Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




ENERGY TECH
Researchers discover breakthrough technique that could make electronics smaller and better
by Staff Writers
Minneapolis MN (SPX) Sep 13, 2013


In a breakthrough study to improve the manufacturing of optical and electronic devices, University of Minnesota researchers introduced a new patterning technology, atomic layer lithography, based on a layering technique at the atomic level. A layer of metal fills the nano-patterns over an entire wafer and simple Scotch Magic tape was used to remove the excess metal on the surface and expose the atomic scale nano-gaps.

An international group of researchers from the University of Minnesota, Argonne National Laboratory and Seoul National University have discovered a groundbreaking technique in manufacturing nanostructures that has the potential to make electrical and optical devices smaller and better than ever before. A surprising low-tech tool of Scotch Magic tape ended up being one of the keys to the discovery.

The research is published in Nature Communications, an international online research journal.

Combining several standard nanofabrication techniques-with the final addition of the Scotch Magic tape-researchers at the University of Minnesota created extremely thin gaps through a layer of metal and patterned these tiny gaps over the entire surface of a four-inch silicon wafer.

The smallest gaps were only one nanometer wide, much smaller than most researchers have been able to achieve. In addition, the widths of the gaps could be controlled on the atomic level. This work provides the basis for producing new and better nanostructures that are at the core of advanced electronic and optical devices.

One of the potential uses of nanometer-scale gaps in metal layers is to squeeze light into spaces much smaller than is otherwise possible. Collaborators at Seoul National University, led by Prof. Dai-Sik Kim, and Argonne National Laboratory, led by Dr. Matthew Pelton, showed that light could readily be squeezed through these gaps, even though the gaps are hundreds or even thousands of times smaller than the wavelength of the light used.

Researchers are very interested in forcing light into small spaces because this is a way of boosting the intensity of the light. The collaborators found that the intensity inside the gaps is increased by as much as 600 million times.

"Our technology, called atomic layer lithography, has the potential to create ultra-small sensors with increased sensitivity and also enable new and exciting experiments at the nanoscale like we've never been able to do before," said Sang-Hyun Oh, one of the lead researchers on the study and a professor of electrical and computer engineering in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering.

"This research also provides the basis for future studies to improve electronic and photonic devices."

One of the most surprising outcomes of the research is that Scotch Magic tape was one of the keys to the discovery. Etching one-nanometer-wide gaps into metals is not feasible with existing tools. Instead, the researchers in Oh's team constructed the nano-gaps by layering atomic-scale thin films on the sides of metal patterns and then capping the structure with another metal layer.

No expensive patterning tools were needed to form the gaps this way, but it was challenging to remove the excess metals on top and expose the tiny gaps. During a frustrating struggle of trying to find a way to remove the metal films, University of Minnesota Ph.D. student and lead author of the study Xiaoshu Chen found that by using simple Scotch Magic tape, the excess metals could be easily removed.

"The Scotch tape works nicely, which was unexpected," said Oh. "Our technique is so simple yet can create uniform and ultra-small gaps like we've never been able to do before. We hope that it will rapidly be taken up by many researchers."

In addition to Oh and Chen, researchers involved in the study include a joint lead author Hyeong-Ryeol Park, who was a Ph.D. student at Seoul National University and is now a postdoc in Oh's group at the University of Minnesota; Matthew Pelton, a staff physicist at Argonne National Laboratory who is now a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Nathan Lindquist, a former Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota who is now a professor of physics at Bethel University in St. Paul; Hyungsoon Im, a former electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student who is now a postdoc at Harvard Medical School; and Xianji Piao, Yun Jung Kim, Jae Sung Ahn, Kwang Jun Ahn, Prof. Namkyoo Park, and Prof. Dai-Sik Kim, all from Seoul National University in Korea.

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DARPA Young Faculty Award and the ONR Young Investigator Program), the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Research Foundation of Korea with capital equipment funding from the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics.

.


Related Links
University of Minnesota
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








ENERGY TECH
Producing hydrogen from water with carbon/charcoal powder
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 10, 2013
In the latest advance in efforts to find an inexpensive way to make hydrogen from ordinary water - one of the keys to the much-discussed "hydrogen economy" - scientists are reporting that powder from high-grade charcoal and other forms of carbon can free hydrogen from water illuminated with laser pulses. A report on the discovery appears in ACS' Journal of Physical Chemistry C. Ikuko ... read more


ENERGY TECH
First laser-like X-ray light from a solid

Space's 'Ferrari' set to fall to Earth

Chinese-built Bolivian satellite tested in space simulator

Indiana Jones meets George Jetson

ENERGY TECH
Unified Military Intelligence Picture Helping to Dispel the Fog of War

New Military Communications Satellite Built By Lockheed Martin Launches

US Navy Poised to Launch Lockheed Martin-Built Secure Communications Satellite for Mobile Users

Northrop Grumman Moves New B-2 Satellite Communications Concept to the High Ground

ENERGY TECH
Russian space official denies report of problem in Soyuz return

Lockheed Martin Atlas V To Launch Morelos-3 ComSat

Japan sets new date for satellite rocket launch

Arianespace delivers! EUTELSAT 25B/Es'hail 1 and GSAT-7 are orbited by Ariane 5

ENERGY TECH
Location services grow for smartphone users: survey

Galileo's secure service tested by Member States

European Union countries in test of home-grown GPS system

Satellite tracking of zebra migrations in Africa is conservation aid

ENERGY TECH
Raytheon moves forward on DARPA Persistent Close Air Support program

USAF and Boeing Finalize KC-46A Tanker Aircraft Design

Boeing Forecasts China's Fleet to Triple Over Next 20 Years

BAE considers military refueling conversion for commercial jet

ENERGY TECH
Growing thin films of germanium

Shining a little light changes metal into semiconductor

Engineers improve electronic devices using molybdenum disulfide

China fire rattles world chip supply chain

ENERGY TECH
Using digital SLRs to measure the height of Northern Lights

After a Fire, Before a Flood: NASA's Landsat Directs Restoration to At-Risk Areas

JIB Antennas Will Support Ship ID Capability Being Added to Canadas RADARSAT Constellation Mission

Reflecting on Earth's albedo

ENERGY TECH
China vows air pollution cuts in major cities

Over-pumping sucks arsenic into Hanoi's water

Old concrete can protect nature

Bacteria supplemented their diet to clean up after Deep Water Horizon oil spill




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement