Technical Difficulties

Progress has been made on the front of fabricating the "trench" structures using PMMA on silica.  The layers are a suitable depth and the program to use the e-beam has been set up to run test runs to determine the power of the beam to get clean edges and correct depth etching.  However, all of this is waiting to be used while the e-beam software and the e-beam hardware are being fixed.  The problem lies in that they are not communicating with each other, so that while they are both technically functional, the beam cannot be used because it cannot be told what to do until it can communicate with the software.  The technicians at TU have been working very hard to resolve this issue themselves but have had no luck and have had to call in the SEM manufacturers for assistance.  I am confident that once they have fixed the problems I will be able to have sample made within two weeks (one week to fine tune the parameters and one week to make the samples) and then start using them with surfactants and AFM.  I am excited about this because all of the problems that have been overcome to finally reach that point will make it more rewarding.
The other half of the fabrication process, the "terraces", is also slow moving due to problems involving surfactant on the surface of the beads and silica making it difficult to etch cleanly.  The researcher I have been working with believes that we may have had success with solvent testing, and sees a possibility of etching again next week.  I am looking forward to this because school starts soon and I would like to have all of the preparation work out of the way so that I won't have to stretch myself between school and research too much, but I am mentally preparing myself to do so anyway!  Knock on wood that the AFM is working at the end of all of this.