Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research Phase II project capitalizes on a unique combination of technical expertise developed at Cornell University, SC Solutions, and Cryo Industries of America to produce a powerful new type of scanned probemicroscope.The magnetic resonance force microscope is a sensitive new technique for detecting nuclear magnetic (and unpaired electrons). In this proposal we detail a product development effort aimed at commercializing a variable-temperature magnetic resonance forcemicroscope capable of detecting and imaging at a sensitivity of a few thousand protons.Our microscope will give researchers the unprecedented ability to acquire, nondestructively, a three-dimensional image of subsurface nanoscale features with isotopic, and potentially chemical, selectivity. This unique instrument will be widely sought byresearchers and product developers in the semiconductor, materials, and biotechnology industries.Our Phase II effort will concentrate on perfecting the key technologies required to bring the microscope to market. They include ultrasensitive silicon cantilevers with nanomagnet tips, a digital-signal-processor-based cantilever controller, and acryogenic microscope. We will be well positioned at the end of Phase II to pursue a family of cryogenic scanned probe microscope products that will culminate in a single spin magnetic resonance force microscope in Phase III. The Magnetic Resonance Force Microscope (MRFM) enables imaging of subsurface features for the first time and has the unique capacity of being able to image nanoscale features with isotopic selectivity. The MRFM will be an important tool for studyingcomplex disordered materials such as catalytically active composites, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage materials. Commercial and military applications include - research of advanced materials, advanced semiconductor devices and nanoelectronics, emergingsolid-state phenomena, single molecule analytical chemistry, infectious disease research, and biotechnology/crystallography. Thin film analysis studies can help provide alternative methods of technology scaling needed to deliver improved chip performanceand true quantum computers.