Ion-beam sculpting at nanometre length scales
| Autor: | Jiali Li, Derek Stein, Michael J. Aziz, Jene Andrew Golovchenko, Ciaran J. McMullan, Daniel Branton |
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| Rok vydání: | 2001 |
| Předmět: |
Ions
Physics Miniaturization Multidisciplinary Ion beam Microchemistry Silicon Compounds Membranes Artificial Nanotechnology Biosensing Techniques DNA Ion Quantitative Biology::Subcellular Processes Nanopore Membrane Models Chemical Sputtering Ion-beam sculpting Nanometre Transport phenomena Filtration |
| Zdroj: | Nature. 412:166-169 |
| ISSN: | 1476-4687 0028-0836 |
| Popis: | Manipulating matter at the nanometre scale is important for many electronic, chemical and biological advances, but present solid-state fabrication methods do not reproducibly achieve dimensional control at the nanometre scale. Here we report a means of fashioning matter at these dimensions that uses low-energy ion beams and reveals surprising atomic transport phenomena that occur in a variety of materials and geometries. The method is implemented in a feedback-controlled sputtering system that provides fine control over ion beam exposure and sample temperature. We call the method "ion-beam sculpting", and apply it to the problem of fabricating a molecular-scale hole, or nanopore, in a thin insulating solid-state membrane. Such pores can serve to localize molecular-scale electrical junctions and switches and function as masks to create other small-scale structures. Nanopores also function as membrane channels in all living systems, where they serve as extremely sensitive electro-mechanical devices that regulate electric potential, ionic flow, and molecular transport across cellular membranes. We show that ion-beam sculpting can be used to fashion an analogous solid-state device: a robust electronic detector consisting of a single nanopore in a Si3N4 membrane, capable of registering single DNA molecules in aqueous solution. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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