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Heiko O. Jacobs
Professor, Inst. of Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics |
Directed Parallel Assembly Across Length Scales Exploiting Surface Tension and Coulomb Forces
This talk will discuss directed self-assembly based methods to enable positioning, self-alignment, and interconnection of micro- and nanoscopic objects. Two methods will be presented:
Fluidic Self-assembly of Microscopic Semiconductor Chips — The first process uses surface tension as a method to capture agitated components, align, and electrically connect disparate objects in a massively parallel fashion. The physics and applications will be described. The process has been applied to fabricate solid-state lighting modules in a reel-to-reel fashion. It has been used to enable the self-packaging of LEDs or to cover surface with chips using a self-tiling process. In combination with elastomeric supports, the realization of stretchable and metamorphic electronics is possible. First demonstrators include metamorphic LED arrays which morph from a planar to a spherical to a cone and box like topology.
Gas Phase Coulomb Force Directed Assembly — The second process aims to provide a directed transport and assembly solution of nanoscopic objects. The original goal was to find a solution to establish freeform and self-aligning nanobondwires. The process is also referred to as “Gas Phase Electrodeposition” since it replaces the liquid medium and ions in the wet chemical analog with a carrier gas, high mobility gas ions, and charged nanoscopic objects to be assembled. The process enables the site selective assembly and deposition of nanomaterials on pre-patterned surfaces. The process is applied to fabricate nanostructured electrodes, multimaterial/ multifunctional sensor arrays, and nanoscopic freeform bondwires.