SILICON DIAMONDOID NANOCLUSTERS: PRECISION SYNTHESIS AND QUANTUM TRANSPORT PROPERTIES
Abstract
This proposal describes the chemical synthesis and electronic study of a new class of materials termed “silicon diamondoids” that are atomically precise nanoclusters of the silicon semiconductor. The miniaturization of silicon electronics has driven the major social and technological advances of our modern era. Current approaches for making silicon electronics relies on top-down approaches that start from a large silicon ingot that is shaved down to nanoscale dimensions using lithography. Electronics scaling and miniaturization is approaching a fundamental physical limit due to this top-down manufacturing approach. This proposal seeks to instead develop silicon electronics from the bottom-up, where molecular silanes are stitched together into silicon nanoelectronics using rational inorganic chemical synthesis. We will explore the synthesis and functionalization of silicon diamondoids while also interrogating their charge transport properties in single-molecule conductive junctions. Our first aim seeks to develop chemical methods to functionalize silicon diamondoids with diverse chemical groups that will tune their physical properties or enable their use in electronic devices. Our second aim explores how to make larger silicon diamondoids than what is currently known. Our third and final aim develops physical techniques for wiring single sila-diamondoid nanoclusters between gold electrodes to measure their quantum electronic transport properties. This will enable us to understand how electricity flows through crystalline silicon at its most basic unit-cell level, which is presently unknown despite being such a fundamental process in electronics and energy. Our synthetic approach may provide access to atomically precise Si nanocrystals where we can finely control Si nanocrystal properties by tailoring molecular structure, thus enabling wide-reaching advances in applications where Si nanocrystals are employed. The proposed work is synergistic with Air Force research interests and may lead to advancements in nanoelectronics, quantum information science, high-temperature carbon fibers for hypersonic applications, and doped SiC semiconductors for power electronics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 20, 2023
- Source ID
- FA95502210404
Entities
People
- Timothy A Su
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of California Regents