McAlpine Michael C, Ahmad Habib, Wang Dunwei, Heath James R
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
Nat Mater. 2007 May;6(5):379-84. doi: 10.1038/nmat1891. Epub 2007 Apr 22.
The development of a robust method for integrating high-performance semiconductors on flexible plastics could enable exciting avenues in fundamental research and novel applications. One area of vital relevance is chemical and biological sensing, which if implemented on biocompatible substrates, could yield breakthroughs in implantable or wearable monitoring systems. Semiconducting nanowires (and nanotubes) are particularly sensitive chemical sensors because of their high surface-to-volume ratios. Here, we present a scalable and parallel process for transferring hundreds of pre-aligned silicon nanowires onto plastic to yield highly ordered films for low-power sensor chips. The nanowires are excellent field-effect transistors, and, as sensors, exhibit parts-per-billion sensitivity to NO2, a hazardous pollutant. We also use SiO2 surface chemistries to construct a 'nano-electronic nose' library, which can distinguish acetone and hexane vapours via distributed responses. The excellent sensing performance coupled with bendable plastic could open up opportunities in portable, wearable or even implantable sensors.
开发一种在柔性塑料上集成高性能半导体的强大方法，可能会为基础研究和新应用开辟令人兴奋的途径。一个至关重要的相关领域是化学和生物传感，如果在生物相容性基板上实现，可能会在可植入或可穿戴监测系统方面取得突破。半导体纳米线（和纳米管）因其高的表面积与体积比而成为特别灵敏的化学传感器。在此，我们展示了一种可扩展且并行的工艺，用于将数百根预先排列好的硅纳米线转移到塑料上，以生产用于低功耗传感器芯片的高度有序薄膜。这些纳米线是出色的场效应晶体管，并且作为传感器，对有害污染物二氧化氮表现出十亿分之一的灵敏度。我们还利用二氧化硅表面化学构建了一个“纳米电子鼻”库，它可以通过分布式响应区分丙酮和己烷蒸气。出色的传感性能与可弯曲塑料相结合，可能会为便携式、可穿戴甚至可植入传感器带来机遇。
