Solution processable multi-channel ZnO nanowire field-effect transistors with organic gate dielectric.

The present work focuses on nanowire (NW) applications as semiconducting elements in solution processable field-effect transistors (FETs) targeting large-area low-cost electronics. We address one of the main challenges related to NW deposition and alignment by using dielectrophoresis (DEP) to select multiple ZnO nanowires with the correct length, and to attract, orientate and position them in predefined substrate locations. High-performance top-gate ZnO NW FETs are demonstrated on glass substrates with organic gate dielectric layers and surround source-drain contacts. Such devices are hybrids, in which inorganic multiple single-crystal ZnO NWs and organic gate dielectric are synergic in a single system. Current-voltage (I-V) measurements of a representative hybrid device demonstrate excellent device performance with high on/off ratio of ~10(7), steep subthreshold swing (s-s) of ~400 mV/dec and high electron mobility of ~35 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) in N2 ambient. Stable device operation is demonstrated after 3 months of air exposure, where similar device parameters are extracted including on/off ratio of ~4 × 10(6), s-s ~500 mV/dec and field-effect mobility of ~28 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). These results demonstrate that DEP can be used to assemble multiples of NWs from solvent formulations to enable low-temperature hybrid transistor fabrication for large-area inexpensive electronics.

High-rate low-temperature growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes.

We report the low-temperature growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at high growth rates by a photo-thermal chemical vapour deposition (PTCVD) technique using a Ti/Fe bilayer film as the catalyst. The bulk growth temperature of the substrate is as low as 370 °C and the growth rate is up to 1.3 µm min(-1), at least eight times faster than the values reported by traditional thermal CVD methods. Transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that as-grown CNTs are uniformly made of highly crystalline 5-6 graphene shells with an approximately 10 nm outer diameter and a 5-6 nm inner diameter. The low-temperature rapid growth of CNTs is strongly related to the unique top-down heating mode of PTCVD and the use of a Ti/Fe bimetallic solid solution catalyst. The present study will advance the development of CNTs as interconnects in nanoelectronics, through a CMOS-compatible low-temperature deposition method suitable for back-end-of-line processes.

The growth of silica and silica-clad nanowires using a solid-state reaction mechanism on Ti, Ni and SiO(2) layers.

A large area compatible and solid-state process for growing silica nanowires is reported using nickel, titanium and silicon dioxide layers on silicon. The silica nanowires also contain silicon, as indicated by Raman spectroscopy. The phonon confinement model is employed to measure the diameter of the Si rich tail for our samples. The measured Raman peak shift and full width at half-maximum variation with the nanowire diameter qualitatively match with data available in the literature. We have investigated the effect of the seedbed structure on the nanowires, and the effect of using different gas conditions in the growth stages. From this, we have obtained the growth mechanism, and deduced the role of each individual substrate seedbed layer in the growth of the nanowires. We report a combined growth mechanism, where the growth is initiated by a solid-liquid-solid process, which is then followed by a vapour-liquid-solid process. We also report on the formation of two distinct structures of nanowires (type I and type II). The growth of these can be controlled by the use of titanium in the seedbed. We also observe that the diameter of the nanowires exhibits an inverse relation with the catalyst thickness.

Growth and characterization of ceria thin films and Ce-doped γ-Al2O3 nanowires using sol-gel techniques.

γ-Al(2)O(3) is a well known catalyst support. The addition of Ce to γ-Al(2)O(3) is known to beneficially retard the phase transformation of γ-Al(2)O(3) to α-Al(2)O(3) and stabilize the γ-pore structure. In this work, Ce-doped γ-Al(2)O(3) nanowires have been prepared by a novel method employing an anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template in a 0.01 M cerium nitrate solution, assisted by urea hydrolysis. Calcination at 500 °C for 6 h resulted in the crystallization of the Ce-doped AlOOH gel to form Ce-doped γ-Al(2)O(3) nanowires. Ce(3+) ions within the nanowires were present at a concentration of < 1 at.%. On the template surface, a nanocrystalline CeO(2) thin film was deposited with a cubic fluorite structure and a crystallite size of 6-7 nm. Characterization of the nanowires and thin films was performed using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. The nanowire formation mechanism and urea hydrolysis kinetics are discussed in terms of the pH evolution during the reaction. The Ce-doped γ-Al(2)O(3) nanowires are likely to find useful applications in catalysis and this novel method can be exploited further for doping alumina nanowires with other rare earth elements.

Top-down heating for low substrate temperature synthesis of carbon nanotubes.

A top-down heating method to allow for low-temperature large area synthesis of carbon nanotubes using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition is introduced in this paper. The approach utilizes top-down electromagnetic heating rather than conventional heating from a substrate heater under the electrode. A temperature gradient is created between the Ni catalyst surface and the substrate using a metal thermal control barrier layer, on which carbon nanotubes are grown as a function of the bias voltage, hydrocarbon concentrations and growth conditions. The heat during growth is provided by the plasma or energy coupling to the catalyst via top-down heating, which based on the coupled power density and the cooling of the substrate, in addition to the thermal 'barrier layer' properties will dictate the temperature of the growth surface. This unique approach of top-down heating with suitable cooling schemes, coupled with thermal barriers allows for the low substrate temperature synthesis of carbon nanotubes, scalable to large areas.

Electron field emission properties of Co quantum dots in SiO2 matrix synthesised by ion implantation.

In this work, Co ions were implanted into thermally oxidised SiO2 layers on silicon substrates. The implantation energy was 50 keV and the doses were 1, 3, 5 and 7 x 10(16) Co+/cm2. The field emission (FE) properties of these layers were studied and correlated with results from atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements. Other than that for the lowest dose sample, crystallised Co nanoclusters, with sizes ranging from 1.8 to 5.7 nm, are observed in these Co-implanted layers. The higher dose samples exhibit excellent FE properties and give an emission current of 1 nA at electric fields as low as 5 V/microm, for a dose of 5 x 10(16) Co+/cm2, compared with 120 V/microm for the lowest dose samples. We attribute the excellent FE properties of these layers to the formation of Co nanoclusters, with the electrical inhomogeneity giving rise to local field enhancement. Finally, repeatable staircase-like current-field (I-F) characteristics are observed in FE measurements of these higher dose samples as compared to conventional Fowler-Nordheim-type I-F characteristics in the lower dose sample. We believe this data may be a result of Coulomb blockade effects arising from the isolated low-capacitance metal quantum dots formed by controlled ion implantation.

Energy loss spectroscopic profiling across linear interfaces: the example of amorphous carbon superlattices.

Energy loss spectroscopic profiling is a way to acquire, in parallel, spectroscopic information across a linear feature of interest, using a Gatan imaging filter (GIF) fitted to a transmission electron microscope (TEM). This technique is capable of translating the high spatial resolution of a bright field image into a sampling of the spectral information with similar resolution. Here we evaluate the contributions of chromatic aberration and the various acquisition parameters to the spatial sampling resolution of the spectral information, and show that this can reach 0.5 nm, in a system not ordinarily capable of forming electron probes smaller than 2 nm. We use this high spatial sampling resolution to study the plasmon energy variation across amorphous carbon superlattices, in order to extract information about their structure and electronic properties. By modelling the interaction of the relativistic incident electrons with a dielectric layer sandwiched between outer layers, we show that, due to the screening of the interfaces and at increased collection angles, the plasmon energy in the sandwiched layer can still be identified for layer thicknesses down to 5 A. This allows us to measure the change in the well bandgap as a function of well width and to interpret it in terms of the changes in the sp2 -fractions due to the deposition method, as measured from the carbon K-edges, and in terms of quantum confinement of the well wavefunction by the adjacent barriers.

Carbon Nanotube Interconnects Realized through Functionalization and Sintered Silver Attachment.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the form of interconnects have many potential applications, and their ability to perform at high temperatures gives them a unique capability. We show the development of a novel transfer process using CNTs and sintered silver that offers a unique high-temperature, high-conductivity, and potentially flexible interconnect solution. Arrays of vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes of approximately 200 µm in length were grown on silicon substrates, using low-temperature photothermal chemical vapor deposition. Oxygen plasma treatment was used to introduce defects, in the form of hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxyl groups, on the walls of the carbon nanotubes so that they could bond to palladium (Pd). Nanoparticle silver was then used to bind the Pd-coated multiwalled CNTs to a copper substrate. The silver-CNT-silver interconnects were found to be ohmic conductors, with resistivity of 6.2 × 10(-4) Ωm; the interconnects were heated to temperatures exceeding 300 °C (where common solders fail) and were found to maintain their electrical performance.

Multi-Functional Carbon Fibre Composites using Carbon Nanotubes as an Alternative to Polymer Sizing.

Carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) were introduced to the aerospace, automobile and civil engineering industries for their high strength and low weight. A key feature of CFRP is the polymer sizing - a coating applied to the surface of the carbon fibres to assist handling, improve the interfacial adhesion between fibre and polymer matrix and allow this matrix to wet-out the carbon fibres. In this paper, we introduce an alternative material to the polymer sizing, namely carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the carbon fibres, which in addition imparts electrical and thermal functionality. High quality CNTs are grown at a high density as a result of a 35 nm aluminium interlayer which has previously been shown to minimise diffusion of the catalyst in the carbon fibre substrate. A CNT modified-CFRP show 300%, 450% and 230% improvements in the electrical conductivity on the 'surface', 'through-thickness' and 'volume' directions, respectively. Furthermore, through-thickness thermal conductivity calculations reveal a 107% increase. These improvements suggest the potential of a direct replacement for lightning strike solutions and to enhance the efficiency of current de-icing solutions employed in the aerospace industry.

Adsorbent 2D and 3D carbon matrices with protected magnetic iron nanoparticles.

We report on the synthesis of two and three dimensional carbonaceous sponges produced directly from graphene oxide (GO) into which functionalized iron nanoparticles can be introduced to render it magnetic. This simple, low cost procedure, wherein an iron polymeric resin precursor is introduced into the carbon framework, results in carbon-based materials with specific surface areas of the order of 93 and 66 m(2) g(-1), compared to approx. 4 m(2) g(-1) for graphite, decorated with ferromagnetic iron nanoparticles giving coercivity fields postulated to be 216 and 98 Oe, values typical for ferrite magnets, for 3.2 and 13.5 wt% Fe respectively. The strongly magnetic iron nanoparticles are robustly anchored to the GO sheets by a layer of residual graphite, on the order of 5 nm, formed during the pyrolysis of the precursor material. The applicability of the carbon sponges is demonstrated in their ability to absorb, store and subsequently elute an organic dye, Rhodamine B, from water as required. It is possible to regenerate the carbon-iron hybrid material after adsorption by eluting the dye with a solvent to which it has a high affinity, such as ethanol. The use of a carbon framework opens the hybrid materials to further chemical functionalization, for enhanced chemical uptake of contaminants, or co-decoration with, for example, silver nanoparticles for bactericidal properties. Such analytical properties, combined with the material's magnetic character, offer solutions for environmental decontamination at land and sea, wastewater purification, solvent extraction, and for the concentration of dilute species.

The fabrication of aspherical microlenses using focused ion-beam techniques.

Aspheric lenses are the most common method for correcting for spherical aberrations but, in microlens production, highly-controlled lens profiles are hard to achieve. We demonstrate a technique for creating bespoke, highly-accurate aspheric or spherical profile silicon microlens moulds, of almost any footprint, using focused ion-beam milling. Along with this, we present a method of removing induced ion-beam damage in silicon, via a hydrofluoric acid etch, helping to recover the surface's optical and chemical properties. In this paper, we demonstrate that our milled and etched moulds have a roughness of 4.0-4.1 nm, meaning they scatter less than 1% of light, down to wavelengths of 51 nm, showing that the moulds are suitable to make lenses that are able to handle light from UV up to infra-red. Using empirical experiments and computer simulations, we show that increasing the ion-dose when milling increases the amount of gallium a hydrofluoric acid etch can remove, by increasing the degree of amorphisation within the surface. For doses above 3000 µC/cm(2) this restores previous surface properties, reducing adhesion to the mould, allowing for a cleaner release and enabling higher quality lenses to be made. Our technique is used to make aspheric microlenses of down to 3 µm in size, but with a potential to make lenses smaller than 1 µm.