Fabrication of nanometer size gaps on an electrode

US6897009B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania · US

Inventors

• Alan T. Johnson · Rancho Santa Margarita, US
• Marko Radosavljevic · Portland, US
• Jacques Lefebvre · Voiron, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 29, 2000
• Grant date: May 24, 2005
• Expiry date: Mar 1, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S977/752
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A shadow mask method to fabricate electrodes with nanometer scale separation utilizes nanotubes (NTs). Metal wires with gaps are made by incorporating multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) or single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) (or bundles thereof) into a tri-layer electron beam lithography process. The simple, highly controllable, and scaleable method can be used to make gaps with widths between 1 and 100 nm. Electronic transport measurements performed on individual SWNTs bridge nanogaps smaller than 30 nm. Metallic SWNTs exhibit quantum dot behavior with an 80 meV charging energy and a 20 meV energy level splitting. Semiconducting SWNTs show an anomalous field effect transistor behavior.