Mohammad Kabir

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition growth of carbon nanotubes on different metal underlayers

One important requirement for future applications of carbon nanotube electronic devices is the ability to controllably grow carbon nanotubes on metal electrodes. Here we show that it is possible to grow small diameter (<10 nm) vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on different metal underlayers using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition. A crucial component is the insertion of a thin silicon layer between the metal and the catalyst particle. The electrical integrity of the metal electrode layer after plasma treatment and the quality of the metals as interconnects are also investigated.

Noise properties of an individual and two crossing multiwalled carbon nanotubes

The noise properties at room temperature of multiwalled carbon nanotubes under forward bias, for frequencies between 10 Hz–10 kHz, have been investigated. The noise measurements were made for one individual multiwalled carbon nanotube (1 MW) and two crossing multiwalled carbon nanotubes (2 CMW). The excess noise found in 1 MW is consistently 1/f-like. However, 2 CMW shows higher noise level, and the noise spectrum has an unusual dependence on the current. The main origin of noise in 2 CMW was attributed to the diffusion noise.

Fabrication of individual vertically aligned carbon nanofibres on metal substrates from prefabricated catalyst dots

Carbon nanofibres (CNFs) of controlled diameter and length were grown on different metal substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The diameter control of catalyst dots (and hence CNF diameter) was obtained by using the shot modulation technique in electron beam lithography. Catalyst dots of different sizes within arrays of different pitch were prepared and the dependence of the growth of vertically aligned CNFs on these parameters was studied for different metal underlayers. Good quality vertically aligned CNFs with a narrow length distribution were grown on Mo and W substrates. The structures grown on Nb substrates were significantly shorter for identical growth conditions and showed a lower nucleation rate. We demonstrate that through the shot modulation technique it is possible to control the diameter variation of CNFs from a single design geometry for the catalyst deposition. Individual VACNFs can be grown down to a pitch within the range 100–500 nm.

Compatibility assessment of CVD growth of carbon nanofibers on bulk CMOS devices.

We compare the level of deterioration in the basic functionality of individual transistors on ASIC chips fabricated in standard 130 nm bulk CMOS technology when subjected to three disparate CVD techniques with relatively low processing temperature to grow carbon nanostructures. We report that the growth technique with the lowest temperature has the least impact on the transistor behavior.

Nanoimprint lithography using vertically aligned carbon nanostructures as stamps

Nanoimprint lithography using vertically aligned carbon nanostructures as stamps is reported. The functionality of the stamp is demonstrated through lift-off and etch-back processes after pattern replication. The imprint process is robust and the stamp structures survived more than 50 consecutive imprints. In this paper we demonstrate this for feature sizes ranging from 80 nm to 200 microm where the aspect ratio of the individual nanostructures surpasses 1:5 with a pitch down to 100 nm. This demonstration opens up the possibility of utilizing vertically grown carbon nanostructures for manufacturing extremely high aspect ratio and small pitch stamps for nanoimprint lithography.

Carbon Nanofibers (CNF) for enhanced solder-based nano-scale integration and on-chip interconnect solutions

While the density of chip-to-chip and chip-to-package component interconnections increases and their size decreases the ease of manufacture and the interconnection reliability are being dangerously reduced. This paper introduces the use of Carbon Nanofibers (CNF) grown on chip as an embedded reinforcing material for nano-solder interconnections and as bonding material (adhesive) for chip-to-package solutions. Interconnections are realized by means of microbumps which can be less than 10 um in diameter and up to 20 um high. Such micro-bumps are shown to be solderable using conventional thermal-compression and micro-bumps. Using CNF embedded in polymer is shown to provide a robust solution for chip-to-package interconnections.

Non-linear I–V characteristics of polypyrrole micro-line synthesized using scanning probe microscope

AbstractWemeasuredtemperaturedependenceofvoltage–currentcharacteristicsofelectrochemicallypolymerizedpolypyrroleinmicronscaleusingscanningprobemicroscope.Themorphologyandthemagnitudeofroomtemperatureresistivity,q RT ¼ 0:016Xcm,aresimilartootherelectrochemicallysynthesizedpolypyrrole.I–Vcharacteristicsbecamenon-linearforT < 100Kandcanbefittedtofluctuation-inducedtunnelingconductionmodel. 2002ElsevierScienceB.V.Allrightsreserved. PACS:72.80.-r;72.80.Le;73.63.-b;73.63.NmKeywords:Polypyrrole;Micor-line;Electrochemicalsynthesis;Scanningprobemicroscope;Non-linearI-Vcharacteristics 1.IntroductionConjugatedpolymerhasinterestingphysicalproper-tiesincludingmetallicbehaviourandeventhesuper-conductivity [1] as well as applicability to electronicdevices such as LED [2] or field-effect transistor orconductivewireetc.Conductingpolymersuchaspoly-acetylene (PA), polypyrrole (PPy), polythiophen (PT)andpolyaniline(PANI)haslongbeeninvestigatedtoelucidate their intrinsictransport properties owing totheirlowdimensionality.Thelocalexcitationssuchassoliton [3], polaron and bipolaron are suggestedfor their conducting carriers. However the transportmechanisminconductingpolymerinnanoscaleisnotunderstoodwellyet.Recentlywehavereportedtrans-portmeasurementsofPAnanofibernetworkinmicronscale[4]andthatofPAsinglenanofiberin100nmscale[5].ContrarytothefibrillarstructureofPA,thegranularstructureofelectrochemicallypolymerizedconductingpolymermakesitdifficulttoapplythenanopatternedarrayofelectrodesfortheelectricalmeasurement.Inthecaseofusingtemplatesuchasanodicaluminumoxide(AAO) or zeolite, we can polymerize the conductingpolymer inside the template [6] and then separate itfromthetemplate.Othermethodstosynthesizealinearstructure of conducting polymer is using SPM localoxidation[7],e-beamirradiationtoPANI[8]orpoly-octylthiophene [9], self-assembled monolayer (SAM)pattern [10] and Langmuir–Bloddgett (LB) technique[11].STMlocaloxidationhassomedifficultiestomakealinearstructureinnarrowscaleduetotherandomnessofthegrowthdirection.UsingaSAMhaslimitationonthestamptogeneratetheSAMpatternanditisali-thography dependent technique. Here we present thetransport measurements of PPy line that is electro-chemicallypolymerizedbybiasingtothemetalcoatedSPMtipontopofthepatternedelectrodes.2.ExperimentalMicron and submicron electrodes for transportmeasurement were patterned using JEOL JBX5D-IIe-beamlithographysystem.300nmSiO

A Study on Integration of Molecular Devices into CMOS Compatible Technology

One main obstacle for measuring matter at the level of single molecule is the technology to make a bridge between molecules and microscopic structures (electrodes). A method of fabricating vertical silicon based nanogaps for contacting nanoscale elements has been developed and exploited to confront this problem. The developed technique is compatible to existing CMOS fabrication technology, reproducible and the gap size is easy to measure by simple capacitance measurements. Chemical treatment to attach any kind of nanoscale elements into the nanogap is an important issue. In this paper, we address problems related to surface leakage induced from different chemical processes. We have studied the effects of solvents on the surface leakage as well as surface leakage induced by nano components themselves. Surface leakage is a diffusion current process, and a set of parameters describing it has been used to compare the influence from different chemical processes. The study on solvents confirmed no predominant surface leakage induced by the presence of solvents like toluene and chloroform.

Random Telegraph Noise in Carbon Nanotube Peapod Transistors

Abstract We investigated the switching of resistance between two discrete values, known as random telegraph noise (RTN), observed in carbon nanotube peapod transistors [single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), C60‐peapods, and Cs‐encapsulated SWNTs (so‐called Cs‐peapods)]. By analyzing the features of the RTN, we suggest that this noise for SWNTs is due to the random transition of defects between two metastable states, activated by inelastic scattering with ballistic electrons. The noise for C60‐peapods (Cs‐peapods) is attributed to the motion of C60s (Cs) in the nanotubes.

Investigation of Nanoelectrodes by Transmission Electron Microscopy

Electrodes for making connections to single molecules and clusters must have separations smaller than 10 nm. They are therefore difficult or impossible to image with atomic force microscopes (AFM) or Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM). We have fabricated nanoelelectrodes by different methods to contacts nanoclusters and conjugated molecules and investigated their properties in transmission electron microscope (TEM) and their electrical characteristics at room temperature and at 4.2K. The electrodes are made on SiN4 membranes, which is transparent to high energy electrons and which make it possible to image features of a few nanometers in TEM.