Besleaga Cristina, Dumitru Viorel, Trinca Liliana Marinela, Popa Adrian-Claudiu, Negrila Constantin-Catalin, Kołodziejczyk Łukasz, Luculescu Catalin-Romeo, Ionescu Gabriela-Cristina, Ripeanu Razvan-George, Vladescu Alina, Stan George E
National Institute of Materials Physics, RO-077125 Magurele, Romania.
Army Centre for Medical Research, RO-010195 Bucharest, Romania.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2017 Nov 17;7(11):394. doi: 10.3390/nano7110394.
Aluminum Nitride (AlN) has been long time being regarded as highly interesting material for developing sensing applications (including biosensors and implantable sensors). AlN, due to its appealing electronic properties, is envisaged lately to serve as a multi-functional biosensing platform. Although generally exploited for its intrinsic piezoelectricity, its surface morphology and mechanical performance (elastic modulus, hardness, wear, scratch and tensile resistance to delamination, adherence to the substrate), corrosion resistance and cytocompatibility are also essential features for high performance sustainable biosensor devices. However, information about AlN suitability for such applications is rather scarce or at best scattered and incomplete. Here, we aim to deliver a comprehensive evaluation of the morpho-structural, compositional, mechanical, electrochemical and biological properties of reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtered AlN nanostructured thin films with various degrees of -axis texturing, deposited at a low temperature (~50 °C) on Si (100) substrates. The inter-conditionality elicited between the base pressure level attained in the reactor chamber and crystalline quality of AlN films is highlighted. The potential suitability of nanostructured AlN (in form of thin films) for the realization of various type of sensors (with emphasis on bio-sensors) is thoroughly probed, thus unveiling its advantages and limitations, as well as suggesting paths to safely exploit the remarkable prospects of this type of materials.
长期以来，氮化铝（AlN）一直被视为开发传感应用（包括生物传感器和可植入传感器）的极具吸引力的材料。由于其具有吸引人的电子特性，AlN最近被设想用作多功能生物传感平台。尽管通常利用其固有压电性，但它的表面形态和机械性能（弹性模量、硬度、耐磨性、抗划伤性和抗拉伸分层性、与基底的附着力）、耐腐蚀性和细胞相容性也是高性能可持续生物传感器设备的基本特征。然而，关于AlN适用于此类应用的信息相当稀少，或者充其量是零散且不完整的。在此，我们旨在对在低温（约50°C）下沉积在Si（100）基底上的具有不同程度c轴织构的反应性射频磁控溅射AlN纳米结构薄膜的形态结构、成分、机械、电化学和生物学特性进行全面评估。强调了反应腔室中达到的基础压力水平与AlN薄膜晶体质量之间产生的相互关联性。深入探究了纳米结构AlN（薄膜形式）用于实现各种类型传感器（重点是生物传感器）的潜在适用性，从而揭示其优点和局限性，并提出安全利用这类材料显著前景的途径。
