A new way of investigating the infinitesimal was realised in the 1980s with the invention of the Scanning Tunnelling Microscope. Over time it has evolved into a family of scanning microscopes that includes the Atomic Force Microscope, the Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope and the Scanning Thermal Microscope.
With scanning microscopy a very sharp tip is moved slowly over a surface and maps out the surface features. The basic idea from all of these scanning microscopes is that the resolution – the size of detail that can be made out – depends on how sharp a tip can be made. We can use nanotechnology to fabricate very sharp tips and then use these tips to investigate nanostructures. In fact they can be made sharp enough to see features on a sub-nanometer scale – they can see individual atoms on the surface of materials.
The tips are made in different varieties that measure electrical, optical and thermal properties of nanostructures on surfaces with nanometer resolution. This is important for understanding how a device such as silicon chip is operating and identifying errors in design and operation of nanodevices. For example, the thermal tips can identify the hot spots on chips where failure of the chip is more likely to occur.
An example of how nanotechnology is used to improve nanotechnology.
Data & SEMs: Prof. John Weaver, Department of Electrical Engineering, Glasgow University.
© 2007 M. Robertson/Nanovisions
|
|
