Introduction to Nanotechnology

( PH 401 )
Text/Reference Books: 1. Introduction to Nanoelectronics Vladimir V. Mitin, V. A. Kochelap and Michael A. Stroscio Cambridge University Press 2. Introduction to Nanotechnology Charles P. Poole and Frank J. Owen John Wiley & Sons 3. Nanotechnology Principle and practices Sulbha K. Kulkarni Captial Publishing Company

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Nanotechnology Jeremy Ramsden Free study books: www.bookboon.com

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Nanoelectronics and Nanosystems K. Goser, P. Glosekotter and J. Dienstuhal Springer India Pvt. Ltd

What is Nanotechnology?

What is nanotechnology?
The prefix nano in the word nanotechnology means a billionth ( 1x 10-9 ). The nanotechnology deals with structure of matter having dimensions of the order of billionth of a meter. Carbon bond lengths - 0.12 0.15 nm DNA double helix has a diameter 2 nm Bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma 200nm The ratio of the size of a marble to the size of the earth is same as that of a nanometer to a meter.

Nanotechnology is a new technology but the nanostructures occurs in nature and even man has used it without knowing.

Abolone a mollusk constructs a very strong shell having

iridescent inner surface by organising calcium carbonate into nanostructured bricks glued by carbohydrate-protein gel. The shells represents strong natural structures fabricated from nano particles. Lycurgus cup made from the soda lime glass containing silvergold-nano particles ( by Romans). The colour of the cup changes from green to deep red when light is placed in it. Photography a technology using nanosized particles. It uses a film containing silver halides. The light decomposes the silver halides, producing nano particle of silver which are the pixels of the image.

There is plenty of room at the bottom. (1960) R. P. Feynman Surely, you are joking, Mr. Feynman. R. P. Feynman The principle of physics as for as I can see , do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering thing atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws: it is something ,in principle, that can be done because we are too big. New small structures. Electron beam lithography - Silicon chip Existence of nanostructures in biological systems. Manipulating individual atoms to make new small structures having different properties.

He also predicted that the scaling issues would also arise from the changing of the various dimensions: gravity would become less important, surface tension and van der waals attraction would become increasingly more significant. Professor Norio Taniguchi (1974) defined the term nanotechnology for the first time as: Nanotechnology consists of the processing of, separation and consolidations, and deformation of the material by one atom or by one molecule. Dr. K. Eric Drexler promoted technological significance of the nano scale phenomena and devices.
Nanotechnology is the design, characterization, production, and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling the size at nanoscale.

Characteristic or critical length..

Every property of a material has a critical length associated with it. For example, the resistance of a material that results from conduction electrons being scattered out of the direction of the flow by collisions with atoms and impurities can be characterized by length called scattering length. This length is the average distance an electron travels before being deflected. The fundamental physics and chemistry changes when the dimensions of the solid become comparable to one or more of its characteristic length. When size of a semi conducting material is in the order of the wavelength of the electron or holes that carry current. The confinement takes place.

Surface area of the nanostructures. Object of radius r; V= 4/3 r3 Surface area A= 4 r2 Object is divided into n parts the surface area becomes n1/3 4 r2

Why nanotechnology?
Economizing on material. Performance Enhancement in functionalities. Nanotechnology can be used to fabricate material literally molecule by molecule. Custom design ultra precise new structure, devices and systems.

Properties of the new materials

Vastly increased strength Reduced weight Greater electrical conductivity Ability to change shape or colour on demand.

Quantum wells, wires and dots

Quantum well is a structure in which one dimension is reduced to the nanorange while the other two dimensions remain large.

Quantum wire is a structure in which two dimensions are reduced to the nanorange. Quantum dot is a structure in which three dimensions are reduced to the nanorange.

Preparation of the quantum nanostructures..

There are two approaches to prepare quantum nanostructures:
1. Bottom-up method 2. Top-down method Bottom-up method :

In this method one collects, consolidates, and fashion individual atoms and molecules into structure. This is carried out by a sequence of chemical reactions controlled by catalysts. It is a process which is widespread in biology where, for example, catalysts called enzymes assemble amino acids to living tissue that forms and supports the organs of the body.

large-scale object or pattern and gradually reduces its dimension or dimensions. This can be accomplished by a technique called lithography.

Top-down method: In this approach one starts with a

Lithography: A thin film coating of a metal is deposited on a suitable substrate. Radiation resist, usually a polymer, is coated on the metal thin film. A mask is placed between the resist coated substrate and the radiation source. By using suitable chemical ( developer) resist is removed. The unexposed part is chemically treated to produce nanostructures.

Applications of the nanotechnology

Approximately 99 per cent of medicinal molecules don't reach their targets and subsequently, stay in the body of the patient. As these molecules can sometimes be very toxic - particularly in the case of those designed to target cancer. Nanotechnology is being used to safely transporting and delivering drugs. Giant magneto-resistivity of the nano structures: It consists of layers of metal magnetic and nonmagnetic materials which display the property of giant magneto resistivity. The layers are nanometer thick. It is used for increasing storage capacity of the magnetic tapes. Quantum-dot lasers are used to read compact discs. Photovoltaic film that converts light into electricity. Scratch proof coated windows that can clean themselves with UV light. Intelligent clothes; Nanoparticle paints; Hipjoints made of biocompatible materials; Organic light emitting diodes etc

Applications of the nanotechnology

Single walled carbon nanotubes are used to make gas sensors.

Self assembly process has been developed to form periodica

Single walled carbon nanotubes are used to make field effect transistors.
It is a interdisciplinary field. The driving force behind the nanotechnology is the recognition that the nanostructure materials have the physics and chemistry different from the bulk materials. To explain these difference and the reasons for them, one has to understand the basic physics and chemistry of the bulk solid state.

Nanoelectronics
Microelectronics deals with the electronic devices that has length scales of approximately a micrometer. Nanoelectronics deals with the electronic devices that has length scales of approximately 1 to 100 nanometers. At the nanoscale, most phenomenon and processes are dominated by quantum physics. Innovative nanoscale properties and functions will be achieved through the control of matter at the level of its building blocks, atom by atom, molecule by molecule, and nanostructure bynanostructure. Molecular building blocks of life- proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates are examples of materials that possess impressive properties determined by their size, geometrical folding, and patterns at nanoscale.

The continuous demands for steady growth in memory and computational capabilities and for increasing processing and transmission speeds of signals has lead to the development of electronics at nanoscale.

Technological Motivations

The complexity of integrated circuits, with respect to minimum component cost, doubles every 18 months Dr. Gorden Moore. This statement formulated 40 years ago is known as Moores Law.
The Moores provides an estimate of the rate of progress in the electronics industry. It predicts that the number of devices transistors on a microchip doubles every one to two years. This is only possible if progressive scaling down of all electronic components is realized.

In the Fig. the changes in the characteristics of the integrated circuits since its invention. The number of atoms required for storing or operating 1 bit changes by several order of magnitude. In 1960 one transistor consisted of 1020 atoms in a volume of 0.1 cm3, whereas in 2000 these numbers were reduced to 107 atoms in 0.01m3. In the same way the energy for charging or operating 1 bit decreased, since the energy for charging and discharging capacities was lowered by the facts that one reduces the area of the capacitors from 1 cm2 to .01m2 and voltages from 10V to 1V. The 12 orders of magnitude has made possible such high integration levels without running into the problems of power dissipation and thermal heating.

The increase of the integration level was possible first of all by reducing the feature size of the devices and in second place by enlarging the chip area and by functional integration. It is assumed that the silicon technology has its limits for further miniaturization to approximately 10 nm. To overcome this restriction, functional integration and threedimensional integration are possible solution. An alternative approach is nanoelectronics.

The Region of Nanostructure: Figure displays different physical levels if the features size of the devices are scaled down.

The characteristic times in semiconductor are plotted against the structural dimensions of the devices. These times are correlated to different physical effects.

Figure shows different physical levels if the feature sizes of the devices are scaled down. The characteristic times in semiconductors are plotted against the structural dimensions of devices. These times are correlated to different physical effects. The shaded area covers presentday microelectronics. Outside this region the domain of nanoelectronics and molecular electronics is reached. The characteristic times and dimensions are less than 1 ps and less than 10 nm respectively. Depletion layer width limits the reduction in size of the p-n junction in a diode. For a p+ n junction the depletion width can be approximated by
ln = 2 (VD V ) qN D

The width ln of the depletion layer increases with voltage V and decreases with the doping density ND of the region. The permittivity is denoted by and q is the elementary charge. Another important dimension is Debye length

VT LD = qni
The definition of the Debye length is similar to that of the depletion layer. The voltage is replaced by kT/q and doping density ND by intrinsic doping ni of a semiconductor. For a doped semiconductor ni is substituted by the density of the majority carriers. Particles moving due to thermal energy have mean free path between two collision l = vth c

Mean free path depends on the thermal velocity vth and on the mean free time c of the particles, which determines the mobility of the charge carriers. Quantum effects become relevant in devices if the wavelength of the electrons is in the range of the feature size of the devices. h/mev = Most of the nanoelectronic devices function in this range so wave behaviour becomes important. If one continues to decrease the structural dimension the domain of the atoms and molecules is reached.

Improving Materials on the nanoscale

To achieve minimum device sizes and ultra-high levels of integration, it is necessary to identify the limiting and critical parameters for improved performance. For transistor the two parameters of the host material are: the ultimate electron velocity and the limiting electric field which does not induce electric breakdown. Si and compound semiconductors are widely used to make the electronic devices. However, semiconductors other than silicon can be used. In particular the compound semiconductors constitute a general class of semiconductors that are currently widely used. Every element in column III of the periodic table of elements may be combined with every element in column V to form a so called III-V compound, which is semiconducting.

Two or more discrete compounds may be used to form alloys. A common example is AlxGa1 x As where x is the fraction of column III sites in the crystal occupied by Al atoms, and fraction 1-x is occupied by Ga atoms. As a result, it becomes possible not only to make discrete compounds, but also to realize a continuous range of materials for tailoring necessary properties. The growth of SiliconGermanium ( SixGe1 x ) alloys facilitates the control of the properties of materials over a considerable range of the electrical parameters. These techniques are exploited widely in microelectronics.

Hetrostructures with nanoscale features

Hetrostructures are structures with two or more abrupt interfaces at the boundaries between the different semiconductor materials. With the available material growth techniques, it is possible to grow structures with transition regions between adjacent materials that have thickness of only one or two atomic mono-layers. This allows one to fabricate multilayered semiconductor structures with nanoscale thickness. The simplest multilayered structure has a single hetrojunction, i.e. a single hetrojunction structure is made of two different materials. At the interface of such a hetrojunction, the electronic properties are changed to improve selected physical characteristics. In particular the electrons are confined in a thin layer near the interface.

In particular, electrons can be confined in a thin layer near the interface. In fact, the layers with confined electrons can be made so thin that wave-like behavior that is, quantum-mechanical behavior of the electrons become apparent. The same phenomena occur for diverse multilayered nanoscale structures that can be grown with high quality. By using nanostructures, it is possible to modify the electronic properties of a great variety of nanoscale devices. Quantum effects on the nanoscale determine the properties of electrons in nanostructures: the nanostructures can be made in such a way that the electron motion becomes two dimensional, one-dimensional, or

These nanostructures are known as lowdimensional quantum hetrostructures and are called quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots, for the cases where the electrons are confined in one, two, and three dimensions, respectively

Fabrication techniques on the nanoscale

Growth and fabrication methods:
Molecular-beam epitaxy Ultra-thin-layer fabrication Superlattice fabrication

Characterization methods:
Lithographic nanostructuring Qualitative electron-beam and X-ray microscopes

Advances in Growth and fabrication methods:

Metal-organic vapour-phase epitaxy Metal-organic molecular-beam epitaxy Fabrication to atomic-layer-accuracy

delta-doping Controlled strained layers Fabrication methods based on chemistry and biology Assembling inorganic nanoblocks with biomolecules

Characterization Methods
Lithography and etching for nanostructuring Dip-pen nanolithography Qualitative electron-beam and X-ray microscopies Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) Atomic force microscopy (AFM) Pico second and femtosecond spectroscopoy Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

Improvements in characterization methods for the nanoscale Progress in the refinement of fabrication techniques for making nanostructures depends on the great improvement made in characterization methods. In particular composition and dopant distribution, lattice strain, and other parameters within nanostructures must be known within atomic scale precision. Currently, the manipulation of a single atom (ion) in a solid is possible. New tools scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic-force-microscopy which portend numerous applications in high-precision fabrication have emerged. Picosecond and femtosecond spectroscopy have progressed

substantially and they have been applied to characterize the electronic properties of hetrostructures. Finally, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was developed, which makes it possible to measure 12 electric signals with time resolutions at the level of 10 seconds.

Nanostructure Devices
The quantum-wire carbon nanotube field-effect transistor. The injection quantum-well laser Sub-terahertz III-V compound nanoscale field effect transistor. Sub-terahertz INP and SiGe bipolar transistors. Carbon nanotube transistor Microwave double barrier tunneling diode (DBRTD) Single electron transistor

New principle of device operations at the nanoscale: In the nanoscale domain the new principles of device operations are; Collisionless motion ballistic motion Resonant-tunneling phenomenona in nanoscale multilayered structures. Nanoscale domain is the realm of quantum physics. Indeed the scaling down of the devices and their integration above the level corresponding to 250 Mbits on a single chip makes it necessary to take into account new regimes and even to modify the principle underlying device operation. Further device downscaling and higher integration densities for information capacities 1 Gbit per chip imply the need to investigate using quantum regimes of operation.

Beside quantum effects, reducing device dimensions results in a decrease in the number of electrons participating in the transfer of an electron signal. As a result, nano-scale devices may operate on the basis of single-electron transfer. Various novel single-electron devices have been proposed and demonstrated. By reducing the sizes of quantum dots to 100 A or less, it is possible to operate with single electrons at temperatures near or close to room temperature.

Nanotechnology for optoelectronics

Electronic devices - operate with electrical input and output signals. Optoelectronic devices - are based on both operate
electrical and optical properties of materials and operate with both optical and electrical signal. Optoelectronics compliments microelectronics. Applications of the optoelectronics. Acquisition, storage, and processing of information. Transmission via optical fiber Communication between processing machines as well as within them Storage of information on laser disks.

Components of optoelectronic systems

Light sources, sensitive optical detectors, and properly designed light waveguides. Passive optical elements fabricated with optically active semiconductor materials Enhancing optical and electro-optical effects by using semiconductor nanostructure and quantum hetrostructure. The light emitting diodes and laser diodes may be improved greatly when nanostructures such as quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots are exploited as active elements.

Nanoelectronic systems are more complex as compared to the microelectronic systems. Modern microelectronic systems contain upto 100 million devices on a single chip. Nanoelectronics will push this number upto 1 billion devices or even more. Complexity of the Nanoelectronics: 1. Large number of devices 2. Larger development time 3. Larger time for testing such systems Complexity in Memory chips A memory chip with n memory cells, in which each cell can store 1 bit requires 2n test cycles for reading and writing 0s and 1s. A 16 bit memory chip therefore requires 32 million test cycles

If the testing includes all possible bit patterns that can be stored on a chip the number of testing cycles will get increased. A chip with n cells has 2n different patterns that can be stored on it. A chip with 16777216 cells requires about 216777216 105000000 test cycles. If 1 ns is required for each test cycle, the testing of the whole chip would last longer than the age of the universe. Concerns Time , Economic considerations. The problem will rise exponentially with increasing complexity of the chips. In practice the test engineering restricts itself to the sensitive cases in regard to the interference between the cell. The price to be paid for such type of pragmatic solution is that memory can have soft failures. Software for error corrections are used. Wiring of an integrated circuit - Minimizing the length of the signal or bus lines is very complex problem. If n denotes the number of points or devices to be connected then there are m = n! possibilities of connecting them.

The problems of this nature are said to be NP complete problems. This problem is more complex than testing of a chip and is well known as travelling salesman problem (TSP). The verification of a possible solution is as difficult as problem itself. Parallel computing with the present day microelectronics is not capable of finding a solution for this problem for large values of n. These problems will force further developments of Nanoelectronics.