Equipment: MRI: Track 2 Acquisition of the Thermo Fischer Cryogenic Helios 5 CX DualBeam for Materials Science

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

The interdisciplinary field of modern materials science focuses on an increasingly smaller scale for understanding and manipulations of optical, mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of materials, including naturally existing as well as with man-made, engineered materials. Remarkable progress in studying materials on the nanometer-scale is enabled by the advanced, state-of-the-art nanofabrication tools for carving bulk materials, creating and imaging nanoscale features. One of the most versatile nanofabrication and nano-imaging approaches relies on the focused ion beam (FIB) technique, widely used in the development of the latest generation of microelectronic systems, microfluidic chips, photonic and biomedical devices. Recently, the development of cryogenic FIB has further expanded its capabilities, particularly in characterizing materials and systems containing soft and liquid phases, while maintaining sample integrity. The Thermo Scientific™ Helios™ 5 CX DualBeam instrument offers a unique opportunity of handling samples at both room and cryogenic temperatures. Its cryogenic inert-gas sample transfer system enables the safe transfer of samples to gloveboxes and other instruments under cryogenic temperatures, without exposing them to ambient conditions. The instrument contributes to the educational mission of Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility at Duke and in the Research Triangle and Triad Areas enabling the diverse population of graduate, undergraduate, minority and female students to prepare nano- or microfluidic channels, deposition of nano-wires, and fabrication and characterization of micro-electro-mechanical systems. The Thermo Fischer Scientific Cryogenic Helios 5 CX DualBeam for Materials Science is an integrated FIB and scanning electron microscope instrument, enabling a plethora of flexibility to perform nanofabrication, lithography, volumetric imaging, and in-situ measurements. The development of more flexible ion beam columns and in-situ cooling capabilities in this instrument also reduce detrimental effects of Ga+ implantation and ion and electron beam irradiation-induced heating on the sample surface and enable studies of beam-sensitive, soft, and liquid materials. A cryogenic stage in a FIB is especially critical to scanning electron microscopy analysis and transmission electron microscopy specimen preparations for microelectronic, energy storage materials, and two-dimensional materials, which are extremely sensitive to ion and electron beams and can only be imaged and sectioned at cooled temperatures. The Thermo Fischer Scientific Cryogenic Helios 5 CX DualBeam enables a number of cutting-edge research projects including nanofabrication of hyperbolic metastructures for imaging with subwavelength resolution, characterization of hard-soft material interfaces where preparation of a very smooth surface exposing undamaged polymer with the hard domains is critical, studies of cathode-electrolyte interfaces in alkali-ion batteries, analysis of high-performance composites for lithium-metal batteries, investigation of interference effects in superconductor-quantum Hall hybrid structures, ultra-high-resolution imaging and characterization of the catalyst-support for plasmonic catalysts enabling solar ammonia synthesis under concentrated sunlight. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.