Research theme

Development of advanced nanolevel electronic measurement/treatment equipment

Participated in by

Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering/Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Center, Kyoto University; Shimadzu Corporation; Kyocera Corporation; Kyoto Instruments Co., Ltd.

Goal/Milestone

Efforts were made to develop a novel scanning probe microscope (SPM) capable of observing the surface of a material, conducting property evaluation, and processing, on a nanoscale. This is the most fundamental technology for creating next-generation industries in the field of nanotechnology. Furthermore, research and development programs were pursued to commercialize materials prepared through nanolevel processing using SPM-related equipment. Until 2005, efforts were concentrated on improving the precision of atomic force microscopes (AFM), which are the most versatile among SPM. This was intended to enable geometrical observation with a notably higher resolution than that of conventional techniques, property evaluation at higher sensitivity, and higher-precision and higher-speed processing. Furthermore, the goals included specific application of the technology for semiconductor property evaluation, molecular orientation control, etc. Since FY 2006, with commercialization in mind regarding AFM-related elementary technology and its applied measurement/processing methods, efforts were made to develop a prototype or commercial product of a practical large-area molecular orientation controller, drift-free nanolevel measurement system, two-dimensional carrier density mapping system, and nanofunctional measurement probe.