Fabrication of Enclosed Nanochannels Using Silica Nanoparticles

• US 20130193065A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: UNM Rainforest Innovations (f/k/a STC.UNM) (The University of New Mexico)
• Original Assignee: UNM Rainforest Innovations (f/k/a STC.UNM) (The University of New Mexico)
• Inventors: Brueck, Steven R.J., Kuznetsova, Yuliya, Neumann, Alexander, Xia, Deying
• Granted Patent: US 9,156,004 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 210/500.23
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 69/04 Tubular membranes
• CPC Class Codes: B81C 1/00071 Channels
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 30/00 Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/2051 Exposure without an original mask, e.g. using a programmed deflection of a point source, by scanning, by drawing with a light beam, using an addressed light or corpuscular source G03F7/70 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 977/78 Possessing fully enclosed nanosized voids or physical holes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 977/84 Manufacture, treatment, or detection of nanostructure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0324 With control of flow by a condition or characteristic of a fluid
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/3006 Liquids separated from liquid

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, there is a method of forming a nanochannel including depositing a photosensitive film stack over a substrate and forming a pattern on the film stack using interferometric lithography. The method can further include depositing a plurality of silica nanoparticles to form a structure over the pattern and removing the pattern while retaining the structure formed by the plurality of silica nanoparticles, wherein the structure comprises an enclosed nanochannel.

Claims

1. A method of forming a nanochannel comprising:

depositing a photosensitive film stack over a substrate;

forming a first pattern on the film stack using interferometric lithography to form a nanochannel;

forming a second pattern on the film stack using interferometric lithography and a mask aligner to form a barrier in the nanochannel;

depositing a plurality of silica nanoparticles to form a structure over the pattern; and

removing the first pattern and the second pattern while retaining the structure formed by the plurality of silica nanoparticles, wherein the structure comprises an enclosed nanochannel with the barrier formed along a portion of the enclosed nanochannel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the depositing a photosensitive film stack comprises depositing a first layer comprising an antireflective coating over the substrate and depositing a second layer comprising a photoresist over the first layer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second layer comprises a layer of positive photoresist or a layer of negative photoresist.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the depositing the plurality of silica nanoparticles comprises at least one cycle of spin coating using a suspension of silica nanoparticles.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the depositing the plurality of silica nanoparticles comprises multiple cycles of spin coating wherein each cycle of spin coating uses a suspension of silica nanoparticles with a same size distribution.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the depositing the plurality of silica nanoparticles comprises multiple cycles of spin coating wherein at least one cycle of spin coating uses a suspension of silica nanoparticles with a size distribution different than the other cycles of spin coating.

7. A nanochannel device for selectively separating components of a fluid comprising:

at least one first nanochannel comprising a first opening, a second opening, and a barrier positioned between the first opening and the second opening, wherein the barrier comprises a plurality of pores to allow fluid to flow from the first opening to the second opening.

8. The nanochannel device of claim 7, further comprising a second nanochannel arranged perpendicular to the first nanochannel and separated from the first nanochannel by a barrier comprised of a plurality of pores to allow fluid to flow from the first nanochannel to the second nanochannel.

9. The nanochannel device of claim 8, wherein the second nanochannel comprises a first opening, a second opening, and a barrier positioned between the first opening and the second opening, wherein the barrier comprising a plurality of pores to allow fluid to flow from the first opening to the second opening wherein a thickness and/or a pore size, controlled by the nanoparticle size, of the barrier between the first opening and the second opening is adjusted relative to the thickness and or the pore size, controlled by the nanoparticle size, of the barrier between the first and the second nanochannel to affect the flow of moieties across the two barriers.

10. The nanochannel device of claim 7, comprising at least one porous divider arranged between the first and the second nanochannel.

11. The nanochannel device of claim 10, where the at least one porous divider comprises a plurality of pores between the first and the second nanochannel, wherein the first nanochannel, the second nanochannel, and the at least one porous divider are disposed such that the fluid enters through the first opening of the first nanochannel, percolates through the plurality of pores of the porous divider and exits through the second opening of the second nanochannel.

12. The nanochannel device of claim 7, further comprising functionalized silica nanoparticles to selectively transport one component of the fluid.

13. The nanochannel device of claim 7, further comprising a CVD film providing sealing of the top surface of the roof of the nanochannels.

14. The nanochannel device of claim 8 wherein the CVD film is composed of SiO₂ and Si₃N₄.

15. The nanochannel device of claim 13, further comprising an atomic layer deposited film atop the chemical vapor deposited film.

16. The nanochannel device of claim 15 wherein the atomic layer deposited film is Al₂O₃.