SGER: Study soft nanolithography with femtosecond laser irradiations for chemical and gas sensing

University Of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell MA

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract 0904445 Mengyan Shen University of Massahusetts,Lowell This is SGER project on nanosensors. A technique for fabricating nanospikes on different solid surfaces with intense femtosecond laser pulse irradiation was found in 2004. This femtosecond laser irradiation technique is combined with a soft lithography to preliminarily develop a soft nanolithographic manufacturing technique at University of Massachusetts Lowell. The combined technique provides a unique effective tool to design and improve the sensitivity of chemical and gas sensors and greatly reduce the cost. This combined technique can be further used to fabricate surface enhance Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensors at very low cost; and the sensitivity of a tin oxide gas sensor on silicon nanostructures can be significantly increased. In this research project, nanostructures will be designed using the femtoscond laser pulse irradiation technique to study the nanolithographic manufacturing technique to replicate nanostructures three-dimensionally with polymers at precision better than 5 nm, and fabricate gas (for example, carbon monoxide) and SERS sensor prototypes with the polymer replica at very low cost. Finally, based on the results of this 12-month project, a platform to develop integrated chemical and gas nanosensors, for example, microelectronic nose can be built.