Dielectrophoretic Batch Fabrication of Bundled Carbon Nanotube Thermal Sensors

Abstract

Abstract-We present a feasible technology for batch assembly of carbon nanotube (CNT) devices by utilizing ac electrophoretic technique to manipulate multiwalled bundles on an Si/SiO 2 substrate. Based on this technique, CNTs were successfully and repeatably manipulated between microfabricated electrodes. By using this parallel assembly process, we have investigated the possibility of batch fabricating functional CNT devices when an ac electrical field is applied to an array of microelectrodes that are electrically connected together. Preliminary experimental results showed that over 70% of CNT functional devices can be assembled successfully using our technique, which is considered to be a good yield for nanodevices manufacturing. Besides, the devices were demonstrated to potentially serve as novel thermal sensors with low power consumption ( microwatts) with electronic circuit response of approximately 100 kHz in constant current mode operation. In this paper, we will present the fabrication process of this feasible batch manufacturable method for functional CNT-based thermal sensors, which will dramatically reduce production costs and production time of nanosensing devices and potentially enable fully automated assembly of CNT-based devices. Experimental results from the thermal sensors fabricated by this batch process will also be discussed.Index Terms-AC electrophoretic manipulation, carbon nanotube (CNT), CNT sensors, nano batch fabrication, nanomanufacturing.

Continuous separation of colloidal particles using dielectrophoresis

“…There are various reports on the immobilization, positioning, alignment, and assembly of DNA bundles [22][23][24], nanowires [25][26][27][28][29], nanorods [30,31], and carbon nanotubes [32,33], mainly for circuit and sensory functions. Among the few reports in recent years on DEP of colloidal particles, with all dimensions in the submicrometer range, are the DEP capture of virus particles using a probe array with nanoscale tips [34], the optically induced dielectrophoretic trapping and subsequent assembly into arrays of gold nanoparticles [35], the use of DEP in conjunction with hydrodynamic forces to enhance nanoparticle transfer for rapid biosensing [36], and DEP enhancement of protein detection in a silicon-nanowire biosensor [37].…”

Laser-assisted nanofabrication of carbon nanostructures

“…Tremendous efforts have been made to solve the challenges. Techniques, such as scanning-probe-microscopeassisted patterning, [75][76][77] chemical vapor deposition, [78][79][80] template-directed assembly, [81][82][83] and dielectrophoresis deposition, [84][85][86][87] have been developed trying to achieve controlled integration of CNTs. However, existing drawbacks (such as high processing temperature, slow processing speed, coarse control, liquid phase processing/contamination, low reliability, low yield, and high cost) of individual approaches [75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87] make it difficult to develop a high- performance-on-demand approach for fabricating CNTbased devices.…”

Ultra-Low-Powered Aqueous Shear Stress Sensors Based on Bulk EG-CNTs Integrated in Microfluidic Systems

“…First, a layer of ∼3000Å gold (Au) was deposited onto the soda lime glass substrate after the deposition of an adhesion layer of ∼1000Å chromium (Cr) by using a sputtering deposition process. Then, EG-CNTs (BSI-CNT-016, Brewer Science, Inc., USA) were batch assembled between the microelectrodes to serve as the sensing element by utilizing the dielectrophoretic (DEP) manipulation technique reported in [10]. Fig.…”