Novel Process Opens New Doors for Nanoscale Thermal Processing

Professor William King, an associate professor and Kritzer Faculty Scholar at MechSE, and collaborators at the University of Rhode Island have developed a simple batch fabrication process for making 100 nanometer scale heater/thermometers at reasonably low cost.They described their novel fabrication process, which uses contact photolithography and controlled anneal conditions, in the February 6, 2009 online edition of Nanotechnology. Their work was also featured online in Nanowerk.

Being able to manufacture such nanometer scale heater/thermometers is highly desirable, as such heaters can be used to perform thermal diagnostics of nanomaterials as well as to test the temperature dependence of material properties at the smallest possible scale. King's team is currently working on a number of applications for nanoscale thermal processing. These include nanoscale manufacturing, metrology and materials analysis.