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Topic Name: A reliable, reproducible method for parallel fabrication of multiple nanogap electrodes
Category: Nanocharacterization
Research persons: Douglas R. Strachan,Danvers E. Johnston,Alan T. "Charlie" Johnson, Jr.
Location: University of Pennsylvania ,209 S. 33rd St. ,David Rittenhouse Lab, room 2N13B, United States
Details
In the study, the researchers described the simultaneous self-balancing of as
many as 16 nanogaps using thin sheets of gold and FCE methodology originally
developed at Penn. Using electron-beam lithography, Penn researchers constructed
arrays of thin gold leads connected by narrow constrictions that were less than
100 nm in width. Introducing a voltage forced electrons to flow through these
narrow constrictions in the gold, meeting with greater resistance as each
constriction narrowed in response to electromigration. The narrower the
constriction, the more the electrons were forced to the other, wider
constrictions, in order to take a path of least resistance. This balanced
interplay ensured that the electromigration process occurred simultaneously
between the constrictions. After a few minutes, the applied electrons narrowed
the constrictions until they opened to form gaps of roughly one nanometer in
size with atomic-scale uniformity. By monitoring the electric-current feedback,
researchers could adjust the size of the nanogaps as well.
Nanotechnology shows promise for revolutionizing materials and electronics by
reducing the size and increasing the functionality of new composite materials;
however, creating these materials is time consuming and costly, and it requires
precise control at the atomic level, a scale that is difficult or impossible to
achieve with current technology.
During the last several years there has been progress towards developing single
nanometer-sized gaps and nanodevices. Yet their extremely low reproducibility
has hindered any real chance of their use on the industrial scale, which is
crucial to the development of the complex circuits that would be required to
build, for example, a computer out of nanoelectronics.
“Reproducibility is one of the major issues facing nanotechnology, and it’s
required us to depart from the standard ways of achieving this in
micro-electronics processing.” Said Douglas Strachan of the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at
Penn. “When you first hear of opening up a wire with a current, you usually
think of a fuse. To think that this sort of technique could actually lead to
atomically-precise nanoelectronics is sort of mind blowing.”
Danvers Johnston of the Department of Physics and Astronomy said, “Since it is
impossible to mold nanoscale-size objects with any other lab tools, we direct
the electrons to get them to do the work for us.”
About Researchers:
Douglas R. Strachan
University of Pennsylvania
David Rittenhouse Lab, room 2N13B
Department of Physics and Astronomy
209 S. 33rd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396
office: 215-898-2541
email: add "@sas.upenn.edu" after my user name "drstrach"
Danvers E. Johnston
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396, USA
danvers@sas.upenn.edu
Education
PhD candidate, Physics, University of Pennsylvania.
MS, Physics, University of Pennsylvania.
BSc, Physics, Tel Aviv University.
Alan T. "Charlie" Johnson, Jr.
Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
B.S. Stanford University (1984)
Ph.D. Harvard (1990)
At University of Pennsylvania since 1994
Office: 2N13D, David Rittenhouse Laboratory
Phone: 898-9325
Email: johnson@dept.physics.upenn.edu
Funded:
The research was supported by the
National Science Foundation.
In The Images-
Douglas R. Strachan & the production of nano particles
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