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Horacio D. Espinosa

Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Northwestern University

Science and Technology of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films for Multifunctional MEMS / NEMS Devices

In this presentation I will address a collaborative research effort addressing experimental, analytical and computational activities being conducted as part of an NSF-Nanoscience Interdisciplinary Research Team project with team members from Northwestern University (NU), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC), and collaborators from Argonne and Sandia National Laboratories (ANL and SNL). The NIRT focuses on the following main topics:

1. Scan probe microscopy approaches, including conductive atomic force microcopy and ultra high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, for nanoscale characterization of surface structure and conductivity of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films.

2. Investigation of mechanical properties, such as Young's modulus, hardness, and fracture toughness, of UNCD with varying degrees of doping; at the micro level, using a recently developed membrane deflection experiment, and at the nano level by means of nanofabrication and testing techniques.

3. Study of the deposition process and the relationship between microstucture and electro-mechanical properties of UNCD films via multi-scale simulations .

In this presentation I will address the relevance of the project, preliminary findings and applications of interest such as massively parallel AFM potentiometry and biomolecular patterning for biological assembly of nanodevices.

I will also discuss the role of mechanics in the area of nano and biotechnology and challenge the audience to brainstorm on this issue.