Direct mechano-sliding transfer of chemical vapor deposition grown silicon nanowires for nanoscale electronic devices

Abstract

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have been widely used in the new generation of nanocircuits. In order to establish efficient and reliable fabrication procedures of one-dimensional nanowire devices, controllable assembly of SiNWs is a key challenge. Although various methods have been reported to assemble SiNWs, they brought unexpected problems, such as low efficiency, chemical contamination or high-cost. Here, we demonstrate a mechano-sliding strategy to directly transfer chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown SiNWs in a solvent-free, fluid-free, and lubricant-free manner with a highly simplified operation. The distribution density of the transferred SiNWs can be controlled by pressure, so that single- or multi-nanowire FET devices for high-sensitivity biological detection or high-density arrays can be obtained. The fabricated device exhibited excellent surface charge response characteristics and chemical modification versatility. These advances pave the way for a feasible, efficient and low-cost approach to fabricate SiNW-based biosensors as a general and powerful platform for chemical detection and biological detection.