Browsing by Subject "Nanotechnology"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 75

Open Access
Atomic layer deposition: an enabling technology for the growth of functional nanoscale semiconductors
(Institute of Physics Publishing, 2017) Bıyıklı, Necmi; Haider A.
In this paper, we present the progress in the growth of nanoscale semiconductors grown via atomic layer deposition (ALD). After the adoption by semiconductor chip industry, ALD became a widespread tool to grow functional films and conformal ultra-thin coatings for various applications. Based on self-limiting and ligand-exchange-based surface reactions, ALD enabled the low-temperature growth of nanoscale dielectric, metal, and semiconductor materials. Being able to deposit wafer-scale uniform semiconductor films at relatively low-temperatures, with sub-monolayer thickness control and ultimate conformality, makes ALD attractive for semiconductor device applications. Towards this end, precursors and low-temperature growth recipes are developed to deposit crystalline thin films for compound and elemental semiconductors. Conventional thermal ALD as well as plasma-assisted and radical-enhanced techniques have been exploited to achieve device-compatible film quality. Metal-oxides, III-nitrides, sulfides, and selenides are among the most popular semiconductor material families studied via ALD technology. Besides thin films, ALD can grow nanostructured semiconductors as well using either template-assisted growth methods or bottom-up controlled nucleation mechanisms. Among the demonstrated semiconductor nanostructures are nanoparticles, nano/quantum-dots, nanowires, nanotubes, nanofibers, nanopillars, hollow and core-shell versions of the afore-mentioned nanostructures, and 2D materials including transition metal dichalcogenides and graphene. ALD-grown nanoscale semiconductor materials find applications in a vast amount of applications including functional coatings, catalysis and photocatalysis, renewable energy conversion and storage, chemical sensing, opto-electronics, and flexible electronics. In this review, we give an overview of the current state-of-the-art in ALD-based nanoscale semiconductor research including the already demonstrated and future applications.
Open Access
Bio-insprired optoelectronic digital nose for breath analysis
(2011) Bayındır, Mehmet; Yıldırım, Adem; Yaman, Mecit; Vural, Mert
A novel electronic nose device is presented that can be used in disease diagnostics by exhaled breath analysis. Exhaled breath contains more than a thousand organic compounds that can be analysed to insect various diseases and metabolic activity. The novel device is an electronic nose, based on photonic bandgap fibers that can selectively guide infrared radition inside a hollow core plastic fiber. Instead of a laser line source, a broadband balackbody source is used that exploits the filtering/ guiding properties of the fibers to scan the whole mid-infrared region, making it high selectivity of volatile organic compounds possible. In addition waveguiding inside the fiber enhances the electromagnetic radiation intensity, resulting in improved infrared absorption cross-section. The fiber electronic nose can be integrated and deployed as a portable electronics device to point-of-care institutes.
Open Access
Biosensors for early disease diagnosis
(John Wiley & Sons, 2016-03-11) Topal, Ahmet E.; Özkan, Alper Devrim; Dana, Aykutlu; Tekinay, Ayse B.; Güler, Mustafa O.; Güler, Mustafa O.; Tekinay, Ayşe B.
This chapter focuses on biosensor types, their detection limits, analysis times, and the diseases they are suitable for detecting. In addition, as nanomaterials are an effective means of producing small‐scale diagnostic devices, nanostructures have been commonly employed in biosensor design. Consequently, a section is devoted to the types of nanomaterials currently under use in biosensor design. Biosensors can be classified according to their recognition element (e.g., enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids), output type (e.g., optical, electrical, mechanical), detection principle (e.g., surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based, surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) based), or intended use (in vivo or ex vivo). These factors all play vital roles in determining the sensitivity and selectivity of a biosensor and are considered separately.
Open Access
Bismuth nano-Hall probes fabricated by focused ion beam milling for direct magnetic imaging by room temperature scanning Hall probe microscopy
(The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), 2001) Sandhu, A.; Masuda, H.; Kurosawa, K.; Oral, A.; Bending, S. J.
Bismuth nano-Hall probes fabricated by using focused ion beam (FIB) milling were studied. The nano-Hall probes were used for direct magnetic imaging of domain structures in low coercivity garnets and demagnetized strontium ferrite permanent magnets. The analysis was performed using room temperature scanning Hall probe microscopy and it was found that the Bi nano-probes could overcome limitations due to surface depletion and large series resistances.
Open Access
Charge Trapping Memory with 2.85-nm Si-Nanoparticles Embedded in HfO2
(ECS, 2015-05) El-Atab, N.; Turgut, Berk Berkan; Okyay, Ali Kemal; Nayfeh, A.
In this work, the effect of embedding 2.85-nm Si-nanoparticles charge trapping layer in between double layers of high-κ Al2O3/HfO2 oxides is studied. Using high frequency (1 MHz) C-Vgate measurements, the memory showed a large memory window at low program/erase voltages due to the charging of the Si-nanoparticles. The analysis of the C-V characteristics shows that mixed charges are being stored in the Si-nanoparticles where electrons get stored during the program operation while holes dominate in the Si-nanoparticles during the erase operation. Moreover, the retention characteristic of the memory is studied by measuring the memory hysteresis in time. The obtained retention characteristic (35.5% charge loss in 10 years) is due to the large conduction and valence band offsets between the Si-nanoparticles and the Al2O3/HfO2 tunnel oxide. The results show that band engineering is essential in future low-power non-volatile memory devices. In addition, the results show that Si-nanoparticles are promising in memory applications.
Open Access
Chiral single-wall gold nanotubes
(American Physical Society, 2004) Senger, R. T.; Dag, S.; Çıracı, Salim
The formation of freestanding and tip-suspended chiral-wall (n,m) nanotubes, which were composed of helical atomic strands, from gold atoms was investigated using first-principles calculations, where (n,m) notation defines the structure of the tube. The tubes with 3≤n≤5 were found to be stable and exhibited electronic and transport properties investigated. The (5,3) gold tube was energetically the most favourable. It was observed from the quantum ballistic conductance, band structure and charge density analysis that the current on these wires was less chiral, and no direct correlation between the numbers of conduction channels and helical strands was found.
Open Access
A comparative study of O2 adsorbed carbon nanotubes
(2003) Dag, S.; Gülseren, O.; Çıracı, Salim
First-principles, density functional calculations show that O2 adsorbed single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) show dramatic differences depending on the type of the tube. Upon O2 physisorption, the zig-zag SWNT remains semiconducting, while the metallicity of the armchair is lifted for the spin-down bands. The spin-up bands continue to cross at the Fermi level, and make the system metallic only for one type of spin. The singlet bound state of O2 occurs at the bridge site of the (6,6) SWNT at small distance from the surface of the tube. However, for the hollow site, the molecule dissociates when it comes close to the surface. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Open Access
Compartmentalizing and sculpting nanovesicles by phase-separated aqueous nanodroplets
(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2022-11-08) Sabet, Fatemeh Kazemi; Bahrami, Arash; Bahrami, Amir Houshang
Phase-separated liquid droplets inside giant vesicles have been intensely studied as biomimetic model systems to understand cellular microcompartmentation and molecular crowding and sorting. On the nanoscale, however, how aqueous nanodroplets interact with and shape nanovesicles is poorly understood. We perform coarse-grained molecular simulations to explore the architecture of compartmentalized nanovesicles by phase-separated aqueous nanodroplets, and their morphological evolution under osmotic deflation. We show that phase separation of a biphasic liquid mixture can form both stable two-compartment and meta-stable multi-compartment nanovesicles. We identify morphological transitions of stable two-compartment nanovesicles between tube, sheet and cup morphologies, characterized by membrane asymmetry and phase-separation propensity between the aqueous phases. We demonstrate that the formation of local sheets and in turn cup-shaped nanovesicles is promoted by negative line tensions resulting from large separation propensities, an exclusive nanoscale phenomenon which is not expected for larger vesicles where energetic contributions of the line tensions are dominated by those of the membrane tensions. Despite their instability, we observe long-lived multi-compartment nanovesicles, such as nanotubules and branched tubules, whose prolonged lifetime is attributed to interfacial tensions and membrane asymmetry. Aqueous nanodroplets can thus form novel membrane nanostructures, crucial for cellular processes and forming cellular organelles on the nanoscale. © 2022 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Open Access
Conjugated polymer nanoparticles for cell labelling, imaging and drug delivery
(European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences, 2012-08) Tuncel, Dönüş; İbrahimova, Vusela; Gezici, Özlem
Nanoparticles based on conjugated polymers are emerging as a new class of luminescent nanoparticles. These nanoparticles have many potential applications including imaging agents, biosensors, and photonics owing to their high quantum yields, high molar absorptivity, photo stability and easy synthesis. The recent cell assay studies have also showed that these nanoparticles were not cytotoxic.4Moreover, conjugated polymer nanoparticles can be modified easily to deliver therapeutic agents such as cancer drugs, genetic materials (e.g. RNA, siRNA) and biomolecules to the desired targets. Here, we present the resent studies in our lab involving the synthesis and applications of nanoparticles using various conjugated polymers which emit blue, green, yellow and red. In order to obtain shape-persistent and stable nanoparticles, a novel method was developed in which the nanoparticles were prepared either via Cu-catalyzed or cucurbit[6]uril (CB6)-catalyzed click reactions between azide groups containing hydrophobic fluorene-based conjugated polymers and a hydrophilic diaminodialkyne containing cross-linker. Through the click reaction, not only does the cross-linking confer stability, but it also introduces functional groups, such as triazoles and amines, to the nanoparticles. TEM images of the nanoparticles also showed that they display very interesting morphologies. Incorporation of hydrophilic functional groups to the hydrophobic conjugated polymers resulted in a distinct phase separation, producing Janus-like or patchy particles.
Open Access
Differential immune activation following encapsulation of immunostimulatory CpG oligodeoxynucleotide in nanoliposomes
(Elsevier, 2011) Erikçi, E.; Gursel, M.; Gürsel, T.
The immunogenicity of a vaccine formulation is closely related to the effective internalization by the innate immune cells that provide prolonged and simultaneous delivery of antigen and adjuvant to relevant antigen presenting cells. Endosome associated TLR9 recognizes microbial unmethylated CpG DNA. Clinical applications of TLR9 ligands are significantly hampered due to their pre-mature in vivo digestion and rapid clearance. Liposome encapsulation is a powerful tool to increase in vivo stability as well as enhancing internalization of its cargo to relevant immune cells. The present study established that encapsulating CpG motifs in different liposomes having different physicochemical properties altered not only encapsulation efficiency, but also the release and delivery rates that ultimately impacted in vitro and ex-vivo cytokine production rates and types. Moreover, different liposomes encapsulating CpG ODN significantly increased Th1-biased cytokines and chemokines gene transcripts Additional studies demonstrated that co-stimulatory and surface marker molecules significantly upregulated upon liposome/CpG injection. Finally, co-encapsulating model antigen ovalbumin with CpG ODN adjuvant in nanoliposomes profoundly augmented Th1 and cell mediated anti-Ova specific immune response. Collectively, this work established an unappreciated immunoregulatory property of nanoliposomes mediating immunity against protein antigen and could be harnessed to design more effective therapeutic vaccines or stand alone immunoprotective agents targeting infectious diseases, as well as cancer or allergy. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
Open Access
Dynamic thread and data mapping for NoC based CMPs
(IEEE, 2009-07) Kandemir, M.; Öztürk, Özcan; Muralidhara, S. P.
Thread mapping and data mapping are two important problems in the context of NoC (network-on-chip) based CMPs (chip multiprocessors). While a compiler can determine suitable mappings for data and threads, such static mappings may not work well for multithreaded applications that go through different execution phases during their execution, each phase with potentially different data access patterns than others. Instead, a dynamic mapping strategy, if its overheads can be kept low, may be a more promising option. In this work, we present dynamic (runtime) thread and data mappings for NoC based CMPs. The goal of these mappings is to reduce the distance between the location of the core that requests data and the core whose local memory contains that requested data. In our experiments, we evaluate our proposed thread mapping and data mapping in isolation as well as in an integrated manner. Copyright 2009 ACM.
Open Access
The effect of gadolinium doping on the structural, magnetic and photoluminescence properties of electrospun bismuth ferrite nanofibers
(Elsevier Ltd, 2015) George Philip G.; Senthamizhan, A.; Srinivasan Natarajan, T.; Chandrasekaran G.; Annal Therese H.
Gadolinium (Gd) doped Bismuth ferrite (BFO) nanofibers (Bi1-xGdxFeO3 (x=0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20)) were synthesized via electrospinning. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the diameter of the nanofibers ranged from 150 to 250 nm. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed a structural phase transition with varying 'x', the compositions with x≤0.10 have crystal structures with space group R3c, while the compositions with x > 0.10 have crystal structures with space group Pnma. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) analysis exhibited the weak ferromagnetic nature of the BFO nanofibers. However an increase in the saturated magnetic moment with increase in Gd dopant concentration was observed. The Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the Bi:1-x :x nanofibers show enhanced Near Band Emission (NBE) intensity at x=0.10 due to the passivation of oxygen vacancies by Gd doping. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.
Open Access
Effect of substrate temperature and Ga source precursor on growth and material properties of GaN grown by hollow cathode plasma assisted atomic layer deposition
(IEEE, 2016) Haider, Ali; Kizir, Seda; Deminskyi, P.; Tsymbalenko, Oleksandr; Leghari, Shahid Ali; Bıyıklı, Necmi; Alevli, M.; Gungor, N.
GaN thin films grown by hollow cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (HCPA-ALD) at two different substrate temperatures (250 and 450 °C) are compared. Effect of two different Ga source materials named as trimethylgallium (TMG) and triethylgallium (TEG) on GaN growth and film quality is also investigated and reviewed. Films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometery, and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. GaN film deposited by TMG revealed better structural, chemical, and optical properties in comparison with GaN film grown with TEG precursor. When compared on basis of different substrate temperature, GaN films grown at higher substrate temperature revealed better structural and optical properties.
Open Access
Effects of laser ablated silver nanoparticles on Lemna minor
(Elsevier, 2014) Üçüncü, E.; Özkan, A. D.; Kurşungöz, C.; Ülger, Z. E.; Ölmez, T. T.; Tekinay, T.; Ortaç, B.; Tunca E.
Open Access
Elements of nanocrystal high-field carrier transport modeling
(Wiley, 2007) Sevik, Cem; Bulutay, Ceyhun
Embedded semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) within wide bandgap oxide materials are being considered for light emission and solar cell applications. One of the fundamental issues is the high-field transport in NCs. This requires the combination of a number of tools: ensemble Monte Carlo carrier transport simulation, ab initio band structure of the bulk oxide, Fermi's golden rule modeling of impact ionization and Auger processes and the pseudopotential-based atomistic description of the confined NC states. These elements are outlined in this brief report.
Open Access
Enhanced light scattering with energy downshifting using 16 nm indium nitride nanoparticles for improved thin-film a-Si N-i-P solar cells
(Electrochemical Society Inc., 2015-05) Chowdhury F.I.; İslam, K.; Alkış, Sabri; Ortaç, Bülend; Alevli, Mustafa; Dietz, N.; Okyay, Ali Kemal; Nayfeh, A.
In this work the effect of Indium nitride (InN) nanoparticles (NPs) on the performance of a-Si: H solar cells has been investigated. The average Jsc of InN NPs coated cells was found 6.76 mA/cm2 which is 16.69% higher than the average Jsc of the reference cell which was 5.79 mA/cm2. Average efficiency of InN NPs coated cells showed 14.16% increase from 3.32% to 3.79%. Peak EQE has increased from 44.8% at 500 nm to 51.67% at 510 nm and peak IQE has increased from 51.70% at 510 nm to 68.38% at 500 nm for InN NPs coated cell. Further study shows that EQE change is larger between 510 nm-700 nm compared to IQE change indicting a surface scattering mechanism that reduces the reflectivity. However, between 400 nm-510 nm IQE change is larger than EQE change which indicates that energy downshifting mechanism is dominating. So overall performance enhancement can be attributed to the scattering and photoluminescence properties of InN NPs that enhances absorption inside a-Si: H solar cells. © The Electrochemical Society.
Open Access
Experimental and computational analyses of electroabsorption in polar InGaN/GaN quantum zigzag heterostructures
(IEEE, 2008-11) Sarı, Emre; Özel, Tuncay; Koç, Aslı; Ju, J.-W.; Ahn, H.-K.; Lee, I.-H.; Baek, J. H.; Demir, Hilmi Volkan
Traditional quantum confined Stark effect is well known to lead to strong electroabsorption in multiple quantum well (MQW) structures, yielding only red-shift of the absorption edge with the externally applied electric field, independent of the direction of the applied field. However, a little is known the electroabsorption behavior in III nitride quantum structures grown on c-plane of their wurtzite crystal structure, which is substantially different than the electroabsorption of conventional quantum structures. Such III-N heterostructures exhibit strong polarization fields and discontinuity of such polarization fields at their heterointerfaces causes stimulation of large electrostatic fields in alternating directions for their wells and barriers. Consequently, their energy band diagrams form a zigzag potential profile in conduction and valence bands, instead of those with square profiles. A natural and suitable approach for understanding these polarization fields and also developing insight to design related devices (e.g., electroabsorption modulators) is to study electroabsorption behavior as a function of the polarization field in such polar structures. To this end, we present a comparative, computational and experimental study of electroabsorption in our different designs of c-plane grown polar InGaN/GaN quantum structures with varying levels of polarization.
Open Access
Fabrication and characterization of liquid metal-based micro-electromechanical DC-contact switch for RF applications
(CRC Press, 2012) Çağatay, Engin; Noyan, Mehmet Alican; Damgaci, Y.; Cetiner, B. A.; Bıyıklı, Necmi
We demonstrate that room-temperature liquid metal alloy droplets of Eutectic Gallium Indium (EGaIn) and Gallium Indium Tin alloy (Galinstan) can be actuated using electro-wetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) effect. With the application of 80-100V across the actuation electrode and ground electrode, the metallic liquid droplets were observed to be actuated. We have studied the actuation characteristics using different electrode architectures in open-air configuration as well as in encapsulated microfluidic channel test-beds. The resulting microfluidic DC actuation might potentially be used for RF switching applications.
Open Access
Flexible organic-inorganic core-shell nanofibers by electrospinning and atomic layer deposition
(CRC Press, 2012) Kayacı, Fatma; Çağla, Özgit-Akgün; Dönmez, İnci; Bıyıklı, Necmi; Uyar, Tamer
Organic-inorganic core-shell nanofibers were fabricated by combining electrospinning and atomic layer deposition (ALD). In the first step, nylon66 (polymeric organic core) nanofibers having different average fiber diameters (∼100 nm, ∼250 nm and ∼650 nm) were electrospun by using different solvent systems and polymer concentrations. In the second step, uniform and conformal layer of zinc oxide (ZnO) (inorganic shell) with precise thickness (∼90 nm) and composition on the round surface of the nylon nanofibers were deposited by ALD. The core-shell nylon66-ZnO nanofibers have shown unique properties such as structural flexibility due to the polymeric core and photocatalytic activity due to the ZnO shell layer.
Open Access
Formation of quantum structures on a single nanotube by modulating hydrogen adsorption
(American Physical Society, 2003) Gülseren, O.; Yildirim, T.; Çıracı, Salim
Using first-principles density functional calculations we showed that quantum structures can be generated on a single carbon nanotube by modulating the adsorption of hydrogen atoms. The band gap of the hydrogen-free zone of the tube widens in the adjacent hydrogen covered zone. The sudden variation of the band gap leads to band offsets at the conduction- and valence-band edges. At the end, the band gap of the whole system is modulated along the axis of the tube, which generates quantum wells or quantum dots. Specific electronic states are confined in these quantum wells. The type and radius of the nanotube and the extent and sequence of hydrogen-free and hydrogen-covered zones can provide several options to design a desired optoelectronic nanodevice.