14 DAY TRIAL // A collaboration of researchers at the Stanford University, in the United States, announces the development of a new method of fabrication nanoscale wires. The technique can be used to create nanowires that can be attached to any surface or material.
Thus far, these structures were limited in their uses, in the sense that they could only be affixed to certain substrates and shapes of objects. The Stanford team that conducted the new investigation determined that the method through which the wires were produced was responsible for this limitation.
In the new experiments, researchers basically figured out how to construct nanowires in such a way that they could be transferred anywhere the team chose to. The most interesting aspect of this research is the fact that these nanowires can be fashioned into electronics.
As such, the team may have just brought wearable electronics and flexible computer displays closer to reality. High-efficiency solar cells and ultrasensitive biosensors could also be produced thanks to this innovation, the group believes.
At this point, electronic devices such as computers, cameras and cell phones rely on the use of silicon chips, which are very rigid, brittle, and unstretchable. Creating flexible, twisting and bending electronics has been a goal in this field of research for many years.
When normal chips are manufactured, the electronic components are imprinted on the silicon, and cannot be removed later on. The Stanford team decided to pursue an approach in which to create the nanowires on standard silicon chips, but with a twist.
Rather than placing the nanoscale circuits directly on the silicon wafer, the new method first coats the wafer with a very thin layer of nickel. Both nickel and silicon are hydrophilic materials, which means that they have a tendency to be what scientists refer to as “water-loving.”
After production of the nanowire-laden chips is done, water is flowed over the devices. H2O molecules penetrate between the silicon and the nickel, forcing the nanowires to separate from the silicon wafer.
“The detachment process can be done at room temperature in water and only takes a few seconds. The transfer process is almost 100 percent successful, meaning the devices can be transferred without sustaining any damage,” Xiaolin Zheng says.
The Stanford expert is holds an appointment as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He was the leader of the research group that developed the new process. The expert say that the silicon wafers can be used for more than one production cycle.
This means that the costs associated with using this new technology will be lower than the ones usually associated with producing standard chips and electronics. Full details of the technique will appear in an upcoming issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nano Letters.