Publications

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A series of thin electrodeposited Cu foils and Cu foil/Kapton flex circuits were tested in bending fatigue according to ASTM E796 and IPC-TM-650. The fatigue behavior was analyzed in terms of strain vs. number of cycles to failure, using a Coffin-Manson approach. The effects of Cu foil thickness and Cu trace width are discussed. The Cu foils performed as expected and the Cu foil/Kapton® (E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, DE) composites showed significant improvement in fatigue lifetime due to the composite strengthening effect of the Kapton layers. However, the flex circuits showed more scatter in fatigue life based on electrical continuity. The effect of the Kapton layers manifests itself by significantly more widespread microcracking in the Cu traces and the extent of microcracking depended on the strain level. *Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. © 2008 MS&T'08 ®.

We have studied the dislocation structures that occur in films of Ag, Au, and Ag{sub 0.5}Au{sub 0.5} alloy on a Ru(0001) substrate. Monolayer (ML) films form herringbone phases while films two or more layers thick contain triangular patterns of dislocations. We use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) to determine how the film composition affects the structure and periodicity of these ordered structures. One layer of Ag forms two different herringbone phases depending on the exact Ag coverage and temperature. Low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) establishes that a reversible, first-order phase transition occurs between these two phases at a certain temperature. We critically compare our 1 ML Ag structures to conflicting results from an X-ray scattering study [H. Zajonz et al., Phys. Rev. B 67 (2003) 155417]. Unlike Ag, the herringbone phases of Au and AgAu alloy are independent of the exact film coverage. For two layer films in all three systems, none of the dislocations in the triangular networks thread into the second film layer. In all three systems, the in-plane atomic spacing of the second film layer is nearly the same as in the bulk. Film composition does, however, affect the details of the two layer structures. Ag and Au films form interconnected networks of dislocations, which we refer to as 'trigons.' In 2 ML AgAu alloy, the dislocations form a different triangular network that shares features of both trigon and moire structures. Yet another well-ordered structure, with square symmetry, forms at the boundaries of translational trigon domains in 2 ML Ag films but not in Au films.

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Conformal coatings are used in space applications on printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies primarily as a protective barrier against environmental contaminants. Such coatings have been used at Sandia for decades in satellite applications including the GPS satellite program. Recently, the value of conformal coating has been questioned because it is time consuming (requiring a 5-6 week schedule allowance) and delays due to difficulty of repairs and rework performed afterward are troublesome. In an effort to find opportunities where assembly time can be reduced, a review of the literature as well as discussions with satellite engineers both within and external to Sandia regarding the value of conformal coating was performed. Several sources on the value of conformal coating, the functions it performs, and on whether coatings are necessary and should be used at all were found, though nearly all were based on anecdotal information. The first section of this report, titled 'Conformal Coating for Space Applications', summarizes the results of an initial risk-value assessment of the conformal coating process for Sandia satellite programs based on information gathered. In the process of collecting information to perform the assessment, it was necessary to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the entire satellite box assembly process. A production time-line was constructed and is presented in the second section of this report, titled 'Satellite Box Assembly', specifically to identify potential sources of time delays, manufacturing issues, and component failures related to the conformal coating process in relation to the box assembly. The time-line also allows for identification of production issues that were anecdotally attributed to the conformal coating but actually were associated with other production steps in the box assembly process. It was constructed largely in consultation with GPS program engineers with empirical knowledge of times required to complete the production steps, and who are familiar with associated risks from activities such as handling, assembly, transportation, testing, and integration into a space vehicle (SV) system. Finally, section three titled, 'Summary and Recommendations for Future Work', briefly summarizes what we have learned and describes proposed future work.

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This report summarizes a survey of several new methods for obtaining mechanical and rheological properties of single biological cells, in particular: (1) The use of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) to measure the natural vibrations of certain cells. (2) The development of a novel micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) for obtaining high-resolution force-displacement curves. (3) The use of the atomic force microscope (AFM) for cell imaging. (4) The adaptation of a novel squeezing-flow technique to micro-scale measurement. The LDV technique was used to investigate the recent finding reported by others that the membranes of certain biological cells vibrate naturally, and that the vibration can be detected clearly with recent instrumentation. The LDV has been reported to detect motions of certain biological cells indirectly through the motion of a probe. In this project, trials on Saccharomyces cerevisiae tested and rejected the hypothesis that the LDV could measure vibrations of the cell membranes directly. The MEMS investigated in the second technique is a polysilicon surface-micromachined force sensor that is able to measure forces to a few pN in both air and water. The simple device consists of compliant springs with force constants as low as 0.3 milliN/m and Moire patterns for nanometer-scale optical displacement measurement. Fields from an electromagnet created forces on magnetic micro beads glued to the force sensors. These forces were measured and agreed well with finite element prediction. It was demonstrated that the force sensor was fully functional when immersed in aqueous buffer. These results show the force sensors can be useful for calibrating magnetic forces on magnetic beads and also for direct measurement of biophysical forces on-chip. The use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for profiling the geometry of red blood cells was the third technique investigated here. An important finding was that the method commonly used for attaching the cells to a substrate actually modified the mechanical properties of the cell membrane. Thus, the use of the method for measuring the mechanical properties of the cell may not be completely appropriate without significant modifications. The latest of the studies discussed in this report is intended to overcome the drawback of the AFM as a means of measuring mechanical and rheological properties. The squeezing-flow AFM technique utilizes two parallel plates, one stationary and the other attached to an AFM probe. Instead of using static force-displacement curves, the technique takes advantage of frequency response functions from force to velocity. The technique appears to be quite promising for obtaining dynamic properties. More research is required to develop this technique.

The formation and functions of living materials and organisms are fundamentally different from those of synthetic materials and devices. Synthetic materials tend to have static structures, and are not capable of adapting to the functional needs of changing environments. In contrast, living systems utilize energy to create, heal, reconfigure, and dismantle materials in a dynamic, non-equilibrium fashion. The overall goal of the project was to organize and reconfigure functional assemblies of nanoparticles using strategies that mimic those found in living systems. Active assembly of nanostructures was studied using active biomolecules to drive the organization and assembly of nanocomposite materials. In this system, kinesin motor proteins and microtubules were used to direct the transport and interactions of nanoparticles at synthetic interfaces. In addition, the kinesin/microtubule transport system was used to actively assemble nanocomposite materials capable of storing significant elastic energy. Novel biophysical measurement tools were also developed for measuring the collective force generated by kinesin motor proteins, which will provide insight on the mechanical constraints of active assembly processes. Responsive reconfiguration of nanostructures was studied in terms of using active biomolecules to mediate the optical properties of quantum dot (QD) arrays through modulation of inter-particle spacing and associated energy transfer interaction. Design rules for kinesin-based transport of a wide range of nanoscale cargo (e.g., nanocrystal quantum dots, micron-sized polymer spheres) were developed. Three-dimensional microtubule organizing centers were assembled in which the polar orientation of the microtubules was controlled by a multi-staged assembly process. Overall, a number of enabling technologies were developed over the course of this project, and will drive the exploitation of energy-driven processes to regulate the assembly, disassembly, and dynamic reorganization of nanomaterials.

We show that the orientation of pentacene molecules is controlled by the electronic structure of the surface on which they are deposited. We suggest that the near-Fermi level density of states above the surface controls the interaction of the substrate with the pentacene {pi} orbitals. A reduction of this density as compared to noble metals, realized in semimetallic Bi(001) and Si(111)(5 x 2)Au surfaces, results in pentacene standing up. Interestingly, pentacene grown on Bi(001) is highly ordered, yielding the first vertically oriented epitaxial pentacene thin films observed to date.

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