Three-dimensional nanostructures fabricated by stacking pre-patterned monocrystalline silicon nanomembranes

This thesis considers the viability of nanomembrane handling and stacking approaches to enable the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) nano-structured materials. Sequentially stacking previously-patterned membranes to build up 3D nanostructures, e.g. photonic crystals, is a powerful technique that decouples serial patterning processes from 3D assembly, allows the incorporation of photonic devices into the material and facilitates in-process error inspection. A technique identified to address the fundamental problems with stacking disjoined membranes, i.e. those populated with photonic devices, using water-based approaches was an outgrowth of methods to fabricate, handle and stack their connected counterparts. Initially, connected nanomembranes patterned in a thin layer of silicon on glass were released in hydrofluoric acid where surface tension caused them to float flat. Their fragility inspired novel handling and position manipulation techniques for layer-to-layer alignment. While exploiting surface tension allowed membranes to be stacked using water, drifting precluded precision placement. Although carrier substrates held them stationary, the membranes leaked water before Van-der Waals adhesion was overcome. To address such issues a novel method is introduced whereby a sublimable glue affixes membranes to a glass carrier, which is placed membrane-side down onto a receiving substrate and the glue is vaporized to detach the membranes, leaving them bound to the previous layer.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Fucetola, Corey Patrick

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Henry I. Smith.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85461

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/85461