Design of a multi-walled carbon nanotube field emitter with micro vacuum gauge.

The variation of vacuum level inside a field emission device when electron is emitted from multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by electric field was measured where MWCNT gauge packaged with a vacuum device was used to measure the degree of a vacuum until the end of the vacuum device life. It was found that the electrical properties of MWCNTs altered with the degree of a vacuum. We fabricated MWCNT gauge which were printed and pasted by the screen printer. In this paper, we report the successful detection of the ionization of gases in vacuum state.

Detection of a CO and NH3 gas mixture using carboxylic acid-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are extremely sensitive to environmental gases. However, detection of mixture gas is still a challenge. Here, we report that 10 ppm of carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia (NH3) can be electrically detected using a carboxylic acid-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (C-SWCNT). CO and NH3 gases were mixed carefully with the same concentrations of 10 ppm. Our sensor showed faster response to the CO gas than the NH3 gas. The sensing properties and effect of carboxylic acid group were demonstrated, and C-SWCNT sensors with good repeatability and fast responses over a range of concentrations may be used as a simple and effective detection method of CO and NH3 mixture gas.

Low-voltage-driven pentacene thin-film transistors with cross-linked poly(4-vinylphenol)/high-k Bi55b3O15 hybrid dielectric for phototransistor.

This paper describes the fabrication of pentacene thin-film transistors (TFTs) with an organic/inorganic hybrid gate dielectric, consisting of cross-linked poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) and Bi5Nb3O15. A 300-nm-thick Bi5Nb3O15 dielectric film, grown at room temperature, exhibits a high dielectric constant (high-k) value of 40 but has an undesirable interface with organic semiconductors (OSC). To form better interfaces with OSC, a cross-linked PVP dielectric was stacked on the Bi5Nb3O15 dielectric. It is shown that, with the introduction of a hybrid dielectric, our devices not only can be operated at a low voltage (- -5 V) but also have improved electrical characteristics and photoresponse, including a field-effect mobility of 0.72 cm2/V x s, current sub-threshold slopes of 0.29 V/decade, and a photoresponse of 4.84 at a gate bias V(G) = 0 V under 100 mW/cm2 AM 1.5 illumination.

Effect of plasma treatment on the gas sensor with single-walled carbon nanotube paste.

The effect of plasma treatment on the gas sensing properties of screen-printed single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) pastes is reported. The gas sensors, using SWCNT pastes as a sensing material, were fabricated by photolithography and screen printing. The SWCNT pastes were deposited between interdigitated electrodes on heater membrane by screen printing. In order to functionalize the pastes, they were plasma treated using several gases which produce defects caused by reactive ion etching. The Ar and O(2) plasma-treated SWCNT pastes exhibited a large response to NO(2) exposure and the fluorinated gas, such as CF(4) and SF(6), plasma-treated SWCNT pastes exhibited a large response to NH(3) exposure.

Combined laser interference and photolithography patterning of a hybrid mask mold for nanoimprint lithography.

A lithography technique that combines laser interference lithography (LIL) and photolithography, which can be a valuable technique for the low cost production of microscale and nanoscale hybrid mask molds, is proposed. LIL is a maskless process which allows the production of periodic nanoscale structures quickly, uniformly, and over large areas. A 257 nm wavelength Ar-Ion laser is utilized for the LIL process incorporating a Lloyd's mirror one beam inteferometer. By combining LIL with photolithography, the non-selective patterning limitation of LIL are explored and the design and development of a hybrid mask mold for nanoimprint lithography process, with uniform two-dimensional nanoscale patterns are presented. Polydimethylsiloxane is applied on the mold to fabricate a replica of the stamp. Through nanoimprint lithography using the manufactured replica, successful transfer of the patterns is achieved, and selective nanoscale patterning is confirmed with pattern sizes of around 180 nm and pattern aspect ratio of around 1.44:1.

Noxious gas detection using carbon nanotubes with Pd nanoparticles.

Noxious gas sensors were fabricated using carbon nanotubes [CNTs] with palladium nanoparticles [Pd NPs]. An increase in the resistance was observed under ammonia for both CNTs and CNT-Pd sensors. Under carbon monoxide [CO], the two sensors exhibited different behaviors: for CNT sensors, their resistance decreased slightly with CO exposure, whereas CNT-Pd sensors showed an increase in resistance. The sensing properties and effect of Pd NPs were demonstrated, and CNT-Pd sensors with good repeatability and fast responses over a range of concentrations may be used as a simple and effective noxious gas sensor at room temperature.

Investigation on fabrication of nanoscale patterns using laser interference lithography.

Nanoscale patterns are fabricated by laser interference lithography (LIL) using Lloyd's mirror interferometer. LIL provides a patterning technology with simple, quick process over a large area without the usage of a mask. Effects of various key parameters for LIL, with 257 nm wavelength laser, are investigated, such as the exposure dosage, the half angle of two incident beams at the intersection, and the power of the light source for generating one or two dimensional (line and dot) nanoscale structures. The uniform dot patterns over an area of 20 mm x 20 mm with the half pitch sizes of around 190, 250, and 370 nm are achieved and by increasing the beam power up to 0.600 mW/cm2, the exposure process time was reduced down to 12/12 sec for the positive photoresist DHK-BF424 (DongJin) over a bare silicon substrate. In addition, bottom anti-reflective coating (DUV-30J, Brewer Science) is applied to confirm improvements for line structures. The advantages and limitations of LIL are highlighted for generating nanoscale patterns.

Hydrophobic nanopatterning on a flexible gas barrier film by using a poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomer.

In this work, we fabricated a hydrophobic and transparent gas barrier film via a nanopatterned poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomer imprinting on an ultraviolet-curable polymer resin. A Ca degradation method (water permeation rate) and surface energy measurements were used to determine the level of modification of the surface characteristics. As a result, the decreased surface energy from 25.8 to 7.29 mN m(-1) led to a lower water vapor transmission rate from 3.06 x 10(-1) to 6.24 x 10(-2) g m(-2) day(-1) according to the degree of decreased Ca height from 100 nm. A tunable wettability is beneficial for application where controlling the direction of moisture flow is important, such as in flexible organic electronics.

Hydrophilic dots on hydrophobic nanopatterned surfaces as a flexible gas barrier.

The present study demonstrates a transparent polymeric gas barrier film mimicking the Namib Desert beetle's back. SiO(2) hydrophilic dots have been deposited on a nanopatterned hydrophobic surface. A nanopatterned surface was fabricated by UV-curable nanoimprinting techniques. The surface energies of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains were 7.29 and >73.12 mN/m, respectively. The characteristics of water vapor transfer from hydrophobic to hydrophilic regions due to difference of the attractive force at interfaces are shown to yield the enhanced barrier performance according to the Ca degradation measurements. This strategy is suitable for organic electronics, solar cells, and plastic optics applications requiring moisture-free properties with high transmission.