Nanoparticle with plural functionalities, and method of forming the nanoparticle

• US 9,859,494 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cao, Qing, Cheng, Kangguo, Li, Zhengwen, Liu, Fei
• Primary Examiner(s): Maruf, Sheikh
• Application Number:
  US15/197,207
• Publication Number:
  US 20180006220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• Field of Search: 438761, 438763, 438780, 977700, 257E2101, 257E21299, 257E21613
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 9/143 with inorganic compounds
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 40/00 Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 5/00 Nanobiotechnology or nanomedicine, e.g. protein engineering or drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0217 the material being a silicon nitride not containing oxygen, e.g. SixNy or SixByNz H01L21/02126 and H01L21/0214 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02422 Non-crystalline insulating materials, e.g. glass, polymers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02532 Silicon, silicon germanium, germanium
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02601 Nanoparticles fullerenes H10K85/211
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/7806 involving the separation of the active layers from a substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 97/00 Electric solid-state thin-film or thick-film devices, not otherwise provided for

Abstract

A nanoparticle includes a cuboid base including a semiconductor material, and a plurality of surfaces formed on the base and including a plurality of functionalities, respectively.

Claims

1. A method of forming a nanoparticle, comprising:

forming a layer of semiconductor material on a substrate;

forming a first layer on the semiconductor material, the first layer having a functionality different from a functionality of the semiconductor material;

patterning the layer of semiconductor material to form a pillar of the semiconductor material;

a first etch to form a plurality of strips of the semiconductor material;

a second etch to divide the plurality of strips into a plurality of pillars of the semiconductor material; and

separating the pillar from the substrate to form the nanoparticle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate including a buried oxide layer, and the layer of semiconductor material is formed on the buried oxide layer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the separating of the pillar from the substrate comprises undercutting the buried oxide layer by etching the buried oxide layer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor material comprises one of silicon and germanium.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming a second layer on the semiconductor material, the second layer having a functionality different from the functionality of the semiconductor material, and different from the functionality of the first layer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second layer is different from the first layer in at least one of a bonding property, an energy absorption property and a biodegradability property.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the second layer is performed between the first etch and the second etch, so that the second layer is formed on two faces of the nanoparticle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the second layer is performed after the second etch, so that the second layer is formed on four faces of the nanoparticle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first layer comprises an insulator layer and the second layer comprises a metal layer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the insulator layer comprises a silicon nitride layer and the metal layer comprises a gold layer.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the separating of the pillar comprises etching the substrate.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises an oxide layer, and the separating of the pillar comprises etching the oxide layer.

11. A method of forming a nanoparticle, comprising:

forming a layer of semiconductor material on a buried oxide layer of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate;

forming a first layer on the semiconductor material, the first layer having a functionality different from a functionality of the semiconductor material;

patterning the layer of semiconductor material to form a pillar of the semiconductor material, the patterning of the layer of semiconductor material comprising;

a first etch to form a plurality of strips of the semiconductor material; and

a second etch to divide the plurality of strips into a plurality of pillars of the semiconductor material; and

etching the buried oxide layer to separate the pillar from the buried oxide layer to form the nanoparticle.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

forming a second layer on the semiconductor material, the second layer having a functionality different from the functionality of the semiconductor material, and different from the functionality of the first layer,

wherein the second layer is different from the first layer in at least one of a bonding property, an energy absorption property and a biodegradability property.