Spider-silk-based fabrication of nanogaps and wires

We report on the use of spider fibers as micro- and nanostencils for the fabrication of nanogaps between ultrathin conductive electrodes, and as molds for fabrication of micro- and nanowires by deposition of evaporated gold. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) morphological characterization of the nanogaps is described, together with the measurement of the electrical behavior of both nanogaps and nanowires. Gaps as narrow as 20?nm, comparable to e-beam-fabricated gaps, with electrical resistance higher than 10(13)?Ω have been obtained; while conductive fibers ranging from 350?nm to 1.5?μm in diameter and resistances ranging from 50?MΩ to 100?Ω have been obtained and characterized.     

Silicon metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector with zinc oxide transparent conducting electrodes

Transparent conducting oxides thin layers, due to their optical and electrical properties, can be used as transparent electrodes in various optoelectronic devices. We present a metal-semiconductor-metal photodiode (MSM-PD) on silicon as optically active layer with zinc oxide (ZnO) thin layer as interdigitated Schottky transparent electrodes. The advantage of using a ZnO thin layer as Schottky electrodes consists in the improvement of the photoresponse by eliminating the shadowing of the active area by opaque metallic electrodes. ZnO thin layers were deposited on 10 Ω cm resistivity silicon epitaxial wafers by the vacuum thermal evaporation method. High purity metallic powders were mixed with an (Al + Sn)/Zn ratio of 0.03. In order to obtain transparent layers the metallic depositions were thermally treated at 450 °C for 2 h. The Al, Sn co-doped ZnO layers of 0.5-0.8 μm were investigated regarding structural, optical and electrical properties and surface morphology. The obtained thin layers have a high transparency (T > 85%) over a large spectral range and the resistivity is quite low, ρ ~ 10^− 4 Ω cm. The interdigitated Schottky contacts of ZnO were configurated onto the optically active Si layer providing an MSM-PD structure of 0.143 mm² active area and finger spacing and finger width of 6 μm. The optoelectronic characteristics were measured and the Schottky barrier height of 0.62 eV was determined from the current-voltage characteristic. A responsivity of 0.2 A/W at 475 nm and a capacitance of 1.4 pF at 10 V bias were obtained for the MSM-PD structure with transparent conducting ZnO Schottky electrodes.     

A novel submicron-gap electrode fabrication technology using thermal oxidation

A novel and reproducible method to fabricate submicron-gap electrodes using thermal oxidation has been presented. In this method, oxidation process determines the gap distance. The micron-level silicon electrode gaps with different shapes were first generated on the silicon wafer by conventional photolithography followed by deep reactive ion etching process. Then thermal oxidation was conducted to realize the transition from silicon to silicon dioxide, i.e. reduce the gap width. Finally, the planar electrodes with sub-micron spacing were formed by metallization and photolithography. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the electrode configuration and the electrical properties of as-prepared electrode pairs were also characterized. The results showed that using the method investigated in this work, Au electrodes with a submicron-sized gap could be easily fabricated, with good uniformity and reproducibility.     

Optimum Form of Capacitive Transducer for Displacement Measurement

A comb-shaped capacitive transducer for displacement measurement is used as a manufacturing machine controller, a step-and-repeat camera, and an electrical micrometer. In this transducer one of the comb-shaped electrodes is fixed and the other is moved parallel to it. For an accurate measurement it is desirable to increase the difference between the maximum and the minimum values of the capacitance. It has been reported that putting dielectric protective layers on the surfaces of the electrodes effectively increases that difference. To find the optimum form of the transducer, a simulation based on the finite-element method is introduced, and the simulation is experimentally verified. To achieve the optimum form, the distance between the electrode must be made as narrow as possible, and the width of the tooth should be 20 ~ 30 percent of one pitch. The effect of dielectrics put in the capacitor is also discussed.     

Electro-responsive surfaces with controllable wrinkling patterns for switchable light reflection–diffusion–grating devices

Dynamic microscale surface topographies are desired in smart optics, controlling surface wettability and preventing marine biofouling. Voltage-controlled reversible responses have demonstrated potential for reliable reproducibility and stability, fast response, and for actuating thin films fixed over large solid surfaces. To obtain reversible deformation with regular geometric patterns, however, electrical methods have had to be coupled with mechanical stretching/bending and other ways to induce anisotropy. There is a great need and potential for on-demand electrical generation of programmable complex responsive surface patterns. Here we demonstrate a responsive polymer coating over an underlying pattern of counter electrodes which can be activated selectively. We present a patternable electrode printing method to achieve localized and structured wrinkling deformation without mechanical pre-force deformation. We discover that below a minimal separation distance, electrodes below the polymer act as a single electrode. We establish parameters that govern the alignment of wrinkles and quantify the regularity and direction of the new patterns between electrodes separated by larger than this distance. We analyze and quantify the regularity of the formed wrinkling patterns by four disorder metrics: box-counting fractal dimension, tortuosity, angle distribution, and branch number. We demonstrate the application of such electrode/wrinkles-on-demand patterning with a working multi-state light reflection–diffusion–grating device.     

Size-dependent electrical conductivity of indium zinc oxide deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

We investigated the size-dependent electrical conductivities of indium zinc oxide stripes with different widths from 50 nm to 4 microm and with the same thickness of 50 nm deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. The size of the indium zinc oxide stripes was controlled by e-beam lithography. The distance of the two Ti/Au Ohmic electrodes along the indium zinc oxide stripes was kept constant at 25 microm. The electrical conductivity decreased as the size of the indium zinc oxide stripes decreased below a critical width (80 nm). The activation energy, derived from the electric conductivity versus temperature measurement, was dependent on the dimensions of indium zinc oxide stripes. These results can be understood as stemming from surface charge trapping from the absorption of oxygen and/or water vapor, which leads to an increase in the energy difference between the conduction energy band and the Fermi energy.     

Silicon multi-branch nanostructures for decent field emission and excellent electrical transport

We report on the synthesis, field electron emission and electric transport properties of a novel nanomaterial: ordered arrays of crystallized silicon multi-branch nanostructures. A decent field electron emission with relatively low turn-on field of 3.16 V μm?1 and high field-enhancement factor of 1252 was received for the silicon nanobranches. The relevancies between field-emission current-voltage characteristic, turn-on field, threshold field and sample-anode distance have been thoroughly analyzed. In addition, electrical transport measurements revealed a small electrical resistance of 0.51 MΩ for as-prepared silicon nanobranches. In contrast, by improving the silicon nanobranch-electrode contact, vacuum annealing dramatically reduced the electrical resistance, by a factor approaching two, while thermal oxidation resulted in a much higher resistance due to the amorphous oxide coating of the silicon nanobranches, both of the current versus voltage curves became more linear and symmetrical, and the transport stability was obviously improved.     

石墨烯介电电泳组装及电学特性

将石墨烯有效地集成到微纳器件上实现组装是石墨烯得以应用的重要先决条件。采用介电电泳法对二维纳米材料石墨烯进行组装,研究介电电泳组装过程参数包括外加交变电压幅值、石墨烯悬浮液浓度和外加电场作用时间对组装的影响。结果表明:组装到电极之间的石墨烯数量随着上述组装参数值的增大而增加,其中石墨烯悬浮液浓度的影响最为显著。组装后石墨烯的I-V特性曲线呈现良好的直线性,依据组装石墨烯数量的不同,电阻在数kΩ到数百kΩ之间,表明石墨烯与金属电极之间具有较高的接触电阻。采用局部焦耳热法可以有效地降低石墨烯的接触电阻,在电压幅值为3.6V时,降阻效果最优,电阻下降幅度为47.91%。     

All-polymer variable resistors as pressure-responsive devices photochemically assembled using porous composites and flexible electrodes based on conducting polymers

In this study, we fabricated and characterized all-polymer pressure sensors integrated with transduction modules based on conducting polymers. The architecture of the all-polymer pressure sensor is based on a porous conductive blend sandwiched between two flexible conductive polymeric electrodes. When an external pressure is applied to the pressure sensor, the porous conductive blend can act like a variable resistor to indicate the magnitude of the external pressure in terms of a corresponding electrical resistance reading. Different types of conducting polymers were used in two different modular components for fabricating our pressure sensors. The flexible all-polymer electrodes were prepared by coating poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrenesulfonate) on poly(ethyleneterephthalate) substrates. The sheet resistance of our flexible conducting polymeric electrodes was measured to be ～400?Ω/Square. The porous variable resistor component was made by photopolymerization of a UV-curable glue mixed in a powder of polystyrene and polyaniline doped with camphorsulfonic acid. The dimensions of the fabricated transduction modules were ～2?cm?×?～2?cm and ～600?µm in thickness. A preliminary study on the electrical response of our prototype pressure sensors to pressure stimuli was carried out. The result showed that, upon application of pressure stimuli, the transduced electrical resistance could be changed from 122 to 52?kΩ when the pressure was varied from 0 to 145.2?kN/m².     

Flexible Nanoarchitectonics for Biosensing and Physiological Monitoring Applications

Flexible and implantable electronics hold tremendous promises for advanced healthcare applications, especially for physiological neural recording and modulations. Key requirements in neural interfaces include miniature dimensions for spatial physiological mapping and low impedance for recognizing small biopotential signals. Herein, a bottom-up mesoporous formation technique and a top-down microlithography process are integrated to create flexible and low-impedance mesoporous gold (Au) electrodes for biosensing and bioimplant applications. The mesoporous architectures developed on a thin and soft polymeric substrate provide excellent mechanical flexibility and stable electrical characteristics capable of sustaining multiple bending cycles. The large surface areas formed within the mesoporous network allow for high current density transfer in standard electrolytes, highly suitable for biological sensing applications as demonstrated in glucose sensors with an excellent detection limit of 1.95 µm and high sensitivity of 6.1 mA cm⁻² µM⁻¹, which is approximately six times higher than that of benchmarking flat/non-porous films. The low impedance of less than 1 kΩ at 1 kHz in the as-synthesized mesoporous electrodes, along with their mechanical flexibility and durability, offer peripheral nerve recording functionalities that are successfully demonstrated in vivo. These features highlight the new possibilities of our novel flexible nanoarchitectonics for neuronal recording and modulation applications.     

Electrical resistivity of nano-crystalline and natural MgTiO3−geikielite at high-pressures up to 8 GPa

We report here for the first time the pressure dependence of the electrical resistivity of nano-crystalline and natural MgTiO₃-geikielite up to 8 GPa, at room temperature. The electrical resistivity of nano-crystalline geikielite decreases from 2.246 × 10⁸ Ω m at room pressure to 2.0 × 10⁶ Ω m at 7.8 GPa, whereas the electrical resistivity of natural geikielite decreases from 1.098 × 10⁸ Ω m at room pressure to 1.74 × 10⁵ Ω m at 7.8 GPa, indicating more compressibility of natural geikielite in the pressure range of investigations. The present study shows that geikielite does not undergo any pressure-induced phase transition up to 7.8 GPa, indicating its stability in the Earth's mantle pressure conditions.     

超快大功率SiC光导开关的研究

选用钒掺杂浓度为0.2at％的高质量6H-SiC晶体, 电阻率为7.0×10⁸Ω·cm, 研制出超快大功率SiC光导开关. 在脉冲宽度为20ns的光源激发下, 分别测试了在不同的偏置电压和光能条件下开关的电脉冲输出特性. 结果表明: 1mm电极间隙的SiC开关器件的性能优越, 耐偏压高, 光导电脉冲的上升时间快(6.8ns), 脉宽<20ns, 稳定性好. 负载为40Ω的电阻上输出线性电脉冲电压随开关的偏置电压和光强增大而增大, 在2.5kV的偏置电压, 最大瞬时电流约为57.5A, 瞬时功率高达132kW.     

An investigation of contact resistance between carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminate and printed silver electrode for damage monitoring

An addressable conducting network (ACN) enables the structural condition to be monitored by the electrical resistance between electrodes on surface of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) structure. To improve the reliability of ACN for damage detection, the contact resistance between the electrodes and CFRP laminates needs to be minimized. In this paper, the silver nanoparticles electrodes were fabricated via printed electronics techniques on CFRP composite. The contact resistance between the silver electrodes and CFRP was measured with respect to various fabrication conditions such as the sintering temperature of silver nanoink and the surface roughness of CFRP laminates. The interfaces between silver electrode and carbon fibers were observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). From the study, it was found that the lowest contact resistance of 0.3664 Ω could be achieved when the sintering temperature of the silver nanoink and surface roughness were 120 °C and 230 nm, respectively.     

The growth and the ultraviolet photoresponse properties of the horizontal growth ZnO nanorods

The horizontal ZnO nanorods (NRs) were grown by using a low temperature hydrothermal method between the lithographic ZnO interdigital electrodes. In order to horizontally grow the ZnO nanorods, the vertical growth was restrained by coating with the photoresist on the surface nucleation sites. By controlling the distance between the electrodes, only the electrodes for an interval of 7 μm can be connected by the horizontal nanorods to form device. The electrical property of the device was measured. The detector showed a narrow ultraviolet photoresponse with a response peak at 379 nm, which was according with the peak of the photoluminescence. The mechanism of photoresponse was discussed.     

Immobilization of olfactory receptors onto gold electrodes for electrical biosensor

We investigate the immobilization of native nanovesicles containing functional olfactory receptors onto gold electrodes by means of atomic force microscopy in liquid. We show that nanovesicles can be adsorbed without disrupting them presenting sizes once immobilized ranging from 50 nm to 200 nm in diameter. The size of the nanovesicles shows no dependence on the electrode hydrophobicity being constant in a height/width ratio close to 1:3. Nevertheless, electrode hydrophobicity does affect the surface coverage, the surface coverage is five times higher in hydrophilic electrodes than on hydrophobic ones. Surface coverage is also affected by nanovesicles dimensions in suspension, the size homogenization to around 50 nm yields a further five fold increment in surface coverage achieving a coverage of about 50% close to the hard spheres jamming limit (54.7%). A single layer of nanovesicles is always formed with no particle overlap. Present results provide insights into the immobilization on electrodes of olfactory receptors for further olfactory electrical biosensor development.     

Conductivity of a single DNA duplex bridging a carbon nanotube gap

We describe a general method to integrate DNA strands between single-walled carbon nanotube electrodes and to measure their electrical properties. We modified DNA sequences with amines on either the 5' terminus or both the 3' and 5' termini and coupled these to the single-walled carbon nanotube electrodes through amide linkages, enabling the electrical properties of complementary and mismatched strands to be measured. Well-matched duplex DNA in the gap between the electrodes exhibits a resistance on the order of 1 M(Omega). A single GT or CA mismatch in a DNA 15-mer increases the resistance of the duplex approximately 300-fold relative to a well-matched one. Certain DNA sequences oriented within this gap are substrates for Alu I, a blunt end restriction enzyme. This enzyme cuts the DNA and eliminates the conductive path, supporting the supposition that the DNA is in its native conformation when bridging the ends of the single-walled carbon nanotubes.     

Enabling measurements of low-conductance single molecules using gold nanoelectrodes

A high resistance nanogap platform was used to trap and electrically characterize 30 nm thiolated double-stranded DNA molecules. High resolution scanning electron microscopy was also used to image the trapped DNA strands. It was found that the surface state of the electrodes and underlying substrate could influence the measurements of trapped molecules when the measured resistances were on the order of TΩ or greater. Hydrophilic surfaces gave rise to larger leakage currents that could potentially mask the underlying signals from molecules positioned in the nanogap. Finally, the careful handling of the samples and control of the environment is essential to avoid surface charging of the oxide substrate layer as these parasitic charges affect electrical measurements of the nanogap. The presented results thus outline some important considerations when making low-conductance measurements on molecules and should prove useful for the characterization of molecules in molecular electronics or sensors employing nanogap platforms.     

Influence of substrate bias voltage on properties of Pt thin films deposited by non-mass separated ion beam deposition method

Pt thin films were deposited on Si substrates by applying a negative substrate bias voltage using a non-mass separated ion beam deposition method. The effect of the substrate bias voltage on the properties of the deposited films was investigated. In the case of Pt thin films deposited without the substrate bias voltage, a columnar structure and small grains were observed. The electrical resistivity of the deposited Pt films was very high (49.3 ± 0.65 µΩ cm). By increasing the substrate bias voltage, no clear columnar structure was observed. At the substrate bias voltage of − 75 V, the resistivity of the Pt film showed a minimum value of 16.9 ± 0.2 µΩ cm closed to the value of bulk (10.6 µΩ cm).     

Low resistivity metal lines formed by functional liquids and successive treatment of catalytically generated hydrogen atoms in the Cat-CVD system

Metal-interconnection among electrodes is an important process to fabricate electronic devices. A novel high-speed technique using silver (Ag) functional liquid to form Ag lines is proposed. For improvement of the electrical conductivity of the Ag lines, atomic hydrogen (H) generated by the Cat-CVD system is used. There is a sintering phenomenon among Ag nanoparticles (~ 50 nm) during H treatment at low substrate temperatures (~ 100 °C). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that the Ag grain size increases with H annealing duration, which results in the resistivity of the Ag lines on an order of 10⁻⁶ Ω cm.     

Effect of hydration on electrical conductivity of DNA duplex: Green’s function study combined with DFT

The electrical conductivity of DNA duplex is affected by many factors such as DNA base sequence, hydration of DNA duplex, connecting configuration between DNA duplex and electrodes, thermal fluctuation of DNA duplex structure. We here investigate the electrical conducting properties of DNA duplexes sandwiched between Au electrodes by molecular simulations using nonequilibrium Green’s function method coupled with density functional theory. The results reveal the dependence of electrical conductivity on DNA base sequence as well as hydration, which are in qualitative agreement with experiment. The present results indicate the important role played by hydrating water molecules in the electrical conductivity through DNA duplexes.