Gold Silicon Research Articles

MEMS Pressure Sensors with Novel TSV Design for Extreme Temperature Environments

This study introduces a manufacturing process based on industrial MEMS technology, enabling the production of diverse sensor designs customized for a wide range of absolute pressure measurements. Using monocrystalline silicon as the structural material minimizes thermal stresses and eliminates temperature-dependent semiconductor effects, as silicon functions solely as a mechanical material. Integrating a eutectic bonding process in the sensor fabrication allows for a reliable operation at temperatures up to 350 °C. The capacitive sensor electrodes are enclosed within a silicon-based Faraday cage, ensuring effective shielding against external electrostatic interference. An innovative Through-Silicon Via (TSV) design, sealed using gold–gold (Au-Au) diffusion and gold–silicon (Au-Si) eutectic bonding, further enhances the mechanical and thermal stability of the sensors, even under high-temperature conditions. The unfilled TSV structure mitigates mechanical stress from thermal expansion. The sensors exhibited excellent performance, achieving a linearity of 99.994%, a thermal drift of −0.0164% FS (full scale)/K at full load and 350 °C, and a high sensitivity of 34 fF/kPa. These results highlight the potential of these sensors for high-performance applications across various demanding environments.

Narrow Bandwidth and Tunable Mid-Infrared Thermal Emitter Design Based on Double Asymmetric Dielectric Metasurfaces

Thermal emitters working in the mid-infrared (MIR) region are indispensable in many applications, such as sensing, thermophotovoltaics, and imaging. Resonance wavelength tunability, high efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and high quality (Q) factor are desirable properties of thermal emitters. Selective thermal emitters have been realized using metallic metasurfaces, which, due to ohmic losses, do not exhibit very sharp emission peaks. Recently, metasurfaces possessing very high Q factors made of dielectric materials with asymmetric features that exploit quasi-bound states in the continuum are introduced. The dielectric metasurface-based thermal emitters shown in the literature have a single type of asymmetry, such as a difference in the length of resonators or angular separation of resonators. However, resonance wavelength and thermal emissivity could be tuned by having multiple types of asymmetries. This study proposes a structure consisting of a zigzag array of silicon rectangular bars with different lengths as resonators. Gold is the choice of the substrate with a dielectric layer made of Al2O3 sandwiched between gold substrate and silicon bars. Based on the conducted simulations, an emissivity value exceeding 0.99 with a Q factor of 116 at the resonance wavelength of 5.818 µm was obtained when the silicon bars were separated by π/25 from the origin in opposite directions with a length asymmetry factor of 0.3. Additionally, independent tuning of emissivity intensity and resonance wavelength is displayed. Such findings can lead to bespoke thermal emitter designs.

Enhanced thermal conductance at interfaces between gold and amorphous silicon and between gold and amorphous silica

Enhanced thermal conductance at interfaces between gold and amorphous silicon and between gold and amorphous silica

Optical trapping-induced crystallization promoted by gold and silicon nanoparticles.

This study investigates the promotion of sodium chlorate (NaClO3) crystallization through optical trapping, enhanced by the addition of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs). Using a focused laser beam at the air-solution interface of a saturated NaClO3 solution with AuNPs or SiNPs, the aggregates of these particles were formed at the laser focus, the nucleation and growth of metastable NaClO3 (m-NaClO3) crystals were induced. Continued laser irradiation caused these m-NaClO3 crystals to undergo repeated cycles of growth and dissolution, eventually transitioning to a stable crystal form. Our comparative analysis showed that AuNPs, due to their significant heating due to higher photon absorption efficiency, caused more pronounced size fluctuations in m-NaClO3 crystals compared to the stable behavior observed with SiNPs. Interestingly, the maximum diameter of the m-NaClO3 crystals that appeared during the size fluctuation step was consistent, regardless of nanoparticle type, concentration, or size. The crystallization process was also promoted by using polystyrene nanoparticles, which have minimal heating and electric field enhancement, suggesting that the reduction in activation energy for nucleation at the particle surface is a key factor. These findings provide critical insights into the mechanisms of laser-induced crystallization, emphasizing the roles of plasmonic heating, particle surfaces, and optical forces.

Reliable detection of malachite green by self-assembled SERS substrates based on gold–silicon heterogeneous nano pineapple structures

Morphology regulation of heterodimer nanoparticles and the use of their asymmetric features for further practical applications are crucial because of the rich optical properties and various combinations of heterodimers. This work used silicon to asymmetrically wrap half of a gold sphere and grew gold branches on the bare gold surface to form heterogeneous nano pineapples (NPPs) which can effectively improve Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) properties through chemical enhancement and lightning-rod effect respectively. The asymmetric structures of NPPs enabled them to self-assemble into the monolayer membrane with consistent branch orientation. The prepared substrate had high homogeneity and better SERS ability than disorganized substrates, and achieved reliable detection of malachite green (MG) in clams with a detection limit of 7.8 × 10−11 M. This work provided a guide to further revise the morphology of heterodimers and a new idea for the use of asymmetric dimers for practically photochemical and biomedical sensing.

Sensitivity Analysis of SPR Nano Hole Array Structure for Lab-On-Chip Application

In this work sensitivity analysis of surface plasmon resonance based nano hole array (SPR NHA) is reported. SPR NHA are suitable for lab-on-a-chip applications. These devices work in three different modes, namely intensity mode, phase mode, and angular mode. In this work intensity mode analysis is used. The SPR NHA consisting of gold metal and silicon dioxide substrate dielectric material is used. Gold material is widely used in SPR sensors due to its excellent optical properties, high electrical conductivity and bio-compatibility. The Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method is used for the simulation and analysis. An optical source at a wavelength of 675 nm is used for the analysis and simulation. The structure of the proposed SPRNHA consists of Substrate which is made of silicon di oxide dielectric material and a thin layer of gold is deposited on the substrate having thickness 0.1 µm. The nano hole array is etched on the gold layer. The pitch of the NHA is 0.6 µm and diameter of each hole is 0.2 µm. The diameter of the holes present in NHA is 0.2 µm. The sensitivity of the proposed device for different analytes such as albumin, RBC and hemoglobin is determined. The maximum sensitivity of 298.35 nm/RIU is achieved for the proposed device. The results obtained shows that the sensor has better sensitivity and suitable for use in lab-on-a-chip applications. Received: 23 October 2023 | Revised: 21 December 2023 | Accepted: 21 December 2023 Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. Author Contribution Statement Suryanarayana N K: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Project administration. Venkatesha Muniswamy: Conceptualization, Validation, Formal analysis, Resources, Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration. Asha K: Conceptualization, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Resources, Data curation, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision.

Surface acoustic wave actuated plasmonic signal amplification in a plasmonic waveguide

Enhancement of nanoscale confinement in the subwavelength waveguide is a concern for advancing future photonic interconnects. Rigorous innovation of plasmonic waveguide-based structure is crucial in designing a reliable on-chip optical waveguide beyond the diffraction limit. Despite several structural modifications and architectural improvements, the plasmonic waveguide technology is far from reaching its maximum potential for mass-scale applications due to persistence issues such as insufficient confined energy and short propagation length. This work proposes a new method to amplify the propagating plasmons through an external on-chip surface acoustic signal. The gold–silicon dioxide (Au-SiO2) interface, over Lithium Niobate (LN) substrate, is used to excite propagating surface plasmons. The voltage-varying surface acoustic wave (SAW) can tune the plasmonic confinement to a desired signal energy level, enhancing and modulating the plasmonic intensity. From our experimental results, we can increase the plasmonic intensity gain of 1.08 dB by providing an external excitation in the form of SAW at a peak-to-peak potential swing of 3 V, utilizing a single chip.

A ratiometric fluorescence nanosensor for glutathione detection based on spatially confined dual-emission of α-lipoic acid-modified gold nanoclusters and silicon nanoparticles.

The development of dual-emission ratiometric fluorescent probes with aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) overcomes the limitations of gold nanocluster (Au NC)-based probes, particularly their weak intrinsic fluorescence, in real-world applications. These AIEE probes also exhibit superior detection limits and enhanced sensitivity. A novel combination for the reliable fluorometric detection of glutathione (GSH) was proposed, utilizing aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) facilitated by electrostatic interaction and spatial confinement. The probe consists of a ratiometric combination of negatively charged α-lipoic acid-modified Au NCs (LA@Au NCs) and positively charged silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs). The addition of SiNPs causes aggregation of LA@Au NCs, enhancing the fluorescence of LA@Au NCs through the AIE effect under electrostatic interaction and spatial confinement. The addition of Cu2+ quenched the emission of LA@Au NCs as a result of charge transfer. The fluorescence emissions of LA@Au NCs were restored upon the addition of GSH due to the interaction between GSH and Cu2+. Simultaneously, the emission signal of SiNPs remains unchanged, serving as an internal reference signal during GSH measurement. It was found that the fluorescence ratio (F680/F465) is directly proportional to the concentration of GSH in the range of 0.05-100 μM, with a detection limit of 1.7 nM (S/N = 3). The proposed system was applied to detect GSH in real samples, including dietary supplements, human serum, and saliva samples. This work opens new avenues for constructing novel sensors based on AIEE for detecting biomolecules.

Combination of gold nanoclusters and silicon quantum dots for ratiometric fluorometry: One system, two mechanisms

A ratiometric fluorometry based on silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) and gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) is constructed for detecting activity of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) in human serum. By using thiobutyrylcholine iodide (BTCh) as the substrate of BChE-catalyzed hydrolysis reaction, variation of fluorescence emission from AuNCs is employed as an indicator of BChE activity since one of the hydrolysis products, thiocholine (TCh), would influence the aggregation state of AuNCs and consequently led to the change of fluorescence quantum efficiency of AuNCs. It is interesting that there are two mechanisms working for the fluorescence emission of aggregated AuNCs: aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) with the presence of TCh at very low and higher concentration levels, respectively. Although both of these mechanisms can be utilized for sensing BChE, their opposite influence on the fluorescence emission of aggregated AuNCs should be worthy of attention, especially in the process of developing fluorescence methods for detecting trace targets by using AuNCs. In order to eliminate the fluctuation of fluorophotometer, SiQDs is chosen as the fluorophore to develop by ratiometric fluorescence methods in this work. Additionally, obvious aggregation of AuNCs induces significant decrease of inner filter effect (IFE) on the fluorescence emitted from SiQDs, while mild aggregation of AuNCs demonstrates little IFE. The linear ranges for detecting activity of BChE are 0.004 – 0.05 U/L and 0.5 – 20 U/L by ratiometric fluorometry based on the AIEE and ACQ, respectively. The very different responses originated from AIEE and ACQ of AuNCs would respectively make their own contributions to the determination of BChE activities at very low or high levels, which facilitate the developments of enhanced or quenched fluorescence methods. However, the detection of BChE activities at medium levels might suffer from the combination of AIEE and ACQ with ambiguous fractions. Therefore, it must be careful during the processes of developing and applying fluorescence methods based on the AIEE and ACQ of AuNCs, as well as the process of evaluating their analytical performance.

Effects of Bubbles on Manufacturing Gold Dendrites and Silicon Nanowires Through the Fluoride-Assisted Galvanic Replacement Reaction

Abstract The fluoride-assisted galvanic replacement reaction is a conventional method for fabricating metallic dendrites on silicon wafers. However, whether bubbles affect manufacturing metallic dendrites is unclear. This study investigated the effects of bubbles on manufacturing Au dendrites and silicon nanowires through metal-assisted chemical etching. The results of manufacture under three conditions (standard, shaking, and vacuum conditions) were compared. Synchronous growth of Au dendrites and silicon nanowires were observed on the silicon wafers. The Au dendrite deposition rate was higher than the silicon etching rate. Compared with the standard condition, the vacuum condition increased the synthesis rates of Au dendrites and silicon nanowires by 1.1 and 0.2 μm/min, respectively. Therefore, the elimination of bubbles by vacuum can considerably accelerate manufacturing Au dendrites and silicon nanowires.

Evaporative self-assembling bioconcentrators onto superhydrophobic micropyramidal arrays as rapid and intelligent blood cancer filtering platforms

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) for rapid and accurate cancer diagnosis is invaluable for medical practice, but technically challenging due to the low sensitivity and low selectivity of traditional bio-analytical methods. Here, we explored an AI-driven filtering method integrated with a plasmonic bioconcentrator for rapid, sensitive, and accurate blood cancer diagnosis. The bioconcentrator were sequentially dual-assembled by sequentially depositing multi-walled carbon nanotubes and core-shell gold silicon dioxide nanoparticles onto a laser-fabricated superhydrophobic surface with micropyramidal arrays. The laser spectroscopic sensing technique, nanoparticle-enhanced laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, was applied to obtain the fingerprint information of serum samples from four types blood cancers and one health control. Furthermore, the principal component analysis and support vector machine algorithms were performed to discriminate the serum samples for AI-driven filtering. The results demonstrated that the integration of AI-driven filtering with bioconcentrator enabled sensitive and accurate diagnosis of blood cancers with several minutes. Rapid, cost-effective, and personalized cancer treatment could be envisioned by the AI-driven cancer filtering with the plasmonic bioconcentrator.

Direct observation of concentration fluctuations in Au–Si eutectic liquid by small-angle neutron scattering

It is well-known that eutectic gold–silicon (Au–Si) alloys exhibit anomalous melting point depression, which is more than 1000 °C from the melting point of elemental Si (1414 °C). The melting point depression in eutectic alloys is generally explained in terms of a decrease of the free energy by mixing. However, it is difficult to understand the anomalous melting point depression only from the stability of the homogeneous mixing. Some researchers suggest that there are concentration fluctuations in the liquids, where the atoms are inhomogeneously mixed. In this paper, we measure the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) of Au81.4Si18.6 (eutectic composition) and Au75Si25 (off-eutectic composition) at temperatures from room temperature to 900 °C in both solid and liquid states to observe such concentration fluctuations directly. It is surprising that large SANS signals are observed in the liquids. This indicates that there are concentration fluctuations in the liquids. The concentration fluctuations are characterized by either the correlation lengths in multiple length scales or surface fractals. This finding yields new insight into the mixing state in the eutectic liquids. The mechanism of the anomalous melting point depression is discussed based on the concentration fluctuations.

Biofouling potential of surface-enhanced Raman scattering-based seawater quality sensors by Ulva spp.

This study investigated the biofouling potential of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based sensor materials in the context of marine environments. Uncoated and monolithic commercial gold (Au) silicon nanopillar array SERS substrates, Au-coated carbon black nanoparticle (AuCB NP) substrates, uncoated and Au sputter-coated in-house SERS, and uncoated and Au sputter-coated glass controls were tested for biofouling potential using Ulva spp. as model biofouling organisms. The mean percentages of Ulva spp. zoospores that adhered per mm2 (×103) on the uncoated and coated Au silicon nanopillar array, AuCB NP, uncoated and Au sputter-coated in-house, and uncoated and Au sputter-coated glass substrates were 10.28%, 5.45%, 10.49%, 3.25%, 24.84%, 12.86% and 7.78%, respectively. Results indicated that surface properties such as hydrophobicity, roughness, Au sputter-coating and the presence of micro-refuges on nano- and microstructured substrates were critical to the biofouling formation.

Hyaluronic Acid-Based Nanocarriers for Anticancer Drug Delivery.

Hyaluronic acid (HA), a main component of the extracellular matrix, is widely utilized to deliver anticancer drugs due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, non-immunogenicity and numerous modification sites, such as carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. Moreover, HA serves as a natural ligand for tumor-targeted drug delivery systems, as it contains the endocytic HA receptor, CD44, which is overexpressed in many cancer cells. Therefore, HA-based nanocarriers have been developed to improve drug delivery efficiency and distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissues, resulting in reduced residual toxicity and off-target accumulation. This article comprehensively reviews the fabrication of anticancer drug nanocarriers based on HA in the context of prodrugs, organic carrier materials (micelles, liposomes, nanoparticles, microbubbles and hydrogels) and inorganic composite nanocarriers (gold nanoparticles, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and silicon dioxide). Additionally, the progress achieved in the design and optimization of these nanocarriers and their effects on cancer therapy are discussed. Finally, the review provides a summary of the perspectives, the lessons learned so far and the outlook towards further developments in this field.

MEMS Shielded Capacitive Pressure and Force Sensors with Excellent Thermal Stability and High Operating Temperature.

In this paper, we present an innovative manufacturing process for the production of capacitive pressure and force sensors with excellent thermal stability for high-temperature applications. The sensors, which are manufactured from a stack of two silicon chips mounted via with gold-silicon (Au-Si) or aluminum-silicon (Al-Si) eutectic bonding, are shielded, miniaturized, and allow an operating temperature of up to 500 °C. Compared to conventional methods, the greatest benefit of the manufacturing process is that different sensor dimensions can be produced in the same batch for a wide measuring range, from mN to kN. The characterization of the realized sensors shows a high linearity and a low temperature drift of 99.992% FS and -0.001% FS/K at 350 °C, as well as a nonlinearity of 0.035% FS and a temperature drift of -0.0027% FS/K at 500 °C.

SERS for Detection of Proteinuria: A Comparison of Gold, Silver, Al Tape, and Silicon Substrates for Identification of Elevated Protein Concentration in Urine.

Excessive protein excretion in human urine is an early and sensitive marker of diabetic nephropathy and primary and secondary renal disease. Kidney problems, particularly chronic kidney disease, remain among the few growing causes of mortality in the world. Therefore, it is important to develop an efficient, expressive, and low-cost method for protein determination. Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) methods are potential candidates to achieve these criteria. In this paper, a SERS method was developed to distinguish patients with proteinuria from the healthy group. Commercial gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with diameters of 60 nm and 100 nm, and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with a diameter of 100 nm were tested on the surface of four different substrates including silver and gold films, silicon, and aluminum tape. SERS spectra were acquired from 111 unique human urine samples prepared and measured for each of the seven different nanoparticle plus substrate combinations. Data analysis by the PCA-LDA algorithm and the ROC curves gave results for the diagnostic figures of merits. The best sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC were 0.91, 0.84, 0.88, and 0.94 for the set with 100 nm Au NPs on the silver substrate, respectively. Among the three metal substrates, the substrate with AuNPs and Al tape performed slightly worse than the other three substrates, and 100 nm gold nanoparticles on average produced better results than 60 nm gold nanoparticles. The 60 nm diameter AuNPs and silicon, which is about one order of magnitude more cost-effective than AuNPs and gold film, showed a relative performance close to the performance of 60 nm AuNPs and Au film (average AUC 0.88 (Si) vs. 0.89 (Au)). This is likely the first reported application of unmodified silicon in SERS substrates applied for direct detection of proteins in any biofluid, particularly in urine. These results position silicon and AuNPs@Si in particular as a perspective SERS substrate for direct urine analysis, including clinical diagnostics of proteinuria.

KPFM visualisation of the Schottky barrier at the interface between gold nanoparticles and silicon.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) deposited on a doped silicon substrate induce a local band bending and a local accumulation of positive charges in a semiconductor. Unlike the case of planar gold-silicon contacts, working with nanoparticles results in reduced values for the built-in potential and lower Schottky barriers. Here, AuNPs of 55 nm diameter were deposited on several silicon substrates that were previously functionalized with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The samples are characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the nanoparticle surface density is assessed with dark-field optical microscopy. A density of 0.42 NP μm-2 was measured. Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) is used to measure the contact potential differences (CPD). The CPD images exhibit a ring-shaped pattern ("doughnut-shape") centred on each AuNP. The built-in potential is measured at +34 mV for n-doped substrates and it decreased to +21 mV for p-doped silicon. These effects are discussed using the classical electrostatic approach.

МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ ВОЗБУЖДЕНИЯ ПОВЕРХНОСТНЫХ ПЛАЗМОН-ПОЛЯРИТОНОВ В ПРЯМОУГОЛЬНОМ НАНОРЕЗОНАТОРЕ НА ОСНОВЕ ЗОЛОТА

This paper considers the modeling of surface plasmon polaritons excitation in a limited nanostructure on the basis of a two-dimensional area discrete model, the area interacts with the oscillator. The nanostructure is a rectangle defined on the metal surface at the interface of the gold–silicon oxide, the surface plasmon–polaritons are excited by an electromagnetic radiation point source located above the metal surface. The dynamics of radiation point source is described by a discrete version of the Van der Pol equation with a small nonlinearity of the source parameters. The parameters of the goldsilicon oxide structure (the wave phase speed, the radiation source frequency, the characteristic time in the system, etc.) will be received from the dispersion relation for surface plasmon–polaritons at a single metal–dielectric interface. The distributions of the wave field in the structure will be analyzed at different positions of the point oscillator and different coupling coefficients of the wave field with the oscillators. The resonant wave field mode composition at different positions of the point oscillator and different coupling coefficients will be found using the two-dimensional Fourier transform of the wave field, the time evolution of excited modes of the wave field amplitudes will be also analyzed. In conclusion, the paper gives applicability limits of the considered model for studying the surface plasmon polaritons excitation in a limited nanostructure.

Dynamics of the gold–silicon eutectic reaction studied at limited length scales using in situ TEM and STEM

Dynamics of the gold–silicon eutectic reaction studied at limited length scales using in situ TEM and STEM

Protein Crystals Nucleated and Grown by Means of Porous Materials Display Improved X-ray Diffraction Quality.

Well-diffracting protein crystals are indispensable for X-ray diffraction analysis, which is still the most powerful method for structure-function studies of biomolecules. A promising approach to growing such crystals is the use of porous nucleation-inducing materials. However, while protein crystal nucleation in pores has been thoroughly considered, little attention has been paid to the subsequent growth of crystals. Although the nucleation stage is decisive, it is the subsequent growth of crystals outside the pore that determines their diffraction quality. The molecular-scale mechanism of growth of protein crystals in and outside pores is theoretically considered. Due to the low degree of metastability, the crystals that emerge from the pores grow slowly, which is a prerequisite for better diffraction. This expectation has been corroborated by experiments carried out with several types of porous material, such as bioglass (“Naomi’s Nucleant”), buckypaper, porous gold and porous silicon. Protein crystals grown with the aid of bioglass and buckypaper yield significantly better diffraction quality compared with crystals grown conventionally. In all cases, visually superior crystals are usually obtained. Our theoretical conclusion is that heterogeneous nucleation of a crystal outside the pore is an exceptional case. Rather, the protein crystals nucleating inside the pores continue growing outside them.