Covalent chemical surface modification of surfaces with available silicon or nitrogen
AssigneeRhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education
InventorsJason R. Dwyer, Y. M. Nuwan D. Y. Bandara, Buddini Iroshika Karawdeniya, Julie C. Whelan
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Abstract
The invention provides a method to form and functionalize monolayers on a silicon-rich silicon nitride surface or a silicon surface formed by a nanopore fabrication method known as dielectric breakdown. Thermal, photochemical and radical processing can be used to hydrosilylate nascent silicon and silicon nitride surfaces with various reagents. The conventional need for hydrofluoric acid etching prior to coupling functional groups to the surfaces is thereby completely avoided.
Claims26
An etching-free method for hydrosilylating a silicon nitride surface, the method comprising sequential steps of:
- (a) placing a silicon nitride substrate in an electrolyte solution;
- (b) applying an electric potential across a section of the substrate that is no more than 100 nm in thickness until a nanopore of less than about 100 nm in diameter is formed across the section, the nanopore having freshly formed, silicon-rich silicon nitride surface lining its passageway;
- and
- (c) directly attaching a functional group onto the freshly formed silicon-rich silicon nitride surface inside the nanopore by contacting the surface with a reagent having at least one terminal, unsaturated bond, thereby covalently linking the functional group to the silicon on the surface to form a monolayer and such that the resulting nanopore is no more than 100 nm wide in diameter.
An etching-free method for hydrosilylating a silicon surface, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. placing a silicon substrate in an electrolyte solution;
- b. applying an electric potential across a section of the substrate that is no more than 100 nm in thickness until a nanopore of less than about 100 nm in diameter is formed across the section, the nanopore having freshly formed silicon surface lining its passageway;
- and
- c. directly attaching a functional group onto the freshly formed silicon surface inside the nanopore by contacting the surface with a reagent having at least one terminal, unsaturated bond, thereby covalently linking the functional group to the silicon on the surface to form a monolayer and such that the resulting nanopore is no more than 100 nm wide in diameter.
An etching-free method for functionalizing a silicon nitride surface, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. placing a silicon nitride substrate in an electrolyte solution;
- b. applying an electric potential across a section of the substrate that is no more than 100 nm in thickness until a nanopore of less than about 100 nm in diameter is formed across the section, the nanopore having a freshly formed, silicon-rich silicon nitride surface lining its passageway;
- and
- c. directly attaching an isocyanate-terminated species onto the freshly formed silicon-rich silicon nitride surface inside the nanopore by contacting the surface with a reagent having a terminal isocyanate group, thereby covalently linking the isocyanate group to the nitrogen on the surface via click chemistry to form a monolayer, and such that the resulting nanopore is no more than 100 nm wide in diameter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.