Fabrication of nanocrystal superlattice microchannels by soft-lithography for electronic measurements of single-crystalline domains. (14th July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Maier, Andre; Löffler, Ronny; Scheele, Marcus
• Is Part Of: Nanotechnology. Volume 31:Number 40(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-07-14
• Subjects: nanocrystals -- superlattices -- microcontact printing -- patterning -- charge transport; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology; Publications périodiques; Nanotechnologies; Periodicals; 620.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab9c52
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0957-4484

Abstract

Abstract: We report a high-throughput and easy-to-implement approach to fabricate microchannels of nanocrystal superlattices with dimensions of ∼4 μ m 2, thus approaching the size of typical single-crystalline domains. By means of microcontact printing, highly ordered superlattices with microscale dimensions are transferred onto photolithographically prepatterned microelectrodes, obtaining well-defined superlattice microchannels. We present step-by-step guidelines for microfabrication, nanocrystal self-assembly and patterning to archive large quantities of up to 330 microchannels per device for statistically meaningful investigations of charge transport in single-crystalline superlattice domains. As proof-of-concept, we perform conductivity and field-effect transistor measurements on microchannels of PbS nanocrystal superlattices. We find that the electric transport within microchannel superlattices is orders of magnitude more efficient than within conventional large-scale channels, highlighting the advantage of the near single-crystalline microchannels presented in this paper.