Nanotechnology at Boston University

For his Ph.D. research, Mr. Dunn works at Boston University in the field of nanotechnology with Dr. Raj Mohanty. One of the fastest growing and most diverse fields in science today, nanotechnology focuses on the world of the extremely small. Laid side by side, you could fit roughly 50 of the devices shown on the right across the width of a human hair!

Among the many exciting applications of nanotechnology, the Mohanty group focuses on advances in quantum computing, biological molecular detection, and searching for the answers to some fundamental questions in physics, specifically in quantum mechanics.

A field trip to B.U. for Physics Day gave Mr. Dunn the opportunity to show his students around the lab and describe a few of the tools used in nanotechnology research. Shown below are a few pictures during the tour.

A. Gaidarzhy et al, Phys. Rev. Lett 94, 030402 (2005)

 
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a primary tool for both viewing and patterning nano-scale devices. Mr. Dunn gives the students an up-close view of a mosquito using the SEM. Click here for a few pictures of the mosquito and a spider taken with the SEM.
When an ultra-thin layer (5-100 nm) of metal is required on a nano-device, a thermal evaporator, like the one pictured above, will often be used. Making measurements at the nano-scale requires extremely sensitive techniques, and eliminating outside sources of noise is important. Here the students are shown a room where such measurements are made, set up to be isolated as well as possible from vibrations and electric and magnetic fields.