Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 24: Trends in Ion Beam Technology: From the Fundamentals to the Application

DS 24.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 09:30–10:00, H 2013

Nanostructures produced with energetic heavy ion projectiles — •Christina Trautmann — Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstr. 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany

Heavy ions of kinetic energies in the MeV to GeV range offer unique possibilities of modifying materials properties and producing micro and nanostructures. Each projectile creates a cylindrical track with a few nanometers in diameter, consisting of physically and chemically modified material. The small track size in combination with the large ion range (up to 100 μm and more) allows us to overcome limits of planar structuring techniques.

To date, most ion-track applications are based on chemical etching, which dissolves the track material preferentially and creates fine channels of a few nanometers up to several micrometers in diameter. The superior properties of ion track membranes are related to the well-defined number and uniformity of diameter, length, and shape of the pores. Various examples will be presented such as perforated micromoulds, microfluidic systems with integrated nanoporous filter zones, and templates for the growth of nanowires. Polymer foils containing one single conical nanopore are suitable for biosensor applications and exhibit interesting ion-transport properties. Governed by the properties of the internal surface, synthetic nanopores function as a voltage gate, rectify ion currents, and show voltage-dependent fluctuations with kinetics similar to voltage-gated biological ion channels.