AFM-Based Mechanical Nanomanipulation

Advances in several research areas increase the need for more sophisticated fabrication techniques and better performing materials. Tackling this problem from a bottom-up perspective is currently an active field of research. The bottom-up fabrication procedure offers sub-nanometer accurate manipulation. At this time, candidates to achieve nanomanipulation include chemical (self-assembly), biotechnology methods (DNA-based), or using controllable physical forces (e.g. electrokinetic forces, mechanical forces). In this thesis, new methods and techniques for mechanical nanomanipulation using probe force interaction are developed. The considered probes are commonly used in Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs) for high resolution imaging. AFM-based mechanical nanomanipulation will enable arranging nanoscale entities such as nanotubes and molecules in a precise and controlled manner to assemble and produce novel devices and systems at the nanoscale. The novelty of this research stems from the development of new modeling of the physics and mechanics of the tip interaction with nanoscale entities, coupled with the development of new smart cantilevers with multiple degrees of freedom. The gained knowledge from the conducted simulations and analysis is expected to enable true precision and repeatability of nanomanipulation tasks which is not feasible with existing methods and technologies

Control of 2D Flexible Structures by Confinement of Vibrations and Regulation of Their Energy Flow

In this paper, we investigate the control of 2D flexible structures by vibration confinement and the regulation of their energy flow along prespecified spatial paths. A discretized-model-based feedback strategy, aiming at confining and suppressing simultaneously the vibration, is proposed. It is assumed that the structure consists of parts that are sensitive to vibrations. The control design introduces a new pseudo-modal matrix derived from the computed eigenvectors of the discretized model. Simulations are presented to show the efficacy of the proposed control law. A parametric study is carried out to examine the effects of the different control parameters on the simultaneous confinement and suppression of vibrations. In addition, we conducted a set of simulations to investigate the flow control of vibrational energy during the confinement-suppression process. We found that the energy flow can be regulated via a set of control parameters for different confinement configurations