Nurit Ashkenasy

Electronic and transport properties of reduced and oxidized nanocrystalline TiO2 films

Electronic properties of reduced (vacuum-annealed) and oxidized (air-annealed) TiO2 films were investigated by in situ conductivity and current–voltage measurements as a function of the ambient oxygen pressure and temperature, and by ex situ surface photovoltage spectroscopy. The films were quite conductive in the reduced state but their resistance drastically increased upon exposure to air at 350 °C. In addition, the surface potential barrier was found to be much larger for the oxidized versus the reduced films. This behavior may be attributed to the formation of surface and grain boundary barriers due to electron trapping at interface states associated with chemisorbed oxygen species.

Surface States and Photovoltaic Effects in CdSe Quantum Dot Films

Photovoltaic effects in CdSe quantum dot (QD) films have been studied using surface photovoltage spectroscopy and complementary methods. The results show that, contrary to previous studies, nonnegligible electric fields can exist in QD films. As a result, driftlike currents must be considered, in addition to the well-known diffusion like currents. However, it is found that the specific case of photovoltage sign reversal, observed after etching highly quantized CdSe QD films, is governed by diffusion like transport. The latter is highly influenced by preferential trapping of one type of charge carrier. The preferential trapping is shown to be surface localized and is strongly ambient dependent. It is shown that the photovoltaic properties of these CdSe QD films are dominated by their surface state distribution.

Surface photovoltage spectroscopy study of reduced and oxidized nanocrystalline TiO2 films

Abstract Nanocrystalline TiO 2 films used for gas sensors have been studied by means of surface photovoltage spectroscopy and other analytical tools to investigate the oxygen chemisorption effect on the electrical properties of the films. The results show that the surface (and intergranular interface) band bending increases with oxygen exposure due to electron trapping at midgap states induced by chemisorption. The surface electronic structure is revealed by the measurements, allowing determination of the sensing mechanism of these important films. In addition, a photoinduced chemisorption of oxygen at room temperature is observed. This has important implications for low-temperature gas sensors.

Quantitative evaluation of chemisorption processes on semiconductors

This article presents a method for numerical computation of the degree of coverage of chemisorbates and the resultant surface band bending as a function of the ambient gas pressure, temperature, and semiconductor doping level. This method enables quantitative evaluation of the effect of chemisorption on the electronic properties of semiconductor surfaces, such as the work function and surface conductivity, which is of great importance for many applications such as solid- state chemical sensors and electro-optical devices. The method is applied for simulating the chemisorption behavior of oxygen on n-type CdS, a process that has been investigated extensively due to its impact on the photoconductive properties of CdS photodetectors. The simulation demonstrates that the chemisorption of adions saturates when the Fermi level becomes aligned with the chemisorption-induced surface states, limiting their coverage to a small fraction of a monolayer. The degree of coverage of chemisorbed adions is proportional to ...

De Novo Designed Coiled-Coil Proteins with Variable Conformations as Components of Molecular Electronic Devices

Conformational changes of proteins are widely used in nature for controlling cellular functions, including ligand binding, oligomerization, and catalysis. Despite the fact that different proteins and artificial peptides have been utilized as electron-transfer mediators in electronic devices, the unique propensity of proteins to switch between different conformations has not been used as a mechanism to control device properties and performance. Toward this aim, we have designed and prepared new dimeric coiled-coil proteins that adopt different conformations due to parallel or antiparallel relative orientations of their monomers. We show here that controlling the conformation of these proteins attached as monolayers to gold, which dictates the direction and magnitude of the molecular dipole relative to the surface, results in quantitative modulation of the gold work function. Furthermore, charge transport through the proteins as molecular bridges is controlled by the different protein conformations, producing either rectifying or ohmic-like behavior.

Conductance of amyloid β based peptide filaments: structure–function relations

Controlling the morphology of self-assembled peptide nanostructures, particularly those based on amyloid peptides, has been the focus of intense research. In order to exploit these structures in electronic applications, further understanding of their electronic behavior is required. In this work, the role of peptide morphology in determining electronic conduction along self-assembled peptide nanofilament networks is demonstrated. The peptides used in this work were based on the sequence AAKLVFF, which is an extension of a core sequence from the amyloid β peptide. We show that the incorporation of a non-natural amino acid, 2-thienylalanine, instead of phenylalanine improves the obtained conductance with respect to that obtained for a similar structure based on the native sequence, which was not the case for the incorporation of 3-thienylalanine. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the morphology of the self-assembled structures, which can be controlled by the solvent used in the assembly process, strongly affects the conductance, with larger conduction obtained for a morphology of long, straight filaments. Our results demonstrate that, similar to natural systems, the assembly and folding of peptides could be of great importance for optimizing their function as components of electronic devices. Hence, sequence design and assembly conditions can be used to control the performance of peptide based structures in such electronic applications.

The controlled fabrication of nanopores by focused electron-beam-induced etching

The fabrication of nanometric holes within thin silicon-based membranes is of great importance for various nanotechnology applications. The preparation of such holes with accurate control over their size and shape is, thus, gaining a lot of interest. In this work we demonstrate the use of a focused electron-beam-induced etching (FEBIE) process as a promising tool for the fabrication of such nanopores in silicon nitride membranes and study the process parameters. The reduction of silicon nitride by the electron beam followed by chemical etching of the residual elemental silicon results in a linear dependence of pore diameter on electron beam exposure time, enabling accurate control of nanopore size in the range of 17-200 nm in diameter. An optimal pressure of 5.3 x 10(-6) Torr for the production of smaller pores with faster process rates, as a result of mass transport effects, was found. The pore formation process is also shown to be dependent on the details of the pulsed process cycle, which control the rate of the pore extension, and its minimal and maximal size. Our results suggest that the FEBIE process may play a key role in the fabrication of nanopores for future devices both in sensing and nano-electronics applications.

Surface photovoltage spectroscopy of an InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well laser structure

An InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well graded-index-of-refraction separate-confinement hetero-structure laser has been analyzed using surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) in a contactless, nondestructive way at room temperature. Numerical simulation of the resulting spectrum made it possible to extract growth parameters, such as the InGaAs well width, the well and cladding compositions, as well as important electro-optic structure data of this device, including the lasing wavelength and built-in electric field. The results highlight the power of SPS in obtaining performance parameters of actual laser devices, containing two-dimensional structures, in a contactless, nondestructive way.

Bioassisted multi-nanoparticle patterning using single-layer peptide templates.

Patterning of nanoparticles on solid substrates is one of the main challenges of current nanotechnology applications. The use of organic molecules as templates for the deposition of the nanoparticles makes it possible to utilize simple soft lithography techniques for patterning. Peptides appear to be powerful candidates for this job due to their versatility and design flexibility. In this work, we demonstrate the use of dual-affinity peptides, which bind both to the substrate and to the deposited nanoparticles, as single-layer linkers for the creation of multi-component nanoparticle patterns via microcontact printing processes. Controlled deposition and patterning of gold colloids or carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on silicon oxide surfaces and that of silicon oxide nanoparticles on gold surfaces have been achieved by the use of the corresponding dual-affinity peptides. Furthermore, patterning of both gold colloids and CNTs on a single substrate on predefined locations has been achieved. The suggested generic approach offers great flexibility by allowing binding of any material to a substrate of choice, provided that a peptide binding segment has been engineered for each of the inorganic components. Furthermore, the diversity of possible peptide sequences allows the formation of multi-component patterns, paving the way to fabricating complex functional structures based on peptide templates.

The Strong Influence of Structure Polymorphism on the Conductivity of Peptide Fibrils

Peptide fibril nanostructures have been advocated as components of future biotechnology and nanotechnology devices. However, the ability to exploit the fibril functionality for applications, such as catalysis or electron transfer, depends on the formation of well-defined architectures. Fibrils made of peptides substituted with aromatic groups are described presenting efficient electron delocalization. Peptide self-assembly under various conditions produced polymorphic fibril products presenting distinctly different conductivities. This process is driven by a collective set of hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, and π-stacking interactions, and as a result it can be directed towards formation of a distinct polymorph by using the medium to enhance specific interactions rather than the others. This method facilitates the detailed characterization of different polymorphs, and allows specific conditions to be established that lead to the polymorph with the highest conductivity.