Nanomanufacturing: Nano-Structured Materials Made Layer-by-Layer

Large-scale, high-throughput production of nano-structured materials (i.e. nanomanufacturing) is a strategic area in manufacturing, with markets projected to exceed $\$$1T by 2015. Nanomanufacturing is still in its infancy; process/product developments are costly and only touch on potential opportunities enabled by growing nanoscience discoveries. The greatest promise for high-volume manufacturing lies in age-old coating and imprinting operations. For materials with tailored nm-scale structure, imprinting/embossing must be achieved at high speeds (roll-to-roll) and/or over large areas (batch operation) with feature sizes less than 100 nm. Dispersion coatings with nanoparticles can also tailor structure through self- or directed-assembly. Layering films structured with these processes have tremendous potential for efficient manufacturing of microelectronics, photovoltaics and other topical nano-structured devices. This project is designed to perform the requisite R and D to bring Sandia's technology base in computational mechanics to bear on this scale-up problem. Project focus is enforced by addressing a promising imprinting process currently being commercialized.. Authors: Schunk, Peter Randall [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Roberts, Scott A. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Chandross, Michael Evan [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Cheng, Shengfeng [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Grest, Gary Stephen [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)]. DOE Contract: AC04-94AL85000. Subjects: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; COATINGS; MANUFACTURING; MATERIALS; MICROELECTRONICS; PRODUCTION