Nanomanufacturing, 

Measurements & Materials

J. Alexander Liddle

Nanofabrication Research Group

NANOTECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP FORUM SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
NIST Nanotechnology Strategy

 Perform NIST’s traditional roles

 Discipline oriented laboratory research

 Workshops to identify industry needs

 Standards setting (physical & documentary)

 Calibrations

 Form public-private partnerships

 Nanoelectronics Research Initiative

 College of Nanoscale Science and 

Engineering, University at Albany, NY

 Operate a multidisciplinary Center and 

shared-use nanofabrication facility

 Support nanotechnology through TIP, construction grants

 Coordinate and collaborate with industry stakeholders and other 

Agencies
Center for Nanoscale Science & Technology

 Established in 2007 as a national nanocenter

to develop measurement and fabrication 

methods specifically to advance 

nanotechnology “from discovery to production”

 Operates a national shared resource, the NanoFab, with world-class 

nanoscale fabrication and measurement capabilities 

easily accessible to all, including industry

 Conducts multidisciplinary research to create the next 

generation of nanoscale measurement instruments, 

available through collaboration

 Serves as a hub to link the external nanotech. 

community to the vast measurement expertise that 

exists within the NIST Laboratories
Nanomanufacturing Today

After D.M. Tennant and C.R. Marrian, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. (2003)

E-beam lithography 

using inorganic 

resists

AFM using oxidation of 

Si as resist

(single tip)

Gaussian e-beam 

systems using highspeed resists

Gaussian e-beam 

with PMMA resist

Optical step and 

scan reduction 

printing

Shaped and cellprojection e-beam 

lithography

STM low-temperature 

atom manipulation

Best fit: R= 23 T0.2

103

102

101

100

10-1

10-21 10-19 10-17 10-15 10-13 10-11 10-9 10-7 10-5 10-3

Areal Throughput (m2/s)

Resolution (nm)

Nanoimprint 

lithography
Nanomanufacturing Tomorrow

Some assembly required!

Metal/semiconductor 

dots or molecules

Rods Tetrapods

Multifunctional

Coatings

Photovoltaics

Catalysis Sensors

Water Purification 

& Photolysis

Electronics
The Cost of Complexity

Complexity/

Functionality

Cost/area

Logic

Storage

Coatings

Photovoltaics

Filters

Lighting

Displays

Catalysts

Sensors

$106/m2 $1/m2
 Low-cost 

nanostructured 

materials:

 Less complex

 Higher defect levels

 Need:

 Higher throughputs

 Smaller features
What measurements are needed?

 Measurements for fundamental understanding

 Slow, expensive, infrequent

 New measurements needed for novel materials/devices 

fabrication processes

 Measurements for process/quality control

 Fast, cheap, periodic or continuous

 Off-line

 Real-time
Growth at 500oC in 300 mTorr of C2H2

SWCNT

DW-CNT

MWCNT

SWCNT

4 nm

Sharma and Iqbal, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84 990 (2004)

Morphological Diversity in CNTs
Factors Controlling the Catalytic 

CVD Synthesis of CNTs

 Catalyst: Ni, Cu, Co, Fe, Mo and bimetallic catalysts

 Support: SiO2, MgO, TiO2

 Temperature: 500oC – 1000oC (400 oC -700 oC)

 Precursor: Hydrocarbons (CO, CH4, C2H4, C2H2 etc.)

 Pressure: 760 Torr (1 - 300 mTorr)
Environmental TEM
High-Throughput Optical Near-Field Imaging

 Far-field optical microscopy suffers 

from diffraction-limited resolution

 Nearfield scanning optical microscopy 

(NSOM) greatly improves resolution but is 

too slow for practical applications

 Improve throughput of near-field 

microscopy with extended 

reference structure instead of single 

point probe

 Reconstruct image from raw data using 

computational techniques

 Initial targets: defect metrology needs of 

semiconductor and hard disk drive industries

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Detector

Light source

Tapered fiber

Sample

Nanoscale aperture

Light source

Detector

Sample

Wide-area reference 

structure

Conventional NSOM approach

Reference structure enables 

wide-area near-field imaging 
High-Throughput Optical Near-Field Imaging

 Reference structure design

 Structure consists of arrays of 

nanoscale gold pillars

 Light scattering from each pillar 

depends on local properties of the 

sample

 Plasmonic resonance in the pillar 

enhances scattering

 Realization of reference structure 

 Gold nano-pillars fabricated by ebeam lithography and 

electroplating

 Experimental setup places 

reference structure in nearfield of 

sample 

13

SEM 

micrograph of 

100nm diameter 

Au pillar

Model of gold 

nano-pillar 

showing field 

enhancement

100 nm
High-Throughput Optical Near-Field Imaging

14

Glass slide

Illunination and light collection 

(microscope)

Si chip

Mesa

Sample 

features

Scan 

direction 

Nano rods

Spacer pads

5 m
Sustainable Nanomanufacturing

 Key requirements: scalable, controllable, sustainable & safe

 Thrust 1: Design of scalable & sustainable nanomaterials, 

components, devices & processes

 Formation of consortia: carbon-based nanomaterials, metamaterials, 

cellulosic materials

 Demonstration of materials and processes

 Technology transfer

 Thrust 2: Nanomanufacturing measurement technologies

 Consortium on metrology for roll-to-roll

 Fast, robust process control measurement systems

 Technology benchmarking and transfer with industry

15

NNI Signature Initiative: Targeted Inter-Agency Collaboration with FY11 budget 

request
NIST Nanomanufacturing Activities

 FY11 Budget request ( $5M) aligned with NSI

 Collaboration with Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing 

at U.Mass (NSF NSEC)

 Coupled to FlexTech Alliance

 CRADA under development with major company on 

carbon-based nanomaterials

 Workshop planned on carbon-based nanomaterials

 Quantitative measurements of nanoparticle release 

during forming operations, service and combustion

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NIST Nanomanufacturing Activities

 Collaboration with U.MD and Johns Hopkins on process 

control for stochastic assembly

 Block copolymers

 DNA origami

 High-throughput near- and far-field optical metrology

 Dynamic measurements of single-molecule/nanoparticle

interactions

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THANK YOU

QUESTIONS?