A General Method for Growing Two-Dimensional Crystals of Organic Semiconductors by "Solution Epitaxy".

Two-dimensional (2D) crystals of organic semiconductors (2DCOS) have attracted attention for large-area and low-cost flexible optoelectronics. However, growing large 2DCOS in controllable ways and transferring them onto technologically important substrates, remain key challenges. Herein we report a facile, general, and effective method to grow 2DCOS up to centimeter size which can be transferred to any substrate efficiently. The method named "solution epitaxy" involves two steps. The first is to self-assemble micrometer-sized 2DCOS on water surface. The second is epitaxial growth of them into millimeter or centimeter sized 2DCOS with thickness of several molecular layers. The general applicability of this method for the growth of 2DCOS is demonstrated by nine organic semiconductors with different molecular structures. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on the 2DCOS demonstrated high performance, confirming the high quality of the 2DCOS.

Nanogap Electrodes towards Solid State Single-Molecule Transistors.

With the establishment of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-based integrated circuit technology, it has become more difficult to follow Moore's law to further downscale the size of electronic components. Devices based on various nanostructures were constructed to continue the trend in the minimization of electronics, and molecular devices are among the most promising candidates. Compared with other candidates, molecular devices show unique superiorities, and intensive studies on molecular devices have been carried out both experimentally and theoretically at the present time. Compared to two-terminal molecular devices, three-terminal devices, namely single-molecule transistors, show unique advantages both in fundamental research and application and are considered to be an essential part of integrated circuits based on molecular devices. However, it is very difficult to construct them using the traditional microfabrication techniques directly, thus new fabrication strategies are developed. This review aims to provide an exclusive way of manufacturing solid state gated nanogap electrodes, the foundation of constructing transistors of single or a few molecules. Such single-molecule transistors have the potential to be used to build integrated circuits.

A training effect on electrical properties in nanoscale BiFeO3.

We report our observation of the training effect on dc electrical properties in a nanochain of BiFeO3 as a result of large scale migration of defects under the combined influence of electric field and Joule heating. We show that an optimum number of cycles of electric field within the range zero to ~1.0 MV cm(-1) across a temperature range 80-300 K helps in reaching the stable state via a glass-transition-like process in the defect structure. Further treatment does not give rise to any substantial modification. We conclude that such a training effect is ubiquitous in pristine nanowires or chains of oxides and needs to be addressed for applications in nanoelectronic devices.

Fabrication of sub-20 nm width ferromagnetic nanocontact structures by shadow evaporation.

The movement of the magnetic domain wall could result in the changing of the contact resistance. Such a resistance change is named as the domain wall Magnetoresistance (DWMR), which can be used as a basic signal of nanodevices. For application, a large DWMR is necessary to improve the device performance. An approach to improve the DWMR value is to fabricate magnetic structures with narrow contact width. However, due to the proximity effect during the process of electron beam lithography (EBL), it is not easy to fabricate sub-20 nm width structures by EBL technique directly. In this paper, we investigated the fabrication of sub-20 nm width nanocontact structures by combined techniques of EBL and shadow evaporation. Upon optimizing the resist thickness, opening width, and the evaporation angle, the contact width was tuned and the corresponding variation trends with these parameters were explored. Using the optimized fabrication conditions, 14 nm wide ferromagnetic contact structures were successfully fabricated.

Felling of individual freestanding nanoobjects using focused-ion-beam milling for investigations of structural and transport properties.

We report that, to enable studies of their compositional, structural and electrical properties, freestanding individual nanoobjects can be selectively felled in a controllable way by the technique of low-current focused-ion-beam (FIB) milling with the ion beam at a chosen angle of incidence to the nanoobject. To demonstrate the suitability of the technique, we report results for zigzag/straight tungsten nanowires grown vertically on support substrates and then felled for characterization. We also describe a systematic investigation of the effect of the experimental geometry and parameters on the felling process and on the induced wire-bending phenomenon. The method of felling freestanding nanoobjects using FIB is an advantageous new technique enabling investigations of the properties of selected individual nanoobjects.

Transport comparison of multiwall carbon nanotubes by contacting outer shell and all shells.

Carbon nanotubes, particularly multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can serve as interconnects in nanoelectronic devices and integrated circuits because of their extremely large current-carrying capacity. Many experimental results about the transport properties of individual MWCNTs by contacting outer shell or all shells have been reported. In this work, a compatible method with integrated circuit manufacturing process was presented to compare the transport property of an individual multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) by contacting outer shell only and all shells successively. First of the Ti/Au electrodes contacting outer shell only were fabricated onto the nanotube through the sequence of electron beam lithography (EBL) patterning, metal deposition and lift-off process. After the characterization of its transport property, focused ion beam (FIB) was used to drill holes through the same nanotube at the as-deposited electrodes. Then new contact to the holes and electrodes were made by ion-induced deposition of tungsten from W(CO)6 precursor gas. The transport results indicated that the new contact to all shells can clear up the intershell resistance and the electrical conductance of the tube can be improved about 8 times compared to that of by contacting outer shell only.

Highly Transparent Gatable Superconducting Shadow Junctions.

Gate-tunable junctions are key elements in quantum devices based on hybrid semiconductor-superconductor materials. They serve multiple purposes ranging from tunnel spectroscopy probes to voltage-controlled qubit operations in gatemon and topological qubits. Common to all is that junction transparency plays a critical role. In this study, we grow single-crystalline InAs, InSb, and InAs1-xSbx semiconductor nanowires with epitaxial Al, Sn, and Pb superconductors and in situ shadowed junctions in a single-step molecular beam epitaxy process. We investigate correlations between fabrication parameters, junction morphologies, and electronic transport properties of the junctions and show that the examined in situ shadowed junctions are of significantly higher quality than the etched junctions. By varying the edge sharpness of the shadow junctions, we show that the sharpest edges yield the highest junction transparency for all three examined semiconductors. Further, critical supercurrent measurements reveal an extraordinarily high ICRN, close to the KO-2 limit. This study demonstrates a promising engineering path toward reliable gate-tunable superconducting qubits.

Folding 2D Structures into 3D Configurations at the Micro/Nanoscale: Principles, Techniques, and Applications.

Compared to their 2D counterparts, 3D micro/nanostructures show larger degrees of freedom and richer functionalities; thus, they have attracted increasing attention in the past decades. Moreover, extensive applications of 3D micro/nanostructures are demonstrated in the fields of mechanics, biomedicine, optics, etc., with great advantages. However, the mainstream micro/nanofabrication technologies are planar ones; therefore, they cannot be used directly for the construction of 3D micro/nanostructures, making 3D fabrication at the micro/nanoscale a great challenge. A promising strategy to overcome this is to combine the state-of-the-art planar fabrication techniques with the folding method to produce 3D structures. In this strategy, 2D components can be easily produced by traditional planar techniques, and then, 3D structures are constructed by folding each 2D component to specific orientations. In this way, not only will the advantages of existing planar techniques, such as high precision, programmable patterning, and mass production, be preserved, but the fabrication capability will also be greatly expanded without complex and expensive equipment modification/development. The goal here is to highlight the recent progress of the folding method from the perspective of principles, techniques, and applications, as well as to discuss the existing challenges and future prospectives.

High-Quality-Factor Mid-Infrared Toroidal Excitation in Folded 3D Metamaterials.

With unusual electromagnetic radiation properties and great application potentials, optical toroidal moments have received increasing interest in recent years. 3D metamaterials composed of split ring resonators with specific orientations in micro-/nanoscale are a perfect choice for toroidal moment realization in optical frequency considering the excellent magnetic confinement and quality factor, which, unfortunately, are currently beyond the reach of existing micro-/nanofabrication techniques. Here, a 3D toroidal metamaterial operating in mid-infrared region constructed by metal patterns and dielectric frameworks is designed, by which high-quality-factor toroidal resonance is observed experimentally. The toroidal dipole excitation is confirmed numerically and further demonstrated by phase analysis. Furthermore, the far-field radiation intensity of the excited toroidal dipoles can be adjusted to be predominant among other multipoles by just tuning the incident angle. The related processing method expands the capability of focused ion beam folding technologies greatly, especially in 3D metamaterial fabrication, showing great flexibility and nanoscale controllability on structure size, position, and orientation.

Spatially oriented plasmonic 'nanograter' structures.

One of the key motivations in producing 3D structures has always been the realization of metamaterials with effective constituent properties that can be tuned in all propagation directions at various frequencies. Here, we report the investigation of spatially oriented "Nanograter" structures with orientation-dependent responses over a wide spectrum by focused-ion-beam based patterning and folding of thin film nanostructures. Au nano units of different shapes, standing along specifically designated orientations, were fabricated. Experimental measurements and simulation results show that such structures offer an additional degree of freedom for adjusting optical properties with the angle of inclination, in additional to the size of the structures. The response frequency can be varied in a wide range (8 µm-14 µm) by the spatial orientation (0°-180°) of the structures, transforming the response from magnetic into electric coupling. This may open up prospects for the fabrication of 3D nanostructures as optical interconnects, focusing elements and logic elements, moving toward the realization of 3D optical circuits.

Mass Production of Nanogap Electrodes toward Robust Resistive Random Access Memory.

Nanogap electrodes arrays are fabricated by combining atomic layer deposition, adhesive tape, and chemical etching. A unipolar nonvolatile resistive-switching behavior is identified in the nanogap electrodes, showing stable, robust performance and the multibit storage ability, demonstrating great potential in ultrahigh-density storage. The formation and dissolution of Si conductive filaments and migration of Au atoms is the mechanism behind the resistive switching.

Sub-Nanometer Controllable Fabrication of Freestanding Hetero-Structures Through Plasma-Matter Interaction During Ion Irradiation.

Freestanding three-dimensional nanostructures have attracted intense attention for their potential application in novel electronic, optical, magnetic, biological and mechanical devices. However, controlled fabrication of highly-ordered, well-shaped and freestanding core-shell hetero-structures in large scale cost-effectively is still a challenge. Here we present the constructing of freestanding hetero-structures by taking advantages of lateral re-deposition, a phenomenon that occurred during plasma-matter interaction and usually to be minimized/avoided in conventional device fabrication. Various freestanding nanowires were irradiated under optimized conditions, in that upon etching, the sputtered species from the supporting substrates are re-deposited laterally onto the core material, mainly through plasma-phase interaction to form complex core-shell structures. Factors, including the supporting substrate, plasma power, irradiation time and gas flow rate, were used to tune the properties of the desired structures. Pencil-like, conic and wing-shape free-standing hetero-structures have been formed with controllable growth rate of sub-nanometer per minute across the width of the structure. The related mechanism was proposed. Our results indicate that such technique might be a potential approach for the fabrication of high aspect-ratio freestanding functional core-shell structures to construct mechanical, optical, biological and electrical devices.

Single grain boundary break junction for suspended nanogap electrodes with gapwidth down to 1-2 nm by focused ion beam milling.

Single grain boundary junctions are used for the fabrication of suspended nanogap electrodes with a gapwidth down to 1-2 nm through the break of such junctions by focused ion beam (FIB) milling. With advantages of stability and no debris, such nanogap electrodes are suitable for single molecular electronic device construction.

Metal-organic frameworks reactivate deceased diatoms to be efficient CO(2) absorbents.

Diatomite combined with certain metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is shown to be an effective CO2 absorbent, although diatomite alone is regarded as inert with respect to CO2 absorption. This finding opens the prospect of reactivating millions of tons of diatomite for CO2 absorption. It also shows for the first time that diatom frustules can act as CO2 buffers, an important link in a successive biological CO2 concentration mechanism chain that impacts on global warming.

Thermally induced shape modification of free-standing nanostructures for advanced functionalities.

Shape manipulation of nanowires is highly desirable in the construction of nanostructures, in producing free-standing interconnect bridges and as a building block of more complex functional structures. By introducing asymmetry in growth parameters, which may result in compositional or microstructural non-uniformity in the nanowires, thermal annealing can be used to induce shape modification of free-standing nanowires. We demonstrate that such manipulation is readily achieved using vertically grown Pt-Ga-C composite nanowires fabricated by focused-ion-beam induced chemical vapor deposition. Even and controllable bending of the nanowires has been observed after a rapid thermal annealing in a N2 atmosphere. The mechanisms of the shape modification have been examined. This approach has been used to form electrical contacts to freestanding nano-objects as well as nano-'cages' for the purpose of securing ZnO tubs. These results suggest that thermally induced bending of nanowires may have potential applications in constructing three-dimensional nanodevices or complex structures for the immobilization of particles and large molecules.