Person:

Sun, Wei

The vision for graphene and other two-dimensional electronics is the direct production of nanoelectronic circuits and barrier materials from a single precursor sheet. DNA origami and single-stranded tiles are powerful methods to encode complex shapes within a DNA sequence, but their translation to patterning other nanomaterials has been limited. Here we develop a metallized DNA nanolithography that allows transfer of spatial information to pattern two-dimensional nanomaterials capable of plasma etching. Width, orientation and curvature can be programmed by specific sequence design and transferred, as we demonstrate for graphene. Spatial resolution is limited by distortion of the DNA template upon Au metallization and subsequent etching. The metallized DNA mask allows for plasmonic enhanced Raman spectroscopy of the underlying graphene, providing information on defects, doping and lattice symmetry. This DNA nanolithography enables wafer-scale patterning of two-dimensional electronic materials to create diverse circuit elements, including nanorings, three- and four-membered nanojunctions, and extended nanoribbons.

We describe a general framework for constructing two-dimensional crystals with prescribed depth and sophisticated three-dimensional features. These crystals may serve as scaffolds for the precise spatial arrangements of functional materials for diverse applications. The crystals are self-assembled from single-stranded DNA components called DNA bricks. We demonstrate the experimental construction of DNA brick crystals that can grow to micron-size in the lateral dimensions with precisely controlled depth up to 80 nanometers. They can be designed to display user-specified sophisticated three-dimensional nanoscale features, such as continuous or discontinuous cavities and channels, and to pack DNA helices at parallel and perpendicular angles relative to the plane of the crystals.