MRI: Acquisition of an SEM instrumented to conduct in-operando observations of materials performance under external stimuli

MRI：获取 SEM，用于在外部刺激下对材料性能进行操作中观察

• 批准号: 2018167
• 负责人: Jennifer Carter
• 金额: $ 67.37万
• 依托单位: Case Western Reserve University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2018167&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; SEM; instrumented; conduct

With this award funded by the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, Case Western Reserve University will acquire a variable pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The instrument features detectors and stages integrated with external stimuli that will enable in-operando studies of the evolution of materials, devices, and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). This instrument will enhance the research and teaching capabilities across CWRU, and provide a unique resource to the surrounding research community. This instrument will be located in a general user facility, with training and service work managed by highly qualified staff. Users from across Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, and the School of Medicine can explore the fundamental materials science necessary to understand and improve devices ranging from batteries to high-temperature sensors and actuators to thin-film solar cells. The proposed instrument will enhance the student learning experience by giving students access to contemporary imaging techniques useful for research and development across all material systems. In particular, the variable pressure chamber of the proposed instrument reduces the sample preparation needed to characterize insulators, thus allowing undergraduate students to focus on the learning objective of the laboratory course. The equipment provides a method to directly observe dynamic mechanisms for the development of models of behaviors and advance our scientific understanding in a broad range of materials research problems. Such unprecedented experiments will lead to new fundamental insights for the development and testing of mechanistically-informed theories, and from them, new design rules and guidelines for rational engineering of materials and devices. In particular, it will enable mechanisms of interface evolution in optoelectronic devices; electrochemical reactions; and microstructural evolution under elevated-temperature conditions in material systems for energy generation. The capability to image insulator material without conductive coating provides a new opportunity to the CWRU materials research community, to explore mechanisms of material synthesis and microstructural evolution that are not currently possible with existing SEM equipment. In particular, understanding how the interfaces of layered and architectured polymer materials control lifetime performance for optoelectronic and energy storage applications.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.

通过大型研究工具（MRI）计划资助的这一奖项，Case Western Reserve University将获得可变的压力扫描电子显微镜（SEM）。该仪器具有与外部刺激集成在一起的探测器和阶段，该仪器将对材料，设备和微电机械系统（MEMS）的演化进行幕内研究。该工具将增强CWRU的研究和教学能力，并为周围的研究社区提供独特的资源。该工具将位于通用用户设施中，并由高素质的员工管理培训和服务工作。各个工程，物理，化学和医学院的用户可以探索理解和改进从电池到高温传感器以及执行器再到薄膜太阳能电池等设备所需的基本材料科学。提出的工具将通过使学生获得当代成像技术的访问，可改善学生的学习体验。特别是，提议的仪器的可变压力室减少了表征绝缘子所需的样品制备，从而使本科生可以专注于实验室课程的学习目标。该设备提供了一种直接观察动态机制的方法，以发展行为模型，并在广泛的材料研究问题中提高我们的科学理解。这种前所未有的实验将为机械知识理论的开发和检验提供新的基本见解，并从中，新的设计规则和材料和设备合理工程的新设计规则和准则。特别是，它将启用光电设备中界面进化的机制；电化学反应；在材料系统中，能量产生的材料系统中的温度升高条件下的微观结构进化。没有导电涂层的绝热材料成像的能力为CWRU材料研究界提供了新的机会，以探索现有SEM设备目前无法使用的材料合成和微观结构演化的机制。特别是，了解光电子和储能应用的分层和架构聚合物材料的界面如何控制寿命性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的审查标准通过评估来获得支持的。