Nano-Characterization Infrastructure at UM-StLouis

Notes on the only presentation by a Missouri lab at NSF's National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Newtork (NNIN) organizational meeting in early 2003, in which representatives from all of NSF's directorates participated...

• Digital darkfield (wavelet-like) decomposition studies of HREM images, with emphasis on the detection and mapping of weak periodicities, recognition of icosahedral twinning in arbitrarily-oriented nanoclusters, quantitative mapping of projected lattice strain, and transform-customized detection of more complex structures (e.g. single pentagon defects in edge-on graphene sheets).
• Off/on-line stereo (3D) analysis of electron diffraction and HREM lattice images (e.g. ``lattice parameters from two tilts'' work underway in collaboration with researchers at Motorola and Portland State) and detection of higher order 3D correlations in paracrystalline materials (e.g. amorphous Si).
• SPM log-log roughness spectroscopy, a kind of direct space decomposition of rms roughness, along with refinement of techniques for calculating it (e.g. a current collaboration with MEMC on detection of 10 micron lateral scale structures with nanometer scale heights).
• Use (and development) of Bayesian strategies for inference from spectra and images (e.g. for noise removal from images of partially periodic structures).
• Lateral displacement microscopy with tunneling and force microscopes, a no-added-hardware strategy for mapping lateral forces from image pairs taken with different scan directions.
• Appropriate use of ``fast-with-drawbacks'' (e.g. strong-object or kinematic) simulations of electron phase contrast (HREM) and SPM images, e.g. for the first web-based focus and astigmatism simulator.
• The instrument response function in scanning tunneling microscopy, and tip shape determination using nuclear particle tracks.

• Advice: active long-standing program of interdisciplinary collaboration and referral on projects walking in the door from a wide range of application areas***.
• Integration: wide nanoparticle prep and analysis experience available for new problems, ranging from dissection of individual sub-nanogram particles, to heterostructure cross-sections involving semiconductor, oxide, metal and even polymer phases intermixed.
• Support: physics operations-group experience keeping instruments running at minimal cost, plus alliance with professionals having instrument repair expertise across the region e.g. at Monsanto, Boeing, and Washington U.
• Training: tradition of weekend courses taught by industry experts, and active development of web/lab course modules for critical use of nanomicroscopy data.

• Laboratory study of extraterrestrial and electronic materials, esp. gigascale IC silicon e.g. oxygen gettering, nanotwin formation, Cu decoration and low-T surface oxidation with researchers at MEMC; strained-lattice and quantum-dot heterostructures e.g. GaInN/Al₂O₃ with researchers in physics at Washington University (WU), Si/Si-Ge with MEMC; and dust particles from around our and other stars e.g. solar flare tracks in interplanetary dust, and novel carbon phases formed in red giant atmospheres and extracted from isotopically-analyzed meteorite dissolution specimens by space science researchers at U. Chicago and WU.
• Microscopic analysis of: environmental and commercial nano-structured catalysts, in collaboration with researchers at WU Environmental Engineering; metal nanocluster and oxide-metal epitaxy in collaboration with researchers at UM-Rolla; meteoritic iron oxidation with researchers in Earth and Planetary Sciences at WU; the manufacture of NaCl coated nanoparticles in turbulent flames with Mechanical Engineering at WU; B nanowires and BN nanotubes with researchers in Chemistry at WU; high cycle fatigue of Al alloys with Chem Eng at WU, etc.
• Health applications of nanoparticles in blood, including apatite for MRI imaging with Mallinckrodt Medical, and polymer-assisted ferrofluids for non-invasive but targeted treatment and repairs with UM-StL Chemistry and Stereotaxis.
• Curriculum modernization including development of an emergent microscopy practicals web-lab series for users of nanomicroscopy data, and ``views from asmall'' for K-12. Students getting Ph.D.'s with our group also have a tradition of (a) walking out into jobs, and (b) helping mentor future students after the fact.
• Development of an ethics of analytical support (based on in-house experience working in both universities and the private sector), operating in parallel to any necessary contractual agreements in a way which can facilitate university-industry collaborations.
• Complementary relationship to targeted characterization resources in the region e.g. for nano-isotopic studies of presolar materials via imaging (Cameca nanoprobe) secondary ion mass spectrometry, for Si defect studies via confocal IR tools in the electronics industry, for life sciences work via SEM, FE-SEM, optically-enhanced NMR, fluid-cell tapping-mode SPM, confocal light/fluorescence-fluctuation microscopy studies, and electron energy-filtered imaging in regional biochemistry and the growing plant sciences communities.