The Nuclear Microprobe: Phase 2 - Submicron probes for frontier studies.

University of Melbourne Contact Name:

Prof. David N. Jamieson Director, Microanalytical Research Centre,

ph: 8344 5376 School of Physics, University of Melbourne,

fax: 9347 4783 Parkville, 3052

email: dnj@physics.unimelb.edu.au

Proposal Summary

The new century brings a wide variety of new possibilities for the nuclear microprobe and the opportunity to establish a unique facility for the investigation and fabrication of new phases of matter. With this proposal we aim to implement a new facility for the production of submicron focused beams of high energy ions. These beams will be used to probe electronic and nuclear structures in novel materials providing unprecedented clear pictures of interesting features. As a compliment to this new high resolution facility, two sattlelite facilities for the analysis of surface features will also be established. As well, the implanted ions will be used to modify materials in subtle and versatile ways to produce structures with unusal properties. Many external collaborators use these facilities.

Partner Institutions:

CSIRO: Dr Chris Ryan - GEMOC and CSIRO Exploration and Mining, PO Box 136, North Ryde NSW 2113, Australia

Contribution: Cash for upgrade to probe forming lens system, $40,000

RMIT: Dr Peter Johnston and Mr Peter Patterson - Department of Applied Physics, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001, Australia.

Contribution: Kind and cash for windowless x-ray detector to be retrofitted to the scanning Auger nanoprobe, $40,000

UTS: Dr Matthew Phillips - Director, Microstructural Analysis Unit, Faculty of Science,LG Bld 4, Thomas Street, Ultimo, University of Technology, Sydney

Contribution: Kind and cash for an upgrade to the cathodoluminescence scanning electron microscope, $20,000.

Additional contributions:

School of Physics, University of Melbourne: $30,000

Faculty of Science Equipment fund: ??$50,000

University of Melbourne $??

[MARCO $70,000 Professional officer salary for one year]

To implement this facility, a number of significant modifications are proposed to our existing light ion facility. These modifications are directed in two main areas:

(1) Implementation of a high brightness ion source retrofit to the ion accelerator. This requires special gas handling, replacement of the corona needles in the accelerator and a new, experimental ion source. Cost $261,000

(2) Installation of new lens system to focus sub-micron probes based on a novel design we have devised as a result of more than 10 years experience in the field: Cost $40,000

Two additional modifications are required to our satellite facilities:

(3) Installation of a windowless x-ray detector to the RMIT scanning Auger nanoprobe for quantitative measurement of light element concentrations: Cost $80,000

(4) Installation of upgrade to the CL microscope and supply of liquid helium for one year consumption: Cost $40,000

Total cost of the proposal: $421,000

Users: Number of staff & postdocs Number of Students

MARC 8 24

CSIRO 2 2

UTS 3 2

RMIT ~3 ~4

Alternative abstracts:

The possibility of focussing a beam of MeV ions into sub-micron probes opens many new research windows of opportunity in the study of novel materials and single cells. We propose to make a significant upgrade of the Melbourne nuclear microprobe so that it can achieve the highly desired goal of sub-micron resolution. We will combine this with two complimentary electron-beam based instruments that already achieve comparable resolution to provide the full picture of a wide range of materials in existing and proposed research projects. This would produce a unique facility for interdisciplinary studies of wide band gap semiconductors, single cells and geological materials.

The new century brings a wide variety of new possibilities for the nuclear microprobe and the opportunity to establish a unique facility for the investigation and fabrication of new phases of matter. With this proposal we aim to implement a new facility for the production of finely focused beams of high energy ions. These beams will be used to probe electronic and nuclear structures in novel materials providing unprecedented clear pictures of interesting features. As a compliment to this new high resolution facility, two sattlelite facilities for the analysis of surface features will also be established. Many external collaborators use these facilities.

The unique nuclear microprobe facility at the University of Melbourne is applied to many interdisciplinary projects. We now propose to upgrade the facility to produce sub-micron probes with unprecedented resolution , high sensitivity and great quantitative accuracy. The main focus of this facility is a variety of ARC funded projects on wide bandgap semiconductors, with a significant additional small ARC funded project on living cells. Submicron probes are vital to address the frontier problems involved in these projects including diamond based microelectronic devices, mutagenic changes in living cells and surface chemistry of technological important ceramics.