Integration of thin-film-fracture-based nanowires into microchip fabrication.

One-step device fabrication through the integration of nanowires (NWs) into silicon microchips is still under intensive scientific study as it has proved difficult to obtain a reliable and controllable fabrication technique. So far, the techniques are either costly or suffer from small throughput. Recently, a cost-effective method based on thin-film fracture that can be used as a template for NW fabrication was suggested. Here, a way to integrate NWs between microcontacts is demonstrated. Different geometries of microstructured photoresist formed by using standard photolithography are analyzed. Surprisingly, a very simple "stripe" geometry is found to yield highly reproducible fracture patterns, which are convenient templates for fault-tolerant NW fabrication. Microchips containing integrated Au, Pd, Ni, and Ti NWs and their suitability for studies of conductivity and oxidation behavior are reported, and their suitability as a hydrogen sensor is investigated. Details of the fabrication process are also discussed.

[1]  Taher A. Saif,et al.  Guided self-assembly of metallic nanowires and channels , 2004 .

[2]  J. Yates,et al.  ELECTRON-IMPACT-INDUCED OXIDATION OF AL(111) IN WATER VAPOR : RELATION TO THE CABRERA-MOTT MECHANISM , 1998 .

[3]  M. Welland,et al.  Size effects in the electrical resistivity of polycrystalline nanowires , 2000 .

[4]  S. K. Saha.  Observation of giant dielectric constant in an assembly of ultrafine Ag particles , 2004 .

[5]  G. Schmitz,et al.  Electric-field-induced low temperature oxidation of tungsten nanowires , 2006 .

[6]  F. Favier,et al.  Hydrogen Sensors and Switches from Electrodeposited Palladium Mesowire Arrays , 2001, Science.

[7]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[8]  Kwang S. Kim,et al.  Ultrathin Single-Crystalline Silver Nanowire Arrays Formed in an Ambient Solution Phase , 2001, Science.

[9]  Axel Scherer,et al.  Nanowire-Based Very-High-Frequency Electromechanical Resonator , 2003 .

[10]  A. E. Gordon,et al.  Mechanisms of surface anodization produced by scanning probe microscopes , 1995 .

[11]  Yuyuan Tian,et al.  Molecular detection based on conductance quantization of nanowires , 2000 .

[12]  R. Dynes,et al.  Metal-Insulator Transition in Granular Aluminum , 1981 .

[13]  E. Klokholm.  Delamination and fracture of thin films , 1987 .

[14]  M. Roukes,et al.  Basins of attraction of a nonlinear nanomechanical resonator. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[15]  Z. Suo,et al.  Mechanisms Active during Fracture under Constraint , 2002 .

[16]  Minhee Yun,et al.  Investigation of a single Pd nanowire for use as a hydrogen sensor. , 2006, Small.

[17]  Xu,et al.  "Dip-Pen" nanolithography , 1999, Science.

[18]  Jianchun Dong,et al.  Using noise for controlled disassembly of nanoscale gold wires , 2006 .

[19]  R. Adelung,et al.  Strain-controlled growth of nanowires within thin-film cracks , 2004, Nature materials.

[20]  Moses,et al.  Erratum: Transport near the metal-insulator transition: Polypyrrole doped with PF6 , 1994, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[21]  Bernhard Lamprecht,et al.  Optical properties of Ag and Au nanowire gratings , 2001 .

[22]  M. Scharnberg,et al.  Employing Thin‐Film Delamination for the Formation of Shadow Masks for Nanostructure Fabrication , 2006 .

[23]  J. Anderson,et al.  The effect on a tarnishing reaction of an electric field across the growing product layer , 1967, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[24]  D. E. Smith,et al.  Controlled fabrication of nanogaps in ambient environment for molecular electronics , 2005, cond-mat/0504112.

[25]  Interacting electrons in disordered wires: Anderson localization and low-T transport. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[26]  Variable-range hopping in quasi-one-dimensional electron crystals , 2003, cond-mat/0307299.

[27]  C. Vieu,et al.  Nanofabrication at a 10 nm length scale: Limits of lift-off and electroplating transfer processes , 1999 .