Thin V2O5 films synthesized by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition for memristive applications.

In the present study, the V2O5 films synthesized by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition on p-Si and fluorinated graphene on Si (or FG/Si) substrates were analyzed for memristive applications. A number of samples were grown with V2O5 films with an average thickness of 1.0-10.0 nm, as determined by ellipsometric measurements. The study of surface morphology by atomic force microscopy showed that an island growth occurs in the initial stages of the film growth. The Raman spectra of the synthesized V2O5 films with an average thickness of more than 2.0 nm on the SiO2/Si substrates exhibit six distinct modes typical of the orthorhombic V2O5 phase. A large hysteresis was found in the C-V characteristics of the V2O5 films with a thickness of 1.0-4.2 nm. In general, the built-in charge in the V2O5 layers with an average thickness of 1.0-4.0 nm is positive and has a value of about ∼(2-8) × 1011 cm-2 at the 1 MHz frequency. Increasing the V2O5 film thickness leads to the accumulation of negative built-in charge up to -(1.7 to 2.3) × 1011 cm-2 at the 1 MHz frequency. The temperature dependence of the conductivity exhibits different electrically active states in V2O5/Si and V2O5/FG/Si structures. Thus, the FG layer can modify these states. V2O5 layers with an average film thickness of 1.0-3.6 nm demonstrate the memristive switching with an ON/OFF ratio of ∼1-4 orders of magnitude. At film thicknesses above 5.0 nm, the memristive switching practically vanishes. V2O5 films with an average thickness of 3.6 nm were found to be particularly stable and promising for memristive switching applications.

Bio-Inspired Micro- and Nanorobotics Driven by Magnetic Field.

In recent years, there has been explosive growth in the number of investigations devoted to the development and study of biomimetic micro- and nanorobots. The present review is dedicated to novel bioinspired magnetic micro- and nanodevices that can be remotely controlled by an external magnetic field. This approach to actuate micro- and nanorobots is non-invasive and absolutely harmless for living organisms in vivo and cell microsurgery, and is very promising for medicine in the near future. Particular attention has been paid to the latest advances in the rapidly developing field of designing polymer-based flexible and rigid magnetic composites and fabricating structures inspired by living micro-objects and organisms. The physical principles underlying the functioning of hybrid bio-inspired magnetic miniature robots, sensors, and actuators are considered in this review, and key practical applications and challenges are analyzed as well.

Kinetics of Catalyst-Free and Position-Controlled Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of VO2 Nanowire Arrays on Nanoimprinted Si Substrates.

In the present article, the position-controlled and catalytic-free synthesis of vanadium dioxide (VO2) nanowires (NWs) grown by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on nanoimprinted silicon substrates in the form of nanopillar arrays was analyzed. The NW growth on silicon nanopillars with different cross-sectional areas was studied, and it has been shown that the NWs' height decreases with an increase in their cross-sectional area. The X-ray diffraction technique, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed the high quality of the grown VO2 NWs. A qualitative description of the growth rate of vertical NWs based on the material balance equation is given. The dependence of the growth rate of vertical and horizontal NWs on the precursor concentration in the gas phase and on the growth time was investigated. It was found that the height of vertical VO2 NWs along the [100] direction exhibited a linear dependence on time and increased with an increase in the precursor concentration. For horizontal VO2 NWs, the height along the direction [011] varied little with the growth time and precursor concentration. These results suggest that the high-aspect ratio vertical VO2 NWs formed due to different growth modes of their crystal faces forming the top of the growing VO2 crystals and their lateral crystal faces related to the difference between the free energies of these crystal faces and implemented experimental conditions. The results obtained permit a better insight into the growth of high-aspect ratio VO2 NWs and into the formation of large VO2 NW arrays with a controlled composition and properties.

Terahertz metamaterials and systems based on rolled-up 3D elements: designs, technological approaches, and properties.

Electromagnetic metamaterials opened the way to extraordinary manipulation of radiation. Terahertz (THz) and optical metamaterials are usually fabricated by traditional planar-patterning approaches, while the majority of practical applications require metamaterials with 3D resonators. Making arrays of precise 3D micro- and nanoresonators is still a challenging problem. Here we present a versatile set of approaches to fabrication of metamaterials with 3D resonators rolled-up from strained films, demonstrate novel THz metamaterials/systems, and show giant polarization rotation by several chiral metamaterials/systems. The polarization spectra of chiral metamaterials on semiconductor substrates exhibit ultrasharp quasiperiodic peaks. Application of 3D printing allowed assembling more complex systems, including the bianisotropic system with optimal microhelices, which showed an extreme polarization azimuth rotation of 85° with drop by 150° at a frequency shift of 0.4%. We refer the quasiperiodic peaks in the polarization spectra of metamaterial systems to the interplay of different resonances, including peculiar chiral waveguide resonance. Formed metamaterials cannot be made by any other presently available technology. All steps of presented fabrication approaches are parallel, IC-compatible and allow mass fabrication with scaling of rolled-up resonators up to visible frequencies. We anticipate that the rolled-up meta-atoms will be ideal building blocks for future generations of commercial metamaterials, devices and systems on their basis.

Noninvasive Microsurgery Using Aptamer-Functionalized Magnetic Microdisks for Tumor Cell Eradication.

Magnetomechanical cell disruption using nano- and microsized structures is a promising biomedical technology used for noninvasive elimination of diseased cells. It applies alternating magnetic field (AMF) for ferromagnetic microdisks making them oscillate and causing cell membrane disruption with cell death followed by apoptosis. In this study, we functionalized the magnetic microdisks with cell-binding DNA aptamers and guided the microdisks to recognize cancerous cells in a mouse tumor in vivo. Only 10 min of the treatment with a 100 Hz AMF was enough to eliminate cancer cells from a malignant tumor. Our results demonstrate a good perspective of using aptamer-modified magnetic microdisks for noninvasive microsurgery for tumors.