Nanowire-based device having isolated electrode pair

• US 7,928,568 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2009
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Sharma, Shashank, Kamins, Theodore I
• Primary Examiner(s): Dang; Phuc T
• Application Number:
  US12/476,671
• Publication Number:
  US 20090236588A1
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 257/24, 257/506, 257/627, 257/750, 438/481, 438/482, 438/486, 438/488
• US Class Current: 257/750
• CPC Class Codes: B81C 1/00095 Interconnects
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 10/00 Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02381 Silicon, silicon germanium, germanium
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02433 Crystal orientation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02521 Materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02603 Nanowires
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02609 Crystal orientation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02639 Preparation of substrate for selective deposition
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02645 Seed materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02647 Lateral overgrowth
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02653 Vapour-liquid-solid growth
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/28525 the conductive layers comprising semiconducting material H01L21/28518, H01L21/28537 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/76838 characterised by the formation and the after-treatment of the conductors etching for patterning the conductors H01L21/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2221/1094 Conducting structures comprising nanotubes or nanowires
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/045 by their particular orientation of crystalline planes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0665 the shape of the body defining a nanostructure nanotechnology per se B82B
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0673 oriented parallel to a substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0676 oriented perpendicular or at an angle to a substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

A nanowire-based device includes the pair of isolated electrodes and a nanowire bridging between respective surfaces of the isolated electrodes of the pair. Specifically, the nanowire-based device having isolated electrodes comprises: a substrate electrode having a crystal orientation; a ledge electrode that is an epitaxial semiconductor having the crystal orientation of the substrate electrode; and a nanowire bridging between respective surfaces of the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode.

Claims

1. A nanowire-based device having isolated electrodes comprising:

a substrate electrode having a crystal orientation;

a ledge electrode that is an epitaxial semiconductor, the epitaxial semiconductor being a selective, lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) that mimics the crystal orientation of the substrate electrode; and

a nanowire bridging between respective surfaces of the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode.

2. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, further comprising an isolation layer embedded between the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode to provide electrical isolation.

3. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the crystal orientation of the substrate electrode is selected from the group consisting of a [111] orientation, a [110] orientation, and a [100] orientation.

4. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode independently comprise a semiconductor material selected from the group consisting of group IV, group III-V and group II-VI semiconductor materials.

5. The nanowire-based device of claim 4, wherein the semiconductor material comprises compound semiconductor materials.

6. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the ledge electrode is electrically isolated from the substrate electrode by an insulating material.

7. The nanowire-based device of claim 6, wherein the insulating material is selected from the group consisting of an oxide, a carbide, a nitride, and an oxynitride.

8. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the nanowire comprises a material selected from the group consisting of a metal and a semiconductor.

9. The nanowire-based device of claim 8, wherein the metal material is selected from the group consisting of titanium (Ti), titanium-silicide (TiSi2), bismuth (Bi), tellurium (Te), lead (Pb), aluminum (Al), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), and copper (Cu), and alloys thereof.

10. The nanowire-based device of claim 8, wherein the semiconductor material is selected from the group consisting of group IV, group III-V and group II-VI semiconductor materials, and compounds thereof.

11. The nanowire-based device of claim 10, wherein the semiconductor material is selected from the group consisting of silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), indium phosphide (InP), and gallium arsenide (GaAs).

12. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the nanowire is a carbon nanotube.

13. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, further comprising an insulating layer between the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode that electrically isolates the substrate electrode from the ledge electrode.

14. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the substrate electrode comprises a bulk semiconductor wafer.

15. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, further comprising a semiconductor-on-insulator wafer, the substrate electrode being a semiconductor layer of the semiconductor-on-insulator wafer.

16. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the ledge electrode is physically spaced apart from the substrate electrode by an insulating layer.

17. The nanowire-based device of claim 1, wherein the epitaxial semiconductor comprises a stem portion that physically connects between the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode, the stem portion comprising an embedded isolation layer that electrically isolates the substrate electrode from the ledge electrode.

18. A nanowire-based device having isolated electrodes comprising:

a substrate electrode having a crystal orientation;

a ledge electrode that is an epitaxial semiconductor having the crystal orientation of the substrate electrode;

an isolation layer embedded between the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode to provide electrical isolation; and

a nanowire bridging between respective surfaces of the substrate electrode and the ledge electrode.