Percolating silicon nanowire networks with highly reproducible electrical properties.

Here, we report the morphological and electrical properties of self-assembled silicon nanowires networks, also called Si nanonets. At the macroscopic scale, the nanonets involve several millions of nanowires. So, the observed properties should result from large scale statistical averaging, minimizing thus the discrepancies that occur from one nanowire to another. Using a standard filtration procedure, the so-obtained Si nanonets are highly reproducible in terms of their morphology, with a Si nanowire density precisely controlled during the nanonet elaboration. In contrast to individual Si nanowires, the electrical properties of Si nanonets are highly consistent, as demonstrated here by the similar electrical properties obtained in hundreds of Si nanonet-based devices. The evolution of the Si nanonet conductance with Si nanowire density demonstrates that Si nanonets behave like standard percolating media despite the presence of numerous nanowire-nanowire intersecting junctions into the nanonets and the native oxide shell surrounding the Si nanowires. Moreover, when silicon oxidation is prevented or controlled, the electrical properties of Si nanonets are stable over many months. As a consequence, Si nanowire-based nanonets constitute a promising flexible material with stable and reproducible electrical properties at the macroscopic scale while being composed of nanoscale components, which confirms the Si nanonet potential for a wide range of applications including flexible electronic, sensing and photovoltaic applications.

Silica- and Silicon-Based Nanostructures.

As depicted in Figure 1, studies on silicon and silica-based nanostructures first appeared in the early 1990s, and their numbers grew until the mid-2010s [...].

Role of Working Temperature and Humidity in Acetone Detection by SnO2 Covered ZnO Nanowire Network Based Sensors.

A randomly oriented nanowire network, also called nanonet (NN), is a nano-microstructure that is easily integrated into devices while retaining the advantages of using nanowires. This combination presents a highly developed surface, which is promising for sensing applications while drastically reducing integration costs compared to single nanowire integration. It now remains to demonstrate its effective sensing in real conditions, its selectivity and its real advantages. With this work, we studied the feasibility of gaseous acetone detection in breath by considering the effect of external parameters, such as humidity and temperature, on the device's sensitivity. Here the devices were made of ZnO NNs covered by SnO2 and integrated on top of microhotplates for the fine and quick control of sensing temperature with low energy consumption. The prime result is that, after a maturation period of about 15 h, the devices are sensitive to acetone concentration as low as 2 ppm of acetone at 370 °C in an alternating dry and wet (50% of relative humidity) atmosphere, even after 90 h of experiments. While still away from breath humidity conditions, which is around 90% RH, the sensor response observed at 50% RH to 2 ppm of acetone shows promising results, especially since a temperature scan allows for ethanol's distinguishment.

Functional Devices from Bottom-Up Silicon Nanowires: A Review.

This paper summarizes some of the essential aspects for the fabrication of functional devices from bottom-up silicon nanowires. In a first part, the different ways of exploiting nanowires in functional devices, from single nanowires to large assemblies of nanowires such as nanonets (two-dimensional arrays of randomly oriented nanowires), are briefly reviewed. Subsequently, the main properties of nanowires are discussed followed by those of nanonets that benefit from the large numbers of nanowires involved. After describing the main techniques used for the growth of nanowires, in the context of functional device fabrication, the different techniques used for nanowire manipulation are largely presented as they constitute one of the first fundamental steps that allows the nanowire positioning necessary to start the integration process. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these manipulation techniques are discussed. Then, the main families of nanowire-based transistors are presented; their most common integration routes and the electrical performance of the resulting devices are also presented and compared in order to highlight the relevance of these different geometries. Because they can be bottlenecks, the key technological elements necessary for the integration of silicon nanowires are detailed: the sintering technique, the importance of surface and interface engineering, and the key role of silicidation for good device performance. Finally the main application areas for these silicon nanowire devices are reviewed.

Optimization of GOPS-Based Functionalization Process and Impact of Aptamer Grafting on the Si Nanonet FET Electrical Properties as First Steps towards Thrombin Electrical Detection.

Field effect transistors (FETs) based on networks of randomly oriented Si nanowires (Si nanonets or Si NNs) were biomodified using Thrombin Binding Aptamer (TBA-15) probe with the final objective to sense thrombin by electrical detection. In this work, the impact of the biomodification on the electrical properties of the Si NN-FETs was studied. First, the results that were obtained for the optimization of the (3-Glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GOPS)-based biofunctionalization process by using UV radiation are reported. The biofunctionalized devices were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), proving that TBA-15 probes were properly grafted on the surface of the devices, and by means of epifluorescence microscopy it was possible to demonstrate that the UV-assisted GOPS-based functionalization notably improves the homogeneity of the surface DNA distribution. Later, the electrical characteristics of 80 devices were analyzed before and after the biofunctionalization process, indicating that the results are highly dependent on the experimental protocol. We found that the TBA-15 hybridization capacity with its complementary strand is time dependent and that the transfer characteristics of the Si NN-FETs obtained after the TBA-15 probe grafting are also time dependent. These results help to elucidate and define the experimental precautions that must be taken into account to fabricate reproducible devices.

Carbon Nanotube Sheet as Top Contact Electrode for Nanowires: Highly Versatile and Simple Process.

In the past years, lots of research works were dedicated to nanowires and their integration into functional devices. However, despite the great potential of such materials, no device based on nanowires has been transferred in all-day-life. In fact, the vertical device integration is slowed down by the difficulty to contact easily the top electrode. With this work, we present a simple, elegant and versatile process for creating a top electrode contact on nanowires: a carbon nanotube sheet is suspended at the top of the nanowire field. The proof of concept is made through the realization of photovoltaic devices composed of an assembly of vertical PN-junctions based on silicon nanowires. For an illumination density of 100 mW . cm-2, our devices exhibit short circuit current density as high as 15 mA . cm-2. Due to the numerous advantages of the carbon nanotube sheets as top electrode, such as transparency, porosity, good mechanical performance and no need to embed nanowires, such simple and elegant technology should definitely find developments in every field of nanotechnology.