Material Synthesis and Device Aspects of Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide.

In this paper, we investigate the synthesis of WSe2 by chemical vapor deposition and study the current transport and device scaling of monolayer WSe2. We found that the device characteristics of the back-gated WSe2 transistors with thick oxides are very sensitive to the applied drain bias, especially for transistors in the sub-micrometer regime. The threshold voltage, subthreshold swing, and extracted field-effect mobility vary with the applied drain bias. The output characteristics in the long-channel transistors show ohmic-like behavior, while that in the short-channel transistors show Schottky-like behavior. Our investigation reveals that these phenomena are caused by the drain-induced barrier lowering (short-channel effect). For back-gated WSe2 transistors with 280 nm oxide, the short-channel effect appears when the channel length is shorter than 0.4 µm. This extremely long electrostatic scaling length is due to the thick back-gate oxides. In addition, we also found that the hydrogen flow rate and the amount of WO3 precursor play an important role in the morphology of the WSe2. The hole mobility of the monolayer WSe2 is limited by Columbic scattering below 250 K, while it is limited by phonon scattering above 250 K. These findings are very important for the synthesis of WSe2 and accurate characterization of the electronic devices based on 2D materials.

An optofluidic metasurface for lateral flow-through detection of breast cancer biomarker.

The rapid growth of point-of-care tests demands for biosensors with high sensitivity and small size. This paper demonstrates an optofluidic metasurface that combines silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanophotonics and nanofluidics to realize a high-performance, lateral flow-through biosensor. The metasurface is made of a periodic array of silicon nanoposts on an SOI substrate, and functionalized with specific receptor molecules. Bonding of a polydimethylsiloxane slab directly onto the surface results in an ultracompact biosensor, where analyte solutions are restricted to flow only in the space between the nanoposts. No flow exists above the nanoposts. This sensor design overcomes the issue with diffusion-limited detection of many other biosensors. The lateral flow-through feature, in conjunction with high-Q resonance modes associated with optical bound states of the metasurface, offers an improved sensitivity to subtle molecule-bonding induced changes in refractive index. The device exhibits a resonance mode around 1550 nm wavelength and provides an index sensitivity of 720 nm/RIU. Biosensing is conducted to detect the epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB2), a protein biomarker for early-stage breast cancer screening, by monitoring resonance wavelength shifts in response to specific analyte-ligand binding events at the metasurface. The limit of detection of the device is 0.7 ng mL-1 for ErbB2.

Tunable Optical Nanoantennas Incorporating Bowtie Nanoantenna Arrays with Stimuli-Responsive Polymer.

We report on a temperature-responsive tunable plasmonic device that incorporates coupled bowtie nanoantenna arrays (BNAs) with a submicron-thick, thermosensitive hydrogel coating. The coupled plasmonic nanoparticles provide an intrinsically higher field enhancement than conventional individual nanoparticles. The favorable scaling of plasmonic dimers at the nanometer scale and ionic diffusion at the submicron scale is leveraged to achieve strong optical resonance and rapid hydrogel response, respectively. We demonstrate that the hydrogel-coated BNAs are able to sense environmental temperature variations. The phase transition of hydrogel leads to 16.2 nm of resonant wavelength shift for the hydrogel-coated BNAs, whereas only 3 nm for the uncoated counterpart. The response time of the device to temperature variations is only 250 ms, due to the small hydrogel thickness at the submicron scale. The demonstration of the ability of the device to tune its optical resonance in response to an environmental stimulus (here, temperature) suggests a possibility of making many other tunable plasmonic devices through the incorporation of coupled plasmonic nanostructures and various environmental-responsive hydrogels.

Reconfigurable nanoantennas using electron-beam manipulation.

Plasmonic nanoantennas have been of increasing interest due to their ability to confine and enhance electric fields in deep sub-wavelength volumes, leading to large near-field optical forces and high refractive index sensitivity. Recently, to enhance the response for sensor applications, metal nanoantennas have been fabricated on pillars. An overlooked consequence of this elevated geometry is the introduction of the mechanical properties, for example, stiffness, as a tunable degree of freedom. Here we demonstrate pillar-bowtie nanoantenna arrays, fabricated on optically transparent SiO2, as a candidate system that couples intrinsic mechanical and electromagnetic degrees of freedom via gradient forces. We show that using a standard scanning electron microscope, individual nanoantenna gap sizes can be controllably tuned down to 5 nm, a factor of ~4 × smaller than what is currently achievable using conventional electron-beam lithography. This approach opens new avenues for fabricating reconfigurable nanoantennas that can inform exciting photonic applications.

Application of plasmonic bowtie nanoantenna arrays for optical trapping, stacking, and sorting.

We present the use of Au bowtie nanoantenna arrays (BNAs) for highly efficient, multipurpose particle manipulation with unprecedented low input power and low-numerical aperture (NA) focusing. Optical trapping efficiencies measured are up to 20× the efficiencies of conventional high-NA optical traps and are among the highest reported to date. Empirically obtained plasmonic optical trapping "phase diagrams" are introduced to detail the trapping response of the BNAs as a function of input power, wavelength, polarization, particle diameter, and BNA array spacing (number density). Using these diagrams, parameters are chosen, employing strictly the degrees-of-freedom of the input light, to engineer specific trapping tasks including (1) dexterous, single-particle trapping and manipulation, (2) trapping and manipulation of two- and three-dimensional particle clusters, and (3) particle sorting. The use of low input power densities (power and NA) suggests that this bowtie nanoantenna trapping system will be particularly attractive for lab-on-a-chip technology or biological applications aimed at reducing specimen photodamage.

High-k dielectric Al2O3 nanowire and nanoplate field effect sensors for improved pH sensing.

Over the last decade, field-effect transistors (FETs) with nanoscale dimensions have emerged as possible label-free biological and chemical sensors capable of highly sensitive detection of various entities and processes. While significant progress has been made towards improving their sensitivity, much is yet to be explored in the study of various critical parameters, such as the choice of a sensing dielectric, the choice of applied front and back gate biases, the design of the device dimensions, and many others. In this work, we present a process to fabricate nanowire and nanoplate FETs with Al(2)O(3) gate dielectrics and we compare these devices with FETs with SiO(2) gate dielectrics. The use of a high-k dielectric such as Al(2)O(3) allows for the physical thickness of the gate dielectric to be thicker without losing sensitivity to charge, which then reduces leakage currents and results in devices that are highly robust in fluid. This optimized process results in devices stable for up to 8 h in fluidic environments. Using pH sensing as a benchmark, we show the importance of optimizing the device bias, particularly the back gate bias which modulates the effective channel thickness. We also demonstrate that devices with Al(2)O(3) gate dielectrics exhibit superior sensitivity to pH when compared to devices with SiO(2) gate dielectrics. Finally, we show that when the effective electrical silicon channel thickness is on the order of the Debye length, device response to pH is virtually independent of device width. These silicon FET sensors could become integral components of future silicon based Lab on Chip systems.