOLES

NO HOLES

How do we see nanostructures?

• A light microscope?

• An electron microscope!

• A scanning probe microscope!

Television Set

eye

electron beam

TV screen

Light !electronsource

Electron Microscope

SAMPLE

ElectronBeam

DETECTOR

Scanning probe microscope

Surface

Vibrating Cantilever

Image of Nickel Atoms

Pushing Atoms Around

Finale