Reliable Assembling of Colloidal Nanoparticles in Two and Three Dimensions by Dual-AFM-based Handling inside a Scanning Electron Microscope

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Sergej Fatikow
• Subject Area: Measurement Systems
• Term: from 2012 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 213422375

Colloidal particles provide a variety of micro- and nanosized particle systems in terms of chemical and physical properties. If individual colloidal particles are arranged in specific spatial order, they can collectively interact electronically or with incident light waves, enabling novel applications for photonics, plasmonics or sensors. This extension project aims to develop automated robotic procedures for the pick-and-place handling as well as the assembly of individual colloidal particles.To achieve this goal, a nanorobotic work station will be optimized in order to allow for precise and fully-automated assembly routines. Applying the well-known adhesion-guided handling strategies, an essential goal of this project is to evaluate the fundamental limits of the robotic based pick-and-place process, particularly with respect to progressively smaller particles. Furthermore, this extension project aims to develop automated packaging sequences of colloidal particles to assemble three-dimensional structures. Finally, the developed routines will be applied to fabricate functional photonic and plasmonic devices. These devices will be characterized with respect to the achievable geometric precision as well as to their electronic and optical properties in cooperation with other research groups from the field of nanophotonics and nano-optics.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants