scholarly journals Micromask Lithography for Cheap and Fast 2D Materials Microstructures Fabrication

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 850
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Pugachev ◽  
Aliaksandr I. Duleba ◽  
Arslan A. Galiullin ◽  
Aleksandr Y. Kuntsevich

The fast and precise fabrication of micro-devices based on single flakes of novel 2D materials and stacked heterostructures is vital for exploration of novel functionalities. In this paper, we demonstrate a fast high-resolution contact mask lithography through a simple upgrade of metallographic optical microscope. Suggested kit for the micromask lithography is compact and easily compatible with a glove box, thus being suitable for a wide range of air-unstable materials. The shadow masks could be either ordered commercially or fabricated in a laboratory using a beam lithography. The processes of the mask alignment and the resist exposure take a few minutes and provide a micrometer resolution. With the total price of the kit components around USD 200, our approach would be convenient for laboratories with the limited access to commercial lithographic systems.

Author(s):  
T. Miyokawa ◽  
S. Norioka ◽  
S. Goto

Field emission SEMs (FE-SEMs) are becoming popular due to their high resolution needs. In the field of semiconductor product, it is demanded to use the low accelerating voltage FE-SEM to avoid the electron irradiation damage and the electron charging up on samples. However the accelerating voltage of usual SEM with FE-gun is limited until 1 kV, which is not enough small for the present demands, because the virtual source goes far from the tip in lower accelerating voltages. This virtual source position depends on the shape of the electrostatic lens. So, we investigated several types of electrostatic lenses to be applicable to the lower accelerating voltage. In the result, it is found a field emission gun with a conical anode is effectively applied for a wide range of low accelerating voltages.A field emission gun usually consists of a field emission tip (cold cathode) and the Butler type electrostatic lens.


Author(s):  
D.F. Bowling

High school cosmetology students study the methods and effects of various human hair treatments, including permanents, straightening, conditioning, coloring and cutting. Although they are provided with textbook examples of overtreatment and numerous hair disorders and diseases, a view of an individual hair at the high resolution offered by an SEM provides convincing evidence of the hair‘s altered structure. Magnifications up to 2000X provide dramatic differences in perspective. A good quality classroom optical microscope can be very informative at lower resolutions.Students in a cosmetology class are initially split into two groups. One group is taught basic controls on the SEM (focus, magnification, brightness, contrast, specimen X, Y, and Z axis movements). A healthy, untreated piece of hair is initially examined on the SEM The second group cements a piece of their own hair on a stub. The samples are dryed quickly using heat or vacuum while the groups trade places and activities.


Author(s):  
O.L. Krivanek ◽  
M.L. Leber

Three-fold astigmatism resembles regular astigmatism, but it has 3-fold rather than 2-fold symmetry. Its contribution to the aberration function χ(q) can be written as:where A3 is the coefficient of 3-fold astigmatism, λ is the electron wavelength, q is the spatial frequency, ϕ the azimuthal angle (ϕ = tan-1 (qy/qx)), and ϕ3 the direction of the astigmatism.Three-fold astigmatism is responsible for the “star of Mercedes” aberration figure that one obtains from intermediate lenses once their two-fold astigmatism has been corrected. Its effects have been observed when the beam is tilted in a hollow cone over a wide range of angles, and there is evidence for it in high resolution images of a small probe obtained in a field emission gun TEM/STEM instrument. It was also expected to be a major aberration in sextupole-based Cs correctors, and ways were being developed for dealing with it on Cs-corrected STEMs.


Author(s):  
P.E. Russell ◽  
I.H. Musselman

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has evolved rapidly in the past few years. Major developments have occurred in instrumentation, theory, and in a wide range of applications. In this paper, an overview of the application of STM and related techniques to polymers will be given, followed by a discussion of current research issues and prospects for future developments. The application of STM to polymers can be conveniently divided into the following subject areas: atomic scale imaging of uncoated polymer structures; topographic imaging and metrology of man-made polymer structures; and modification of polymer structures. Since many polymers are poor electrical conductors and hence unsuitable for use as a tunneling electrode, the related atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique which is capable of imaging both conductors and insulators has also been applied to polymers.The STM is well known for its high resolution capabilities in the x, y and z axes (Å in x andy and sub-Å in z). In addition to high resolution capabilities, the STM technique provides true three dimensional information in the constant current mode. In this mode, the STM tip is held at a fixed tunneling current (and a fixed bias voltage) and hence a fixed height above the sample surface while scanning across the sample surface.


Author(s):  
Kazuo Ishizuka

It is well known that taking into account spacial and temporal coherency of illumination as well as the wave aberration is important to interpret an image of a high-resolution electron microscope (HREM). This occues, because coherency of incident electrons restricts transmission of image information. Due to its large spherical and chromatic aberrations, the electron microscope requires higher coherency than the optical microscope. On an application of HREM for a strong scattering object, we have to estimate the contribution of the interference between the diffracted waves on an image formation. The contribution of each pair of diffracted waves may be properly represented by the transmission cross coefficients (TCC) between these waves. In this report, we will show an improved form of the TCC including second order derivatives, and compare it with the first order TCC.In the electron microscope the specimen is illuminated by quasi monochromatic electrons having a small range of illumination directions. Thus, the image intensity for each energy and each incident direction should be summed to give an intensity to be observed. However, this is a time consuming process, if the ranges of incident energy and/or illumination direction are large. To avoid this difficulty, we can use the TCC by assuming that a transmission function of the specimen does not depend on the incident beam direction. This is not always true, because dynamical scattering is important owing to strong interactions of electrons with the specimen. However, in the case of HREM, both the specimen thickness and the illumination angle should be small. Therefore we may neglect the dependency of the transmission function on the incident beam direction.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherif Tawfik ◽  
Olexandr Isayev ◽  
Catherine Stampfl ◽  
Joseph Shapter ◽  
David Winkler ◽  
...  

Materials constructed from different van der Waals two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures offer a wide range of benefits, but these systems have been little studied because of their experimental and computational complextiy, and because of the very large number of possible combinations of 2D building blocks. The simulation of the interface between two different 2D materials is computationally challenging due to the lattice mismatch problem, which sometimes necessitates the creation of very large simulation cells for performing density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. Here we use a combination of DFT, linear regression and machine learning techniques in order to rapidly determine the interlayer distance between two different 2D heterostructures that are stacked in a bilayer heterostructure, as well as the band gap of the bilayer. Our work provides an excellent proof of concept by quickly and accurately predicting a structural property (the interlayer distance) and an electronic property (the band gap) for a large number of hybrid 2D materials. This work paves the way for rapid computational screening of the vast parameter space of van der Waals heterostructures to identify new hybrid materials with useful and interesting properties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Cruz ◽  
Klas Hjort

AbstractThe ability to focus, separate and concentrate specific targets in a fluid is essential for the analysis of complex samples such as biological fluids, where a myriad of different particles may be present. Inertial focusing is a very promising technology for such tasks, and specially a recently presented variant, inertial focusing in High Aspect Ratio Curved systems (HARC systems), where the systems are easily engineered and focus the targets together in a stable position over a wide range of particle sizes and flow rates. However, although convenient for laser interrogation and concentration, by focusing all particles together, HARC systems lose an essential feature of inertial focusing: the possibility of particle separation by size. Within this work, we report that HARC systems not only do have the capacity to separate particles but can do so with extremely high resolution, which we demonstrate for particles with a size difference down to 80 nm. In addition to the concept for particle separation, a model considering the main flow, the secondary flow and a simplified expression for the lift force in HARC microchannels was developed and proven accurate for the prediction of the performance of the systems. The concept was also demonstrated experimentally with three different sub-micron particles (0.79, 0.92 and 1.0 µm in diameter) in silicon-glass microchannels, where the resolution in the separation could be modulated by the radius of the channel. With the capacity to focus sub-micron particles and to separate them with high resolution, we believe that inertial focusing in HARC systems is a technology with the potential to facilitate the analysis of complex fluid samples containing bioparticles like bacteria, viruses or eukaryotic organelles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua-Tian Tu ◽  
An-Qing Jiang ◽  
Jian-Ke Chen ◽  
Wei-Jie Lu ◽  
Kai-Yan Zang ◽  
...  

AbstractUnlike the single grating Czerny–Turner configuration spectrometers, a super-high spectral resolution optical spectrometer with zero coma aberration is first experimentally demonstrated by using a compound integrated diffraction grating module consisting of 44 high dispersion sub-gratings and a two-dimensional backside-illuminated charge-coupled device array photodetector. The demonstrated super-high resolution spectrometer gives 0.005 nm (5 pm) spectral resolution in ultra-violet range and 0.01 nm spectral resolution in the visible range, as well as a uniform efficiency of diffraction in a broad 200 nm to 1000 nm wavelength region. Our new zero-off-axis spectrometer configuration has the unique merit that enables it to be used for a wide range of spectral sensing and measurement applications.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 785
Author(s):  
Chow Shing Shin ◽  
Yu Chia Chang

Lattice structures are superior to stochastic foams in mechanical properties and are finding increasing applications. Their properties can be tailored in a wide range through adjusting the design and dimensions of the unit cell, changing the constituent materials as well as forming into hierarchical structures. In order to achieve more levels of hierarchy, the dimensions of the fundamental lattice have to be small enough. Although lattice size of several microns can be fabricated using the two-photon polymerization technique, sophisticated and costly equipment is required. To balance cost and performance, a low-cost high resolution micro-stereolithographic system has been developed in this work based on a commercial digital light processing (DLP) projector. Unit cell lengths as small as 100 μm have been successfully fabricated. Decreasing the unit cell size from 150 to 100 μm increased the compressive stiffness by 26%. Different pretreatments to facilitate the electroless plating of nickel on the lattice structure have been attempted. A pretreatment of dip coating in a graphene suspension is the most successful and increased the strength and stiffness by 5.3 and 3.6 times, respectively. Even a very light and incomplete nickel plating in the interior has increase the structural stiffness and strength by more than twofold.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Mayoral ◽  
Ignacio Díaz-Martínez ◽  
Jéremy Duveau ◽  
Ana Santos ◽  
Antonio Rodríguez Ramírez ◽  
...  

AbstractHere, we report the recent discovery of 87 Neandertal footprints on the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Doñana shoreline, Spain) located on an upper Pleistocene aeolian littoral setting (about 106 ± 19 kyr). Morphometric comparisons, high resolution digital photogrammetric 3D models and detailed sedimentary analysis have been provided to characterized the footprints and the palaeoenvironment. The footprints were impressed in the shoreline of a hypersaline swamped area related to benthic microbial mats, close to the coastline. They have a rounded heel, a longitudinal arch, relatively short toes, and adducted hallux, and represent the oldest upper Pleistocene record of Neandertal footprints in the world. Among these 87 footprints, 31 are longitudinally complete and measure from 14 to 29 cm. The calculated statures range from 104 to 188 cm, with half of the data between 130 and 150 cm. The wide range of sizes of the footprints suggests the existence of a social group integrated by individuals of different age classes but dominated, however, by non-adult individuals. The footprints, which are outside the flooded area are oriented perpendicular to the shoreline. These 87 footprints reinforce the ecological scenario of Neandertal groups established in coastal areas.


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