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Physical Measurement Laboratory / Nanoscale Device Characterization Division

Nanoscale Processes and Measurements Group

Scanning Probe Metrology

Summary

Underlying all information transfer and computation involves the movement and detection of electrons, which are the subatomic particles found in all atoms that make up materials. Understanding how electrons travel, assist in binding atoms together to make materials, and how they distribute themselves in different materials is central to understanding how the world works. Measuring the properties of atoms and electrons in materials necessarily benefits from measurements that are at the smallest scale possible in the atomic regime and use the quantum nature of electrons themselves as a probe. The program in scanning probe metrology does this by developing quantum measurement tools and methods that are required to reveal the quantum phenomena in new materials and devices at the atomic scale to harness them for applications in metrology, sensing, and quantum information science. The capabilities involve quantum tunneling of electrons, quantum force, quantum spin resonance, and quantum transport measurements in multi-modal instruments aimed at the atomic level. The instruments and measurements are made possible by custom designed world-class instruments, unparalleled outside of NIST, operating at ultra-low temperatures down to 10 mK (0.01 K) in ultra-high vacuum and with applied magnetic fields up to 15 T. This allows quantum wavefunctions to be mapped with atomic scale resolution and electron energy levels to be resolved with μeV energy resolution. The measurements are closely coupled with fabrication facilities for molecular beam epitaxy of various materials as well as nanofabrication of heterostructed devices.

DESCRIPTION

The Nanoscale Process and Measurement Group has four themes in Advanced Development of Scanning Probe Metrology Instrumentation and Measurements focused on Quantum Nanoelectronics.