High performance ring oscillators from 10-nm wide silicon nanowire field-effect transistors

We explore 10-nm wide Si nanowire (SiNW) field-effect transistors (FETs) for logic applications, via the fabrication and testing of SiNW-based ring oscillators. We report on SiNW surface treatments and dielectric annealing, for producing SiNW FETs that exhibit high performance in terms of large on/off-state current ratio (∼10⁸), low drain-induced barrier lowering (∼30 mV) and low subthreshold swing (∼80 mV/decade). The performance of inverter and ring-oscillator circuits fabricated from these nanowire FETs are also explored. The inverter demonstrates the highest voltage gain (∼148) reported for a SiNW-based NOT gate, and the ring oscillator exhibits near rail-to-rail oscillation centered at 13.4 MHz. The static and dynamic characteristics of these NW devices indicate that these SiNW-based FET circuits are excellent candidates for various high-performance nanoelectronic applications.      

Polyelectrolyte multilayer electrostatic gating of graphene field-effect transistors

We apply polyelectrolyte multilayer films by consecutive alternate adsorption of positively charged polyallylamine hydrochloride and negatively charged sodium polystyrene sulfonate to the surface of graphene field effect transistors. Oscillations in the Dirac voltage shift with alternating positive and negative layers clearly demonstrate the electrostatic gating effect in this simple model system. A simple electrostatic model accounts well for the sign and magnitude of the Dirac voltage shift. Using this system, we are able to create p-type or n-type graphene at will. This model serves as the basis for understanding the mechanism of charged polymer sensing using graphene devices, a potentially technologically important application of graphene in areas such as DNA sequencing, biomarker assays for cancer detection, and other protein sensing applications.     

Carbon nanomaterials: controlled growth and field-effect transistor biosensors

Carbon nanostructures, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, have been studied extensively due to their special structures, excellent electrical properties and high chemical stability. With the development of nanotechnology and nanoscience, various methods have been developed to synthesize CNTs/graphene and to assemble them into microelectronic/sensor devices. In this review, we mainly demonstrate the latest progress in synthesis of CNTs and graphene and their applications in field-effect transistors (FETs) for biological sensors.     

Facile fabrication of all-SWNT field-effect transistors

Field-effect transistors (FETs) have been fabricated using as-grown single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) for the channel as well as both source and drain electrodes. The underlying Si substrate was employed as the back-gate electrode. Fabrication consisted of patterned catalyst deposition by surface modification followed by dip-coating and synthesis of SWNTs by alcohol chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The electrodes and channel were grown simultaneously in one CVD process. The resulting FETs exhibited excellent performance, with an I _ON/I _OFF ratio of 10⁶ and a maximum ON-state current (I _ON) exceeding 13 μA. The large I _ON is attributed to SWNT bundles connecting the SWNT channel with the SWNT electrodes. Bundling creates a large contact area, which results in a small contact resistance despite the presence of Schottky barriers at metallic-semiconducting interfaces. The approach described here demonstrates a significant step toward the realization of metal-free electronics.      

不同分散剂中碳纳米管的定向操控技术

利用介电电泳可以实现悬浮液中碳纳米管的定向操控．碳纳米管可以用表面活性剂和有机溶剂进行分散．对比了表面活性剂（十二烷基苯磺酸钠,黏滞系数为1.312mPa·s）和有机溶剂（二甲基甲酰胺,黏滞系数为0．802mPa·s）,发现表面活性剂悬浮液中碳纳米管的溶解和分散效果好于有机溶剂中的溶解和分散效果,能实现单根分散．根据介电电泳原理,悬浮液中的碳纳米管在外加电场诱导下产生极化从而被驱动;分析了表面活性剂悬浮液和有机溶剂中碳纳米管的定向效果,发现有机溶剂中碳纳米管的定向效果好于表面活性剂悬浮液中的效果,表面活性剂悬浮液的黏滞系数大是阻碍外加电场有效定向操控碳纳米管的原因．     

Synthesis of large-area, few-layer graphene on iron foil by chemical vapor deposition

We demonstrate a simple and controllable way to synthesize large-area, few-layer graphene on iron substrates by an optimized chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using a mixture of methane and hydrogen. Based on an analysis of the Fe-C phase diagram, a suitable procedure for the successful synthesis of graphene on Fe surfaces was designed. An appropriate temperature and cooling process were found to be very important in the synthesis of highly crystalline few-layer graphene. Graphene-based field-effect transistor (FET) devices were fabricated using the resulting few-layer graphene, and showed good quality with extracted mobilities of 300–1150 cm²/(V·s).      

紫外-可见光谱分析碳纳米管电泳液浓度对阴极场发射性能的影响

将酸化的碳纳米管(CNT)粉末、硝酸镁置于异丙醇溶剂中超声处理,制备成分散均匀的CNT电泳液.采用不同CNT浓度的电泳液在CrCuCr电极上电泳沉积CNT薄膜,并对阴极样品进行场发射性能测试;同时采用紫外-可见光谱仪对CNT电泳液进行光谱分析.结果表明,CNT浓度为0~0.13 g/L的电泳液在258 nm处存在光谱吸收,且其吸光度与相应CNT浓度呈良好的线性关系;当CNT浓度为0.12 g/L时电泳沉积制备的CNT阴极场发射性能较好,其开启电场为0.903 V/μm,当电场强度为1.395 V/μm时场发射电流密度为2.903 mA/cm2.利用紫外-可见光谱可以有效地分析电泳液中CNT浓度,为电泳沉积良好质量的CNT薄膜提供了保证.     

Polymer/carbon based composites as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials

The extensive development of electronic systems and telecommunications has lead to major concerns regarding electromagnetic pollution. Motivated by environmental questions and by a wide variety of applications, the quest for materials with high efficiency to mitigate electromagnetic interferences (EMI) pollution has become a mainstream field of research. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art research in the design and characterization of polymer/carbon based composites as EMI shielding materials. After a brief introduction, in Section 1, the electromagnetic theory will be briefly discussed in Section 2 setting the foundations of the strategies to be employed to design efficient EMI shielding materials. These materials will be classified in the next section by the type of carbon fillers, involving carbon black, carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes and graphene. The importance of the dispersion method into the polymer matrix (melt-blending, solution processing, etc.) on the final material properties will be discussed. The combination of carbon fillers with other constituents such as metallic nanoparticles or conductive polymers will be the topic of Section 4. The final section will address advanced complex architectures that are currently studied to improve the performances of EMI materials and, in some cases, to impart additional properties such as thermal management and mechanical resistance. In all these studies, we will discuss the efficiency of the composites/devices to absorb and/or reflect the EMI radiation.     

Advances in piezoelectric thin films for acoustic biosensors,acoustofluidics and lab-on-chip applications

Recently, piezoelectric thin films including zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminium nitride (AlN) have found a broad range of lab-on-chip applications such as biosensing, particle/cell concentrating, sorting/patterning, pumping, mixing, nebulisation and jetting. Integrated acoustic wave sensing/microfluidic devices have been fabricated by depositing these piezoelectric films onto a number of substrates such as silicon, ceramics, diamond, quartz, glass, and more recently also polymer, metallic foils and bendable glass/silicon for making flexible devices. Such thin film acoustic wave devices have great potential for implementing integrated, disposable, or bendable/flexible lab-on-a-chip devices into various sensing and actuating applications. This paper discusses the recent development in engineering high performance piezoelectric thin films, and highlights the critical issues such as film deposition, MEMS processing techniques, control of deposition/processing parametres, film texture, doping, dispersion effects, film stress, multilayer design, electrode materials/designs and substrate selections. Finally, advances in using thin film devices for lab-on-chip applications are summarised and future development trends are identified.