Obiettivo
Advances in growth and fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures have led to both the production of exquisitely sensitive force transducers and the development of solid-state quantum devices. Force transducers, typically monolithic Si cantilevers, are central to techniques such as AFM, and MFM. On the other hand, quantum devices including quantum wells, quantum dots (QDs), and single electron transistors are essential to technologies like lasers, optical detectors, and in experiments on quantum information. These two types of devices have – until now – occupied distinct material systems and have, for the most part, not been combined.
New developments in the growth of inorganic nanowires (NWs), however, are set to change the status quo. Researchers can now grow nanoscale structures from the bottom-up with unprecedented mechanical properties. Unlike traditional top-down cantilevers, which are etched or milled out of a larger block of material, bottom-up structures are assembled unit-by-unit to be almost defect-free on the atomic-scale. This near perfection gives NWs a much smaller mechanical dissipation than their top-down counterparts, while their higher resonance frequencies allow them to couple less strongly to common sources of noise. Meanwhile, layer-by-layer growth of NWs is rapidly developing such that both axial and radial heterostructures have now been realized. Such fine control allows for band-structure engineering and the production of devices including FETs, single photon sources, and QDs. NWs are also attractive hosts for optical emitters as their geometry favors the efficient extraction of photons.
These properties and the fact that a NW can be integrated as the tip of an SPM make NWs extremely promising devices. We propose to develop the use of NWs as scanning multifunctional sensors. We intend to 1) use NW cantilevers as force transducers in high-resolution scanning force microscopy, and 2) use NW quantum devices as scanning sensors.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometry
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons
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ERC-2013-StG
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Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-SG - ERC Starting GrantIstituzione ospitante
4051 Basel
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