Lithography-Free Manufacturing of Metal Structures Separated by Nanogaps

这笔赠款支持的研究将促进在芯片上制造光学和电子元件所需的制造技术和知识库，这些元件由纳米级间隔的金属结构组成，称为纳米间隙。尽管概念验证应用于化学和生物医学传感、纳米电子学和光伏，但基于纳米间隙的器件加工的进展受阻于对技术要求高、耗时和成本高昂的技术的需求。此外，目前的方法在生成完全表达纳米间隙相关现象所需的构型方面还远远不够理想。该奖项旨在通过将芯片上的NanoGap制造从极其复杂的工艺转变为提供合成简单性和前所未有的控制，同时响应制造环境的低成本、高产量和可扩展性需求，来纠正这种情况。开展的研究将通过研究生培训、本科生研究实习、实验室模块以及对参与促进多样性、公平和包容性的成熟计划的个人的指导，整合到教育活动中。因此，总体目标是促进对社会健康和福祉具有重要意义的应用，同时培训制定尖端技术所需的多样化劳动力。该奖项的目标是定义在与等离子体和分子电子学相关的情况下，对由亚5纳米纳米隙分隔的相对金属表面进行芯片加工所需的台式技术。具体的目标是制造(I)其中纳米间隙被分子连接物占据的二聚体阵列，(Ii)具有空气填充纳米间隙的二聚体阵列，以及(Iii)通过桥连接的图案化电极，其中沿其长度具有纳米间隙不连续。其中每一个都形成由总体策略指导的研究推力，其中纳米压印提供确定性定位，间隔物材料定义纳米间隙宽度，并且通过液态合成形成的结构通过对接间隔物材料形成纳米间隙。间隔材料的使用对整个方法至关重要，因为纳米间隙的定义依赖于材料，而不是光刻，而是容易以单层尺度精度应用的材料。这些能力一旦得到证明，将为将Nanogap集成到应用平台中提供一条前进的道路，并为研究最先进设备原型的研究人员社区提供新的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This grant supports research that will advance the manufacturing techniques and knowledge base required for the on-chip fabrication of optical and electronic components composed of metal structures separated by nanometer-scale distances referred to as nanogaps. Despite proof-of-concept applications in chemical and biomedical sensing, nanoelectronics, and photovoltaics, progress in nanogap-based device processing is hampered by the need for technically demanding, time-consuming, and cost-prohibitive techniques. Moreover, current methods are far from ideal in terms of generating the configurations needed to fully express nanogap-related phenomena. This award aims to remedy this situation by transforming on-chip nanogap fabrication from processes that are inextricably complicated to those offering synthetic ease and unprecedented control while at the same time being responsive to the low-cost, high-throughput, and scalability needs of a manufacturing setting. The research carried out will be integrated into educational activities through graduate student training, undergraduate research internships, lab modules, and the mentorship of individuals participating in well-established programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. The overall aim is, therefore, to advance applications of importance to the health and well-being of society while training the diverse workforce needed to enact leading-edge technologies. The objective of the award is to define the benchtop techniques required for the on-chip processing of opposing metal surfaces separated by sub-5 nm nanogaps as they relate to plasmonics and molecular electronics. Specifically targeted is the fabrication of (i) dimer arrays where the nanogap is occupied by molecular linkers, (ii) dimer arrays with air-filled nanogaps, and (iii) patterned electrodes connected by a bridge with a nanogap discontinuity along its length. Each of these forms a research thrust guided by an overall strategy in which nanoimprinting provides for deterministic positioning, a spacer material defines the nanogap width, and structures formed through liquid-state syntheses form a nanogap by butting up against a spacer material. The use of a spacer material is crucial to the overall approach in that nanogap definition is reliant, not on lithography, but on materials that are readily applied with monolayer-scale precision. Such capabilities, once demonstrated, will provide a path forward for integrating nanogaps into application platforms and provide new capabilities to the community of researchers prototyping state-of-the-art devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.