Person:

Vlassarev, Dimitar Mihaylov

A fabrication method for positioning and embedding a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) across the diameter of a solid state nanopore is presented. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is used to grow SWNTs over arrays of focused ion beam (FIB) milled pores in a thin silicon nitride membrane. This typically yields at least one pore whose diameter is centrally crossed by a SWNT. The final diameter of the FIB pore is adjusted to create a nanopore of any desired diameter by atomic layer deposition, simultaneously embedding and insulating the SWNT everywhere but in the region that crosses the diameter of the final nanopore, where it remains pristine and bare. This nanotube-articulated nanopore is an important step towards the realization of a new type of detector for biomolecule sensing and electronic characterization, including DNA sequencing.

We report the successful application of a new approach, ice lithography (IL), to fabricate nanoscale devices. The entire IL process takes place inside a modified scanning electron microscope (SEM), where a vapor-deposited film of water ice serves as a resist for e-beam lithography, greatly simplifying and streamlining device fabrication. We show that labile nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes can be safely imaged in an SEM when coated in ice. The ice film is patterned at high e-beam intensity and serves as a mask for lift-off without the device degradation and contamination associated with e-beam imaging and polymer resist residues. We demonstrate the IL preparation of carbon nanotubes field effect transistors (FETs) with high quality trans-conductance properties.