Using miniature tools and an uncommon amount of comradeship, two BYU researchers have developed a way to inscribe chemical patterns onto silicon surfaces that could assist several fields of science in the future.
Matthew Linford, assistant professor of chemistry, and Robert Davis, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, published a paper on their new nanoscale technique in the Feb. 3 issue of "Applied Physics Letters."
Although Linford and Davis' nanoscale technique has the potential to affect tissue engineering, semi-conductor production and light-emitting diodes, they are careful not to over-emphasize their work.
"It is at the fairly basic level," Davis said. "It is not ready to make any of those technologies available in the short term (future). It is one more tool that scientists can use to study how to assemble devices that may lead to these things."
Linford said he views their research not as a revolution, but as one more step in the evolutionary process of scientific discovery.
Should future fields of research head in the same direction. Linford and Davis are both optimistic their technique will be beneficial.
"This is a powerful tool," Linford said. "I'm not sure I know of any other way that you can make such fine chemical patterns on a surface. This has many advantages over anything out there."
Linford and Davis said their nanoscale process could be compared to a piece of clay rolled out flat and smooth. A person with a stick in hand could then etch any shape, pattern or picture on the clay.
In actuality, the stick that carves the image is really a needle-like instrument on an Atomic Force Microscope that scribes a pattern on a silicon surface.
When the Atomic Force Microscope needle is submerged in a special chemical liquid it chemically activates the silicon surface and binds the scribed molecular pattern to the surface, creating a single stable layer of molecules.
"In tissue engineering, techniques that allow us to chemically pattern surfaces could be valuable because chemically patterned surfaces in complex ways can aid in the attachment of cells to those services," Davis said.
The needle-like tools used in the process are microns in length. One micron is 10-6 meters.
Moreover, the etched patterns are only nanometers in length and height. One nanometer is 10-9 meters.
Melinda Tonks and Katie Barnett, two physics students working with the AFM, helped put those miniscule sizes into perspective. They said that a piece of hair is roughly 50 to 100 microns thick. A nanometer, on the other hand, is roughly 10 atoms long.
Linford and Davis were quick to point out the help they received from students and graduate students to finish the project.
Brent Wacaser, who could not be reached because he is out of the country working on his Ph. D, contributed to the research and analysis that made the paper possible.
"With their combined knowledge and ideas they are able to do more together than either one could do without the help of the other," said Francis Nordmeyer, chair of the chemistry department.
Linford and Davis met at a BYU department conference two and a half years ago.
"We started to talk, and we've been talking ever since," Linford said. "I see the world as a chemist, and Rob sees it as a physicist, and there is enough overlap in our backgrounds that we can easily communicate and bring a tremendous amount to the table."
Linford and Davis will be submitting another paper for publication this week.
Copyright Brigham Young University 10 Feb 2003
