Effects of macro-scale uncertainties on the imaging and automatic manipulation of nanoparticles

Abstract

The steering, positioning, and fabrication operations in nano scale have been hampered by the uncertainties which come from the macro parts of nano-positioners. Among those uncertainties, the nonlinearities of piezo scanners have the highest contribution, which should be identified and compensated. On the other hand, the recognition of the effects of macro-scale nonlinearities on small-scale dynamics requires the simultaneous consideration of both the macro- and small-scale dynamics. This necessitates the implementation of multi-scale methods. In this article, a fixed interfacial multi-scale method (FIMM) that includes the effects of hysteresis has been used for the computationally and mathematically efficient modeling of nano-positioners. This method presents an improved coupling approach that can be used to study the imaging and manipulation of nanoparticles (from one to several hundred nanometers in diameter) subjected to nonlinear as well as linear positioning schemes. After comparing the applied hysteresis model with some previous experimental works, the dynamics of imaging and automatic manipulation of nanoparticles have been studied and some useful results have been presented. This paper opens a new window to the recognition and compensation of the errors of macro-scale nonlinearities imposed on small-scale dynamics.