Northwestern University

Seoul National University

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.

Snu Rdb Foundation

Seunghun Hong

Chad A Mirkin

Richard Piner

Sung Woo Myung

Vinayak P Dravid

Jiwoon Im

Kwang Seung Heo

Minbaek Lee

Tae Hyun Kim

Joohyung Lee

Hua Zhang

Sung Young Park

Peng Xiong

Seon Namgung

Dana Weinberger

P Bryant Chase

Timothy S Moerland

Stephan Von Molnar

A semiconductor device and methods of manufacturing and operating the semiconductor device may be disclosed. The semiconductor device may comprise different nanostructures. The semiconductor device may have a first element formed of nanowires and a second element formed of nanoparticles. The nanowires may be ambipolar carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The first element may be a channel layer. The second element may be a charge trap layer. In this regard, the semiconductor device may be a transistor or a memory device.

Semiconductor memory devices and methods of manufacturing and operating same

A reconfigurable semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a first insulating material formed on the substrate, two channels having different polarities, a plurality of terminal electrodes formed on the insulating material and coupled in common with the channels at their opposite ends, a second insulating material formed on the terminal electrodes, and a control gate formed on the second insulating material. The channels have different polarity and a charge storage layer is formed inside the second insulating material. The control gate is applied with a forward bias or a reverse bias and then the bias is cut off. The voltage-current characteristics of the semiconductor device are changed according to an electrical charge created in the charge storage layer.

Reconfigurable semiconductor device

Nanoscale graphene structure fabrication techniques are provided. An oxide nanowire useful as a mask is formed on a graphene layer and then ion beam etching is performed. A nanoscale graphene structure is fabricated by removing a remaining oxide nanowire after the ion beam etching.

Fabricating a graphene nano-device

The invention provides a lithographic method referred to as 'dip pen' nanolithography (DPN). The method include the following steps: (i) providing a substrate and a scanning probe microscope tip; (ii) coating the tip with a patterning compound and a solvent to form a wet tip; and (iii) contacting the coated tip with the substrate so that the compound is applied to the substrate so as to produce a desired pattern. The invention also provides substrates patterned by DPN and kits for performing DPN.

Methods utilizing scanning probe microscope tips and products therefor or produced thereby

Techniques for manufacturing cross-structures of nanostructures, such as nanowires and carbon nanotubes are provided. In one embodiment, a method for manufacturing cross-structures of nanostructures include providing a substrate, patterning a first mask layer on the substrate, adsorbing first nanostructures onto surface regions of the substrate where the first mask layer does not exist, removing the first mask layer from the substrate, patterning a second mask layer on the substrate to which the first nanostructures are adsorbed, and adsorbing second nanostructures onto the surface regions of the substrate where the second mask layer does not exist, under conditions effective to manufacture cross-structures of nanostructures on the substrate.

Manufacturing cross-structures of nanostructures

The invention provides a lithographic method referred to as 'dip pen' nanolithography (DPN). DPN utilizes a scanning probe microscope (SPM) tip (e.g., an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip) as a 'pen,' a solid-state substrate (e.g., gold) as &#x201c;paper,&#x201d; and molecules with a chemical affinity for the solid-state substrate as &#x201c;ink.&#x201d; Capillary transport of molecules from the SPM tip to the solid substrate is used in DPN to directly write patterns consisting of a relatively small collection of molecules in submicrometer dimensions, making DPN useful in the fabrication of a variety of microscale and nanoscale devices. The invention also provides substrates patterned by DPN, including submicrometer combinatorial arrays, and kits, devices and software for performing DPN. The invention further provides a method of performing AFM imaging in air. The method comprises coating an AFM tip with a hydrophobic compound, the hydrophobic compound being selected so that AFM imaging performed using the coated AFM tip is improved compared to AFM imaging performed using an uncoated AFM tip. Finally, the invention provides AFM tips coated with the hydrophobic compounds.

Methods utilizing scanning probe microscope tips and products thereof or produced thereby

The invention provides a lithographic method referred to as 'dip pen' nanolithography (DPN). Capillary transport of molecules from the SPM tip to the solid substrate is used in DPN to directly write patterns consisting of a relatively small collection of molecules in submicrometer dimensions, making DPN useful in the fabrication of a variety of microscale and nanoscale devices. The invention also provides substrates patterned by DPN and kits for performing DPN. The invention further provides a method of performing AFM imaging in air. The method comprises coating an AFM tip with a hydrophobic compound, the hydrophobic compound being selected so that AFM imaging performed using the coated AFM tip is improved compared to AFM imaging performed using an uncoated AFM tip. Finally, the invention provides AFM tips coated with the hydrophobic compounds.

Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing and operating same

In one aspect, a method of nanolithography is provided, the method comprising providing a substrate; providing a scanning probe microscope tip; coating the tip with a deposition compound; and subjecting said coated tip to a driving force to deliver said deposition compound to said substrate so as to produce a desired pattern. Another aspect of the invention provides a tip for use in nanolithography having an internal cavity and an aperture restricting movement of a deposition compound from the tip to the substrate. The rate and extent of movement of the deposition compound through the aperture is controlled by a driving force.

Nanolithography methods and products therefor and produced thereby

In one aspect, a method of nanolithography is provided using a driving force to control the movement of a deposition compound from a scanning probe microscope tip to a substrate. Another aspect of the invention provides a tip for use in nanolithography having an internal cavity and an aperture restricting movement of a deposition compound from the tip to the substrate. The rate and extent of movement of the deposition compound through the aperture is controlled by a driving force.

The invention provides a lithographic method referred to as 'dip pen' nanolithography (DPN). DPN utilizes a scanning probe microscope (SPM) tip (e.g., an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip) as a 'pen,' a solid-state substrate (e.g., gold) as &#x201c;paper,&#x201d; and molecules with a chemical affinity for the solid-state substrate as &#x201c;ink.&#x201d; Capillary transport of molecules from the SPM tip to the solid substrate is used in DPN to directly write patterns consisting of a relatively small collection of molecules in submicrometer dimensions, making DPN useful in the fabrication of a variety of microscale and nanoscale devices. The invention also provides substrates patterned by DPN and kits for performing DPN. The invention further provides a method of performing AFM imaging in air. The method comprises coating an AFM tip with a hydrophobic compound, the hydrophobic compound being selected so that AFM imaging performed using the coated AFM tip is improved compared to AFM imaging performed using an uncoated AFM tip. Finally, the invention provides AFM tips coated with the hydrophobic compounds.

The invention provides a lithographic method referred to as 'dip pen' nanolithography (DPN), which utilizes a scanning probe microscope (SPM) tip (e.g., an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip) as a 'pen,' a solid-state substrate (e.g., gold) as &#x201c;paper,&#x201d; and molecules with a chemical affinity for the solid-state substrate as &#x201c;ink.&#x201d; Capillary transport of molecules from the SPM tip to the solid-state substrate is used in DPN to directly write patterns consisting of a relatively small collection of molecules in submicrometer dimensions, making DPN useful in the fabrication of a variety of microscale and nanoscale devices. The invention also provides substrates patterned by DPN, including submicrometer combinatorial arrays, and kits, devices and software for performing DPN. The invention further provides a method of performing AFM imaging in air. The method comprises coating an AFM tip with a hydrophobic compound, the hydrophobic compound being selected so that AFM imaging performed using the coated AFM tip is improved compared to AFM imaging preformed using an uncoated AFM tip. Finally, the invention provides AFM tips coated with the hydrophobic compounds.

Combination of nanolithography and wet chemical etching including the fabrication of nanoarrays of sub-50 nm gold dots and line structures with deliberately designed approximately 12-100 nm gaps. These structures were made by initially using direct write nanolithography to pattern the etch resist, 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHA), on Au/Ti/SiO/Si substrates and then wet chemical etching to remove the exposed gold. These are the smallest Au structures prepared by a wet chemical etching strategy. Also, Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN) has been used to generate resist layers on Au, Ag, and Pd that when combined with wet chemical etching can lead to nanostructures with deliberately designed shapes and sizes. Monolayers of mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHA) or octadecanethiol (ODT), patterned by DPN, were explored as etch resists. They work comparably well on Au and Ag, but ODT is the superior material for Pd. MHA seems to attract the FeCletchant and results in nonuniform etching of the underlying Pd substrate. Dots, lines, triangles and circles, ranging in size from sub-100 to several hundred nm have been fabricated on these substrates. These results show how one can use DPN as an alternative to more complex and costly procedures like electron beam lithography to generate nanostructures from inorganic materials.

Growing community of inventors

Seoul, South Korea

Seunghun Hong