Dielectrophoretic addressable deposition of arc-SWCNTs for high-throughput screening FET arrays

Abstract

For fabrication of arc-discharged single walled carbon nanotubes (arc-SWCNTs) based FET array, controllable deposition of SWNTs is an important issue. In this study highly purified arc-SWCNTs are deposited on the high-throughput screening FET array via the addressable dielectrophoresis method. The electrodes array are designed with different electrode gaps, from 3 to 20 µm, every electrode has its own address. In order to limit the SWCNTs to be deposited within the electrodes area, we designed a deposition window on the silicon chip surface by the optical lithography. Then the diluted SWCNTs solution was dropped onto the limited window. By setting a voltage (10 V, 100 kHz) between a specific source electrode and the shared drain electrode, the SWCNTs can be aligned evenly within the pair of electrodes via the dielectrophoresis process. This method might facilitate the controllable fabrication of high throughput screening SWCNTs-FET arrays for biosensors.