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Cores and Resources Serving UCLA
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Nano and Pico Characterization Lab
Location:
570 Westwood Plaza
Building 114
Los Angeles, CA, 90095
Phone Number:
310-206.2144 Core Phone Number
Training
For training contact Adam Stieg - stieg@cnsi.ucla.edu.
The Nano and Pico Characterization core facility at CNSI provides state-of-the-art microscopies to visualize surfaces and molecules as well as nanostructures and devices down to the level of individual atoms.
Scanned Probe Microscopies differ from conventional microscopes that use light or beams of charged particles. They rely upon a unique tactile sensing of the surface using atomically sharp tips that literally feel molecules and structures like a blind person reading brail. The fingers used in SPM terminate in tips shrunk down by a factor of approximately 10 million times that of your finger.
Scanned Probe Microscopies are also able to probe local properties on the atomic scale such as friction, electrical charge and local magneticism. They can also pull and record the unraveling of single molecule chains such as DNA and polymers.
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy relies on quantum mechanics to sense a tiny electrical current flowing between the tip and surface, which are not in contact. The overlap of the electron "clouds" of atom and specimen also permits the precise control of individual atoms and molecules in fabrication of nanostructures. This element of control can be thought of as the ultimate limit of fabrication.
Atomic Force Microscopy relies upon sensing tiny forces between the tip and object in order to feel and visualize nanostructures. The method uses a soft spring made from a silicon micromechanical cantilever onto which a sharp tip is attached.
SPM systems operate in a diverse range of environments, for example, from temperatures 4oK and below (liquid Helium) up to 1000o
C. Also, they operate in the extreme vacuum of space UHV) all the way to atmospheric to liquid environments (including biofluids and electrochemical environments).
The diversity of operation has enabled SPM techniques to be used regularly to investigate systems such as: single DNA strands, living cells, proteins, molecules and atoms. Automated robotic APM's are found in semiconductor manufacture and magnetic disk fabrication where they are critical metrology and quality control tools.
The CNSI Nano and Pico Characterization core facility encompasses SPM imaging under all these environmental conditions. It is therefore a cornerstone for developing new nanotechnology products and performing nanoscience research.
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