 |
|
Doping technique brings nanomechanical devices into the semiconductor world
September 27, 2007MADISON - With the help of a device capable of depositing metals an atom at a time in the materials used in computer chips, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers has successfully blended modern semiconductor technology and nanomachines.
The work, reported this week (Sept. 26) in the journal Physica Status Solidi, marks the advent of a new class of nanomechanical devices with implications ranging from improved solar energy cells and light-emitting diodes to highly sensitive probes capable of measuring single biological molecules.
"This is a marriage of two different fields," explains Robert Blick, a UW-Madison professor of electrical and computer engineering. The ability to confer the properties of a semiconductor onto the submicroscopic machines scientists are now learning how to build opens the door to a host of new tiny mechanical devices that can be manipulated with a single electron or, in the case of a biological application, a single molecule such as a protein.
The new work was conducted using a unique device known as a focused ion beam writer, an instrument that, in essence, operates like a sandblaster and can shower a sample of silicon with atoms to impregnate the material with metal in precise patterns at the nanoscale.
In the new study, Blick's group, including lead author of the paper Dominik V. Scheible, was able to deposit a small plume of gallium atoms into a silicon nanomachine and confer electromechanical properties - the ability to drive moving parts with electrons.
"This constitutes a direct combination of mechanical and electric tunability with unprecedented precision," the authors write in the new report. "This will considerably enhance the mechanical properties of (nanomachines)."
At present, nanomechanical devices are sculpted from sandwiches of silicon and metal. The new technique means the metal layer can be removed completely, making the nano devices lighter, more sensitive and easier to manipulate.
"All of a sudden, you're not relying on metal layers anymore," says Blick. "You can dope the device itself, not the material from which the device is made. This technology allows for more customized devices."
The new electromechanical qualities in nanodevices, according to Blick, can be employed in a wide range of applications.
In the biomedical area, for example, where scientists are seeking ways to efficiently measure hundreds of thousands of biological molecules, it may be possible now to build sensors capable of rapidly establishing the masses of single proteins. The mass of a protein, Blick explains, can be enough to activate the nanodevice and provide a measure that scientists can use to quickly and precisely determine the protein's mass.
"The intrinsic mass of the devices themselves is very small," says Blick. "You can hit them with proteins and you can get information out, in this case mass, which is a very important quality."
Other potential applications, Blick notes, include new battery technology, mechanically tunable transistors, improved solar cells and highly sensitive light-emitting diodes that can serve as readouts for microscopic sensors.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The new work was conducted using a unique device known as a focused ion beam writer, an instrument that, in essence, operates like a sandblaster and can shower a sample of silicon with atoms to impregnate the material with metal in precise patterns at the nanoscale.
In the new study, Blick's group, including lead author of the paper Dominik V. Scheible, was able to deposit a small plume of gallium atoms into a silicon nanomachine and confer electromechanical properties - the ability to drive moving parts with electrons.
"This constitutes a direct combination of mechanical and electric tunability with unprecedented precision," the authors write in the new report. "This will considerably enhance the mechanical properties of (nanomachines)."
At present, nanomechanical devices are sculpted from sandwiches of silicon and metal. The new technique means the metal layer can be removed completely, making the nano devices lighter, more sensitive and easier to manipulate.
"All of a sudden, you're not relying on metal layers anymore," says Blick. "You can dope the device itself, not the material from which the device is made. This technology allows for more customized devices."
The new electromechanical qualities in nanodevices, according to Blick, can be employed in a wide range of applications.
In the biomedical area, for example, where scientists are seeking ways to efficiently measure hundreds of thousands of biological molecules, it may be possible now to build sensors capable of rapidly establishing the masses of single proteins. The mass of a protein, Blick explains, can be enough to activate the nanodevice and provide a measure that scientists can use to quickly and precisely determine the protein's mass.
"The intrinsic mass of the devices themselves is very small," says Blick. "You can hit them with proteins and you can get information out, in this case mass, which is a very important quality."
Other potential applications, Blick notes, include new battery technology, mechanically tunable transistors, improved solar cells and highly sensitive light-emitting diodes that can serve as readouts for microscopic sensors.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Semiconductor Current Events and Semiconductor News RSSPlasma produces KO cocktail for MRSA
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and other drug-resistant bacteria could face annihilation as low-temperature plasma prototype devices have been developed to offer safe, quick, easy and unfailing bactericidal cocktails.
Empa scientists synthesize graphene-like material
Two-dimensional carbon layers, so-called graphenes, are regarded as a possible substitute for silicon in the semiconductor industry.
MIT: Better way to harness waste heat
New MIT research points the way to a technology that might make it possible to harvest much of the wasted heat produced by everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, and turn it into usable electricity.
New study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene
First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire.
Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging
If you're watching the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important-especially if you are watching changes that take a long time to unfold and require high-spatial-resolution imaging.
JQI researchers create entangled photons from quantum dots
To exploit the quantum world to the fullest, a key commodity is entanglement-the spooky, distance-defying link that can form between objects such as atoms even when they are completely shielded from one another.
Working together to design robust silicon chips
Designers of high-speed silicon chips have often had to compromise on performance levels for their integrated circuit designs because of physical weaknesses appearing during design verification or even in production.
Understanding mechanical properties of silicon nanowires paves way for nanodevices
Silicon nanowires are attracting significant attention from the electronics industry due to the drive for ever-smaller electronic devices, from cell phones to computers.
Caltech scientists develop DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon nanotube circuits
In work that someday may lead to the development of novel types of nanoscale electronic devices, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has combined DNA's talent for self-assembly with the remarkable electronic properties of carbon nanotubes, thereby suggesting a solution to the long-standing problem of organizing carbon nanotubes into nanoscale electronic circuits.
New 'finFET' promising for smaller transistors, more powerful chips
Purdue University researchers are making progress in developing a new type of transistor that uses a finlike structure instead of the conventional flat design, possibly enabling engineers to create faster and more compact circuits and computer chips.
More Semiconductor Current Events and Semiconductor News Articles
 |
The Essential Guide to Semiconductors by Jim Turley (Author) Semiconductors are the building blocks of computing. They are the electronic chips that are in every computer and device on the market. Cellphones, cars, computers (of all kinds), gaming systems, machines - anything with hardware has an electronic (or semiconductor) component. This is the professional's guide to the business and technology of semiconductor design and manufacturing. The semiconductor industry lends itself very well to a book of this kind. Just as the telecommunications area, the semiconductor industry is broad and complicated. There's a definite need for a book that explains the in's and out's of the technology and how it works - without bogging down readers with too much technical content. |
 |
Semiconductor Device Fundamentals by Robert F. Pierret (Author) Introduces and explains the basic terminology, models, properties, and concepts associated with semiconductors and semiconductor devices. Systematically develops the analytical tools needed to solve practical device problems. DLC: Semiconductors. |
 |
Physics of Semiconductor Devices by Simon M. Sze (Author), Kwok K. Ng (Author) The Third Edition of the standard textbook and reference in the field of semiconductor devices This classic book has set the standard for advanced study and reference in the semiconductor device field. Now completely updated and reorganized to reflect the tremendous advances in device concepts and performance, this Third Edition remains the most detailed and exhaustive single source of information on the most important semiconductor devices. It gives readers immediate access to detailed descriptions of the underlying physics and performance characteristics of all major bipolar, field-effect, microwave, photonic, and sensor devices. Designed for graduate textbook adoptions and reference needs, this new edition includes: A complete update of the latest... |
 |
Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology by Michael Quirk (Author), Julian Serda (Author) For the introductory course in Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology. This text introduces the terminology, concepts, processes, products, and equipment commonly used in the manufacture of ultra-large-scale integrated (ULSI) semiconductors. The book provides helpful, up-to-date technical information about semiconductor manufacturing and strikes an effective balance between the process and equipment technology found in wafer fabrications. |
 |
On Semiconductor General Purpose NPN Leaded Transistor TO-92 BULK (Bag of 10) by On Semiconductor On Semiconductor General Purpose NPN Leaded Transistor TO-92 BULK (Bag of 10) |
 |
Handbook of Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology, Second Edition by Robert Doering (Editor), Yoshio Nishi (Editor) Retaining the comprehensive and in-depth approach that cemented the bestselling first edition's place as a standard reference in the field, the Handbook of Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology, Second Edition features new and updated material that keeps it at the vanguard of today's most dynamic and rapidly growing field. Iconic experts Robert Doering and Yoshio Nishi have again assembled a team of the world's leading specialists in every area of semiconductor manufacturing to provide the most reliable, authoritative, and industry-leading information available. Stay Current with the Latest Technologies In addition to updates to nearly every existing chapter, this edition features five entirely new contributions on… Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) materials and... |
 |
Fundamentals of Semiconductor Manufacturing and Process Control by Gary S. May (Author), Costas J. Spanos (Author) A practical guide to semiconductor manufacturing from process control to yield modeling and experimental design Fundamentals of Semiconductor Manufacturing and Process Control covers all issues involved in manufacturing microelectronic devices and circuits, including fabrication sequences, process control, experimental design, process modeling, yield modeling, and CIM/CAM systems. Readers are introduced to both the theory and practice of all basic manufacturing concepts. Following an overview of manufacturing and technology, the text explores process monitoring methods, including those that focus on product wafers and those that focus on the equipment used to produce wafers. Next, the text sets forth some fundamentals of statistics and yield modeling, which... |
 |
Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization by Dieter K. Schroder (Author) This Third Edition updates a landmark text with the latest findings The Third Edition of the internationally lauded Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization brings the text fully up-to-date with the latest developments in the field and includes new pedagogical tools to assist readers. Not only does the Third Edition set forth all the latest measurement techniques, but it also examines new interpretations and new applications of existing techniques. Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization remains the sole text dedicated to characterization techniques for measuring semiconductor materials and devices. Coverage includes the full range of electrical and optical characterization methods, including the more specialized chemical and physical techniques.... |
 |
Worlds in Flux Starring: Semiconductor |
 |
The Physics of Semiconductors: An Introduction Including Devices and Nanophysics by Marius Grundmann (Author) The Physics of Semiconductors provides material for a comprehensive upper-level-undergraduate and graduate course on the subject, guiding readers to the point where they can choose a special topic and begin supervised research. The textbook provides a balance between essential aspects of solid-state and semiconductor physics, on the one hand, and the principles of various semiconductor devices and their applications in electronic and photonic devices, on the other. It highlights many practical aspects of semiconductors such as alloys, strain, heterostructures, nanostructures, that are necessary in modern semiconductor research but typically omitted in textbooks. For the interested reader some additional advanced topics are included, such as Bragg mirrors, resonators, polarized and... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |