Neil T. Kemp

Nanotrench for nano and microparticle electrical interconnects

We present a simple and versatile patterning procedure for the reliable and reproducible fabrication of high aspect ratio (10(4)) electrical interconnects that have separation distances down to 20 nm and lengths of several hundreds of microns. The process uses standard optical lithography techniques and allows parallel processing of many junctions, making it easily scalable and industrially relevant. We demonstrate the suitability of these nanotrenches as electrical interconnects for addressing micro and nanoparticles by realizing several circuits with integrated species. Furthermore, low impedance metal-metal low contacts are shown to be obtained when trapping a single metal-coated microsphere in the gap, emphasizing the intrinsic good electrical conductivity of the interconnects, even though a wet process is used. Highly resistive magnetite-based nanoparticles networks also demonstrate the advantage of the high aspect ratio of the nanotrenches for providing access to electrical properties of highly resistive materials, with leakage current levels below 1 pA.

Patterning of conducting polymer nanowires on gold/platinum electrodes

We demonstrate a technique for the patterning of conducting polyaniline nanowires on metallic substrates. Electrochemical synthesis of template-free polyaniline nanowires is initially preceded by the formation of a thin compact 2D layer, which we show spreads horizontally from the edge of a gold electrode across a SiO2 surface. This encumbers nanowire patterning during the fabrication of nanowire devices since it leads to electrical short-circuiting of the metal contacts before the nanowires have fully developed. In this paper we demonstrate the use of amine-terminated self-assembled monolayers, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, to inhibit the spread of polyaniline growth onto adjacent SiO2 surfaces. The technique has important applications in the fabrication of nanowire devices and area-selective patterning of nanowires on metallic electrodes.

Electronic transport in conducting polymer nanowire array devices.

We report on the temperature dependent conductivity and current-voltage (I-V) properties of novel polyaniline nanowire array devices. Below 60 K, I-V measurements show a transition to non-linear behaviour, leading to the onset at 30 K of a threshold voltage, for potentials below which little current flows. By considering an intrinsic morphology of small conducting regions separated by tunnel junctions, we show that charging of the conducting regions leads to Coulomb blockade effects that can account for this behaviour.

Superhydrophobic SAM Modified Electrodes for Enhanced Current Limiting Properties in Intrinsic Conducting Polymer Surge Protection Devices

Surface interface engineering using superhydrophobic gold electrodes made with 1-dodecanethiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) has been used to enhance the current limiting properties of novel surge protection devices based on the intrinsic conducting polymer, polyaniline doped with methanesulfonic acid. The resulting devices show significantly enhanced current limiting characteristics, including current saturation, foldback, and negative differential effects. We show how SAM modification changes the morphology of the polymer film directly adjacent to the electrodes, leading to the formation of an interfacial compact thin film that lowers the contact resistance at the Au-polymer interface. We attribute the enhanced current limiting properties of the devices to a combination of lower contact resistance and increased Joule heating within this interface region which during a current surge produces a current blocking resistive barrier due to a thermally induced dedoping effect caused by the rapid diffusion of moisture away from this region. The effect is exacerbated at higher applied voltages as the higher temperature leads to stronger depletion of charge carriers in this region, resulting in a negative differential resistance effect.

Coupling reactions of trifluoroethyl iodide on GaAs(100)

We report on the reactions of 2-iodo-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (CF3CH2I) on gallium-rich GaAs(100)-(4×1), studied using the techniques of temperature programmed desorption and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The study is to provide evidence for the formation of a higher fluorinated alkene, 1,1,4,4,4-pentafluoro-1-butene (CF2=CHCH2CF3) and alkane, 1,1,1,4,4,4-hexafluorobutane (CF3CH2CH2CF3) from the coupling reactions of covalently bonded surface alkyl (CF3CH2•) moieties. CF3CH2I adsorbs nondissociatively at 150 K. Thermal dissociation of this weakly chemisorbed state occurs below room temperature to form adsorbed CF3CH2• and I• species. The surface CF3CH2• species undergoes β-fluoride elimination to form gaseous CF2=CH2 and this represents the major pathway for the removal of CF3CH2• species from the surface. In competition with the β-fluoride elimination process the adsorbed CF3CH2• species also undergoes, recombination with surface iodine atoms to form recombinative molecular CF3CH2I, olefin insertion rea...

Novel conducting polymer current limiting devices for low cost surge protection applications

We report on the development of novel intrinsic conducting polymer two terminal surge protection devices. These resettable current limiting devices consist of polyaniline nanofibres doped with methane sulphonic acid electrochemically deposited between two 55 μm spaced gold electrodes. At normal applied voltages, the low resistance devices act as passive circuit elements, not affecting the current flow. However during a current surge the devices switch from ohmic to non-ohmic behaviour, limiting current through the device. After the current surge has passed, the devices reset back to their original state. Our studies show that a partial de-doping/re-doping process caused by the rapid diffusion of moisture out of or into the polymer film during joule heating/cooling is the underlying mechanism responsible.

Heteronanojunctions with atomic size control using a lab-on-chip electrochemical approach with integrated microfluidics

A versatile tool for electrochemical fabrication of heteronanojunctions with nanocontacts made of a few atoms and nanogaps of molecular spacing is presented. By integrating microfluidic circuitry in a lab-on-chip approach, we keep control of the electrochemical environment in the vicinity of the nanojunction and add new versatility for exchanging and controlling the junctions medium. Nanocontacts made of various materials by successive local controlled depositions are demonstrated, with electrical properties revealing sizes reaching a few atoms only. Investigations on benchmark molecular electronics material, trapped between electrodes, reveal the possibility to create nanogaps of size matching those of molecules. We illustrate the interest of a microfluidic approach by showing that exposure of a fabricated molecular junction to controlled high solvent flows can be used as a reliability criterion for the presence of molecular entities in a gap.

Magnetoresistance signature of resonant states in electromigrated Ni nanocontacts

Fundamental insight is reported into magnetoresistance properties of ballistic-type atomic size Ni nanojunctions obtained at low temperatures. Feedback-controlled electromigration was used to reveal the ballistic nature of the transport and stabilize samples of conductance values in the range of G0 (G0=2e2/h). Bias voltage dependent measurements identify a clear magnetoresistance fingerprint of resonant tunneling, revealing that localized states in the nanojunctions can be responsible for nonlinear behavior in the IV curves and the related magnetoresistance properties.

Solution-processable, Niobium-doped Titanium Oxide Nanorods for Application in Low-voltage, Large-area Electronic Devices

We report for the first time the one-step synthesis of solution-processable, highly crystalline, niobium-doped titanium dioxide (Nb-TiO2) nanorods in the anatase phase by the hydrolytic condensation of Ti(OiPr)4 and niobium(V) ethoxide using oleic acid as a structure-directing and stabilising agent. These novel surface-stabilised nanorods can be easily dispersed in common solvents at relatively high concentration (∼10%) and deposited as uniform, thin and transparent films on planar substrates for the fabrication of electronic devices. The small size of the nanoparticles synthesized represents an important advance in achieving high-k dielectric thin films smooth enough to be suitable for OFET applications and the plastic electronics filed in general. Preliminary investigations show that the dielectric constant, k, of niobium-doped (7.1 wt%) titanium dioxide (Nb-TiO2) nanorods at frequencies in the region of 100 kHz–1 MHz, are more a third greater (k > 8) than that (k = 6) determined for the corresponding undoped titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanorods. The current–voltage (J–V) behaviour of these devices reveal that niobium-doping improves, by reducing, the leakage current of these devices, thereby preventing hard dielectric breakdown of devices incorporating these new nanorods.

The magnetoelectrochemical switch

Significance The magnetic gradient force field offers numerous possibilities to position and manipulate magnetic nanoparticles, but has limited influence on paramagnetic molecules in solutions. We argue here that proper design and miniaturization of ferromagnetic electrodes create huge force fields in their vicinity, tunable by an external magnetic field. We illustrate this concept by presenting how the conduction of a Ni metallic nanobridge is drastically modified by the Ni redox reactions equilibrium shifted under magnetic control, creating the chemical equivalent of the solid-state spin valve device. While the importance of the magnetic field amplitude on chemical reactions is well documented, our findings suggest that the magnetic field gradient can become a dominant influencing factor on chemical reactions at the nanoscale. In the field of spintronics, the archetype solid-state two-terminal device is the spin valve, where the resistance is controlled by the magnetization configuration. We show here how this concept of spin-dependent switch can be extended to magnetic electrodes in solution, by magnetic control of their chemical environment. Appropriate nanoscale design allows a huge enhancement of the magnetic force field experienced by paramagnetic molecular species in solutions, which changes between repulsive and attractive on changing the electrodes’ magnetic orientations. Specifically, the field gradient force created within a sub-100-nm-sized nanogap separating two magnetic electrodes can be reversed by changing the orientation of the electrodes’ magnetization relative to the current flowing between the electrodes. This can result in a breaking or making of an electric nanocontact, with a change of resistance by a factor of up to 103. The results reveal how an external field can impact chemical equilibrium in the vicinity of nanoscale magnetic circuits.