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Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying

A metallic nano-trench is a unique optical structure capable of ultrasensitive detection of molecules, active modulation as well as potential electrochemical applications. Recently, wet-etching the dielectrics of metal–insulator–metal structures has emerged as a reliable method of creating optically...

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Autores principales: Jeong, Jeeyoon, Yang, Hyosim, Park, Seondo, Park, Yun Daniel, Kim, Dai-Sik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003182/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33808551
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11030783
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author Jeong, Jeeyoon
Yang, Hyosim
Park, Seondo
Park, Yun Daniel
Kim, Dai-Sik
author_facet Jeong, Jeeyoon
Yang, Hyosim
Park, Seondo
Park, Yun Daniel
Kim, Dai-Sik
author_sort Jeong, Jeeyoon
collection PubMed
description A metallic nano-trench is a unique optical structure capable of ultrasensitive detection of molecules, active modulation as well as potential electrochemical applications. Recently, wet-etching the dielectrics of metal–insulator–metal structures has emerged as a reliable method of creating optically active metallic nano-trenches with a gap width of 10 nm or less, opening a new venue for studying the dynamics of nanoconfined molecules. Yet, the high surface tension of water in the process of drying leaves the nano-trenches vulnerable to collapsing, limiting the achievable width to no less than 5 nm. In this work, we overcome the technical limit and realize metallic nano-trenches with widths as small as 1.5 nm. The critical point drying technique significantly alleviates the stress applied to the gap in the drying process, keeping the ultra-narrow gap from collapsing. Terahertz spectroscopy of the trenches clearly reveals the signature of successful wet etching of the dielectrics without apparent damage to the gap. We expect that our work will enable various optical and electrochemical studies at a few-molecules-thick level.
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spelling pubmed-80031822021-03-28 Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying Jeong, Jeeyoon Yang, Hyosim Park, Seondo Park, Yun Daniel Kim, Dai-Sik Nanomaterials (Basel) Article A metallic nano-trench is a unique optical structure capable of ultrasensitive detection of molecules, active modulation as well as potential electrochemical applications. Recently, wet-etching the dielectrics of metal–insulator–metal structures has emerged as a reliable method of creating optically active metallic nano-trenches with a gap width of 10 nm or less, opening a new venue for studying the dynamics of nanoconfined molecules. Yet, the high surface tension of water in the process of drying leaves the nano-trenches vulnerable to collapsing, limiting the achievable width to no less than 5 nm. In this work, we overcome the technical limit and realize metallic nano-trenches with widths as small as 1.5 nm. The critical point drying technique significantly alleviates the stress applied to the gap in the drying process, keeping the ultra-narrow gap from collapsing. Terahertz spectroscopy of the trenches clearly reveals the signature of successful wet etching of the dielectrics without apparent damage to the gap. We expect that our work will enable various optical and electrochemical studies at a few-molecules-thick level. MDPI 2021-03-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8003182/ /pubmed/33808551 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11030783 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Jeong, Jeeyoon
Yang, Hyosim
Park, Seondo
Park, Yun Daniel
Kim, Dai-Sik
Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying
title Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying
title_full Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying
title_fullStr Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying
title_full_unstemmed Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying
title_short Ultra-Narrow Metallic Nano-Trenches Realized by Wet Etching and Critical Point Drying
title_sort ultra-narrow metallic nano-trenches realized by wet etching and critical point drying
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003182/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33808551
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11030783
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