International Business Machines Corporation

Swisslitho Ag

Globalfoundries Inc.

Armin W Knoll

Urs T Duerig

Bernd W Gotsmann

James L Hedrick

Jane Elizabeth Frommer

Robert Dennis Miller

Teddie Peregrino Magbitang

Russell Clayton Pratt

Erik Christopher Hagberg

Charles Gordon Wade

Richard Anthony Dipietro

Elad Koren

Emanuel Loertscher

Victor Yee-Way Lee

Johannes Windeln

Felix Holzner

Thilo Hermann Stoeferle

David Pires

Christian Michael Schwemmer

Michel Despont

Daniel Joseph Coady

Kazuki Fukushima

Rainer Friedbert Mahrt

Daniel Grogg

Philip Paul

Fei Ding

Stefan Fringes

Colin Rawlings

Mark Alfred Lantz

Harish Bhaskaran

Ute Drechsler

Heiko Wolf

Michael Skaug

Rachel Cannara

Cyrill Kuemin

Charles-Gordon Wade

Francesca Ruggeri

Charalampos Pozidis

Abu Sebastian

Walter Heinrich Riess

Walter Haeberle

Deepak Ranjan Sahoo

Darius Urbonas

Thilo Hermann Curt Stoeferle

Tobias Kraus

Peter Baechtold

Gian R Salis

Michael Zientek

Michal Zientek

A microfluidic device includes: a microchannel defining a flow path; a Brownian motor structure comprising two or more sorting channels having distinct ratchet topographies, the Brownian motor structure in fluid communication with the microchannel; and a filter extending transversely to the microchannel, the filter configured to filter particles, subject to sizes thereof, in a liquid advancing along the flow path, whereby smaller particles of the liquid can pass downstream of the filter in the flow path, and larger particles of the liquid are directed to the Brownian motor structure to be sorted out according to sizes thereof via the sorting channels.

Up-concentration and size sorting of nanoparticles in microfluidic devices

A detection device can include a cavity structure forming a Fabry-Perot optical microcavity, an electrostatic trap, and a Brownian motor. The Fabry-Perot optical microcavity has two mirrors extending on each side of a reference plane in a spacer region between the two mirrors. The mirrors are configured to vertically confine radiation in the spacer region, e.g., with respect to a first direction perpendicular to the reference plane. The electrostatic trap is arranged in the spacer region. The trap includes a pit and the cavity structure is generally configured to confine radiation in the pit, laterally (e.g., with respect to a second direction parallel to the reference plane). The Brownian motor structure extends in the spacer region along said reference plane. This structure is adapted to laterally load particles in the pit of the electrostatic trap by moving such particles along the structure, in operation.

Optical microcavities with integrated electrostatic confinement and brownian motors

Embodiments of the invention include a microfluidic device, which comprises a substrate with a channel defined therein, on an upper surface of the substrate, wherein a bottom wall of the channel comprises several contiguous steps having an asymmetric profile along a main direction of the channel, so as to form a ratchet topography. The device further comprises a lid, opposite to and at a distance from the upper surface of the substrate, so as to face the bottom wall of the channel. The bottom wall and the lid are designed to allow like sign charges to accumulate thereat, in presence of a polar liquid confined in the channel between the bottom wall and the lid, so as to allow displacement of nanoscale particles in the polar liquid, along said main direction of the channel, under application of an alternating force to said nanoscale particles, in operation of the device.

Microfluidic ratchets for displacing particles

An electromechanical switching device includes a first electrode, comprising layers of a first 2D layered material, which layers exhibit a first surface; a second electrode, comprising layers of a second 2D layered material, which layers exhibit a second surface opposite the first surface; and an actuation mechanism; wherein each of the first and second 2D layered materials has an anisotropic electrical conductivity, which is lower transversely to its layers than in-plane with the layers; the first electrode includes two distinct areas alongside the first surface, which areas differ in at least one structural, electrical and/or magnetic property; and at least one of the first and second electrodes is actuatable by the actuation mechanism, such that actuation thereof for modification of an electrical conductance transverse to each of the first surface and the second surface to enable current modulation between the first electrode and the second electrode.

Electromechanical switching device with electrodes having 2D layered materials with distinct functional areas

A method of fabrication of a micro-optics device included providing a layer of material; patterning the layer of material by one or more of: locally unzipping and desorbing molecules thereof, with a nano-scale dimensioned probe, to obtain a curved surface for the layer of material, the curved surface having a curved profile in a plane section; and completing a layer structure perpendicular to the plane section by providing one or more additional layers of material in contact with the curved surface to obtain the micro-optics device, wherein the micro-optics device has the layer structure, with a given layer thereof comprising a defect delimited by two surfaces, wherein one of the two surfaces is the curved surface.

Fabrication of a micro-optics device with curved surface defects

A scanning probe nanolithography system comprising a probe to create nanostructures line () by line through writing said nanostructures () pixel by pixel along lines () on a sample. A positioning system is adapted to provide a positioning of the probe at a sequence of predetermined positions to the sample and its surface towards the probe and a control unit () is provided to control the positioning system for positioning the probe for a pixel-wise writing of said lines () through a writing unit. It further comprises a sensor unit adapted to detect a predetermined property of the written nanostructure (), the sensor unit being connected to the control unit to adapt the control signals to be provided to the writing unit for writing the following line () based on the measured signals () of the predetermined property.

Scanning probe nanolithography system and method

A method and a scanning probe microscope (SPM) for scanning a surface of a material. The method and SPM have a cantilever sensor configured to exhibit both a first spring behavior and a second, stiffer spring behavior. While operating the SPM in contact mode, the sensor is scanned on the material surface and a first spring behavior of the sensor (e.g. a fundamental mode of flexure thereof) is excited by deflection of the sensor by the material surface. Also while operating the SPM in contact mode, excitation means are used to excite a second spring behavior of the sensor at a resonance frequency thereof (e.g. one or more higher-order resonant modes) of the cantilever sensor to modulate an interaction of the sensor and the material surface and thereby reduce the wearing of the material surface.

Wear-less operation of a material surface with a scanning probe microscope

The present invention provides a method for multiscale patterning of a sample. The method includes: placing the sample in an apparatus having both thermo-optical lithography capability and thermal scanning probe lithography capability; and patterning two patterns onto the sample, respectively by: thermo-optical lithography, wherein light is emitted from a light source onto the sample to heat the latter and thereby write a first pattern that is the largest of the two patterns; and thermal scanning probe lithography, wherein the sample and a heated probe tip are brought in contact for writing a second pattern that has substantially smaller critical dimensions than the first pattern. There is also provided an apparatus for multiscale patterning of a sample.

Multiscale patterning of a sample with apparatus having both thermo-optical lithography capability and thermal scanning probe lithography capability

An atomic-force microscope system is provided including: an electrically conducting cantilever support; an electrically insulating element; and an electrically conducting cantilever anchored at a first end to the cantilever support via the insulating element, the cantilever including a probe tip at a second end opposite to the first end and the cantilever support is configured as a backside electrode of the cantilever for backside actuation thereof; a Fabry-Perot interferometer including: a resonator with a first mirror defined on the cantilever; and a second mirror defined on the cantilever support having a first side and a second side configured to allow light injection, opposite to the first side, the latter extending at least partly vis-&#xe0;-vis the first mirror. The interferometer includes a light-emitting device, and a detector configured for detecting a property of the system impacted by interferences of light emitted by the light-emitting device. Methods of operations are also provided.

Atomic-force microscope system with integrated fabry-perot resonator

The present invention relates a method of producing a data storage medium comprising the steps of: a) coating a layer comprising a polymer material onto at least a part of a template surface thereby to obtain a modified template surface; b) clamping the modified template surface produced in step (a) with a target surface thereby to obtain an assembly; and c) introducing a liquid to an environment of the assembly obtained in step (b) thereby to transfer the layer comprising the polymer material of the modified template surface onto at least an adjacent region on the target surface.

Method of producing a data storage medium

A local probe storage array is provided that includes a substrate, and a polymeric layer over the substrate, the polymeric layer comprising a crosslinking agent comprising at least three alkyne groups.

Method and device for high density data storage

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Rueschlikon, Switzerland

Armin W Knoll