Nanostructure, especially for a nanoelectronic component such as a single-electron tunnel contact or tunnel diode, is produced by external field alignment and adsorption of organized bio-molecules on a thin film prior to etching

摘要

Nanostructure production, comprises external field alignment and adsorption of organized bio-molecules on a thin film (2) prior to film etching. A nanostructure production process comprises depositing a first thin film (2) on a substrate (1), covering with a buffer (5) containing bio-molecules organized to filaments or other structures, applying an external field to align the filaments in a certain direction and to induce adsorption by the thin film, washing and etching until the non-coated thin film regions are removed. Preferred Features: The substrate (1) is a silicon dioxide (SiO2) wafer or a SiO2-coated silicon wafer. The thin film (2) is a conductive, semiconducting or insulating thin film of thickness determined by the diameter of the organized bio-molecules, especially up to 30 nm thick physically deposited gold film. The external field is applied by voltage application to electrodes (4) on the thin film. Etching is carried out by dry etching, especially reactive plasma etching, or wet etching. After etching, the remaining thin film structures are provided with a masking layer and coated on their side faces with a contact material, the masking layer then being removed so that a tunnel barrier structure is formed.