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Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a commercially available physically and chemically stable silicone rubber. It has a unique flexibility with a shear elastic modulus G ≈ 250 kPa due to one of the lowest glass transition temperatures of any polymer (T g ≈ −125 • C). Further properties of PDMS are a low change in the shear elastic modulus versus temperature (1.1 kPa • C −1), virtually no change in G versus frequency and a high compressibility. Because of its clean room processability, its low curing temperature, its high flexibility, the possibility to change its functional groups and the very low drift of its properties with time and temperature, PDMS is very well suited for micromachined mechanical and chemical sensors, such as accelerometers (as the spring material) and ISFETs (as the ion selective membrane). It can also be used as an adhesive in wafer bonding, as a cover material in tactile sensors and as the mechanical decoupling zone in sensor packagings.

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Herein, the influence of silicon surface modification via Si-C(n)H(2n+1) (n=10,12,16,22) monolayer-based devices on p-type 100 and n-type 100 silicon is studied by forming MIS (metal-insulator-semiconductor) diodes using a mercury probe. From current density-voltage (J-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, the relevant parameters describing the electrical behavior of these diodes are derived, such as the diode ideality factor, the effective barrier height, the flatband voltage, the barrier height, the monolayer dielectric constant, the tunneling attenuation factor, and the fixed charge density (Nf). It is shown that the J-V behavior of our MIS structures could be precisely tuned via the monolayer thickness. The use of n-type silicon resulted in lower diode ideality factors as compared to p-type silicon. A similar flatband voltage, independent of monolayer thickness, was found, indicating similar properties for all silicon-monolayer interfaces. An exception was the C10-based monolayer device on p-type silicon. Furthermore, low values of N(f) were found for monolayers on p-type silicon (approximately 6 x 10(11) cm(-2)). These results suggest that Si--C linked monolayers on flat silicon may be a viable material for future electronic devices.

It is investigated how much energy can be delivered by a streaming current source. A streaming current and subsequent streaming potential originate when double layer charge is transported by hydrodynamic flow. Theory and a network model of such a source is presented and initial experimental results are given, showing a supplied power of 20 nW obtained by a pressure difference of 1 atm over a glass plug of 60 mm in diameter and 3.5 mm thickness with pore sizes of 1.0-1.6 m, using a 1 mM KCl solution. An expression for the power transfer efficiency is derived and discussed.