Multifunctional silicon carbide nanowires for sensing applications in harsh environments

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Nguyen, Nam-Trung

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Phan, Hoang Phuong

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2022-05-05
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Abstract

Wide bandgap semiconductors are currently considered as the building blocks which revolutionized many areas of nanoscience and nanotechnologies. Among them, silicon carbide has been quickly emerging as one of the most interesting materials due to its remarkable physical, chemical, mechanical, electrical properties along with its biocompatibility and its feasibility for a wafer-scale production using standard MEMS processes. Inspired by these advantages, considerable number of studies have been devoted to the development of various SiC-based electronic devices over the past years. Despite these great achievements, however, it is realized that existing sensing devices usually rely on SiC in the forms of bulk or thin film, which still exhibit relatively poor sensitivity and unstable operation due to the limitation of their surface-to-volume ratios. Another key bottleneck of these existing sensing devices lies in the impossibility to integrate SiC onto soft and stretchable substrates due to its rigid and brittle nature, which significantly hamper the broader applications of SiC in the fast-emerging field of bioelectronics. Therefore, the research activities in the framework of my Ph.D. candidature aimed to establish reliable and sustainable protocols to overcome these two critical challenges. The focuses of my research work are placed on the fabrication of SiC nanowires on SiO2 insulators and stretchable SiC microstructures integrated onto polymeric substrates with a high level of structural perfection. Towards these goals, I have successfully fabricated Si NWs on insulator by using a combination of electron beam lithography and thermal wet oxidation techniques. The temperature sensing devices based on SiC NWs exhibit a high TCR compared to their bulk counterparts. On the other hand, I successfully established an effective protocol to transfer rigid SiC microstructures onto polymeric substrates and subsequently, enhanced their stretchability by taking advantages of structural design approaches.

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Thesis (PhD Doctorate)

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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School of Environment and Sc

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The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.

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Subject

silicon carbide

MEMS processes

SiC

SiC NWs

poor sensitivity

surface-to-volume ratios

insulator

rigid

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