Scientists, disciplines converge at Center for Nanoscale Materials

While Mother Nature has been working at the nanoscale since the beginning of time, researchers have only recently begun to develop the tools and techniques for studying and building materials at this tiniest of scales. Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) offers scientists from many different disciplines the opportunity to hone these skills and use state-of-the-art equipment to delve deeper into how materials behave at the nanoscale level.

"Nanoscience is, by definition, interdisciplinary, says CNM Director Eric Isaacs. "As a field that sees the world from the perspective of the nanometer (one-billionth of a meter), it begins to unlock the mysteries in the realm of atoms and electrons — the building blocks of biology, physics and chemistry.

The Center for Nanoscale Materials is a joint partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Illinois, as part of the Energy Department's Nanoscale Science Research Center program. The CNM will serve as a user-based center, providing tools and infrastructure for nanoscience and nanotechnology research. The CNM's mission includes supporting basic research and the development of advanced instrumentation that will help generate new scientific insights and create new materials with novel properties. The Center focuses on eight primary research themes: bio-inorganic interfaces; complex oxides; nanocarbon; nanomagnetism; nanophotonics; theory and simulation; lithography; and X-ray nanoprobe.

"Argonne is an ideal site for the CNM, Isaacs said, "because this is the only place in the country where you can find hard X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), neutrons at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source and an Electron Microscopy Center— three powerful and complementary tools for nanoresearch — in one laboratory. These facilities are open to academic, government and industrial users through a peer-reviewed process.

Construction of a building to house the Center for Nanoscale Materials began at Argonne in the summer of 2004. It will be the home of research instruments, laboratories, clean rooms and work space to assist in fabricating and understanding these tiny materials. Completion of the building is expected in October 2007.

The CNM's first dedicated instrument will be the pioneering nanoprobe beamline under construction at the APS, this hemisphere's most brilliant source of X-rays for research. The nanoprobe will be a hard X-ray microscopy beamline with the highest spatial resolution in the world. With its combination of fluorescence, diffraction and transmission imaging at a spatial resolution of 30 nanometers or better in a single tool, the nanoprobe will be able to penetrate samples in situ and provide information about their internal structures.

An electron-beam lithography facility will provide fabrication support to CNM users, including a 100-kilovolt electron-beam lithography device — one of a handful of such devices in the country. The center will also feature an Argonne-developed nanopositioning system for precision motion and measurement.

"The Center is working hard to fuse biological and inorganic materials in ways that aren't possible with current technology, Isaacs says. "In order to do so, we must provide a space for scientists from different disciplines to work together without any interactive walls or boundaries.