IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Processing at the Nanoscale Monday Sessions
       Session PN-MoA

Paper PN-MoA4
Charge Mediated Selective Reaction and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures

Monday, October 29, 2001, 3:00 pm, Room 133

Session: Nanostructures from 0 to 3 Dimensions
Presenter: T. Alvarez, University of Pennsylvania
Authors: T. Alvarez, University of Pennsylvania
S.V. Kalinin, University of Pennsylvania
D.A. Bonnell, University of Pennsylvania
Correspondent: Click to Email
A primary challenge in fabricating functional devices with nanometer scale components is to position and connect a number of dissimilar electroactive device elements in a predefined scheme. We will demonstrate the use of local electric fields to constrain selective chemical reactions that produce and position metallic nano contacts and metallic wires. The local electric fields are induced by atomic polarization in a semiconducting ferroelectric substrate. Nanometer scale (30-80 nm) metal nanocontacts are deposited by photoreduction and the size dependence of interface contact potential quantified. Subsequent reactions similar to conventional self-assembly allow functional elements such as organic molecules that act as diodes or NDR devices to develop into complex structures. Atomic polarization, charge compensation in the substrate, and local properties of nanocontacts are characterized with variants of scanning probe microscopy. The approach will be demonstrated with Ag nanocontacts on BaTiO3 substrates. The generalization of the approach to broader materials sets and to 3-D structures will be discussed.