Principles and Methods of Nanofabrication
Sem. Fall, alternate years, cr 3.
Top-down and bottom-up approaches to the fabrication of nanoscale (<100 nm) features, materials, and devices; limits of optical and electron beam lithography; imprinting techniques; probe-based assembly; synthesis of nanostructures by solution methods, metal-catalyzed reactions, heteroepitaxy, phase separation and spinodal decomposition; directed self-organization of nanoscale features (pores, islands, clusters, tubes and wires); ion-beam and pulsed-laser processing at the nanoscale; stability of nanostructures. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in Engineering or Science.
A student who completes this course should be able to select appropriate nanofabrication methods for his or her research and should be able to understand and evaluate methods of nanofabrication as needed to assess the potential impact (technological, economic and societal) of nanotechnologies.
At the conclusion of the course, the student should be able to
- describe the limitations of refractive optical lithography
- compare and contrast the proposed next-generation lithography methods, including extreme uv, electron projection, x-ray proximity, ion projection, and various soft lithography techniques
- explain the physical basis of several methods of nanotube and nanowire synthesis (e.g., electrochemical and vapor-liquid-solid)
- describe heteroepitaxial growth and the basic principles and constraints of bandgap engineering
- explain the physical basis for formation of monodisperse nanoparticles from solution and vapor
- describe the formation of nanoporous materials (silica and porous anodic alumina)
- explain the physical basis of fluidic self-assembly, including dielectrophoresis and self-assembled monolayers
Course material is presented and discussed during two lectures per week.