Patent Application: US-29730399-A

Abstract:
a hybrid organic - inorganic semiconductor device is provided as a sensor for chemicals and light , said device being composed of : at least one layer of a conducting semiconductor such as doped n - gaas or n - as ; at least one insulating layer such as of an undoped semiconductor ; e . g . gaas or as ; a thin layer of multifunctional organic sensing molecules directly chemisorbed on one of its surfaces , said multifunctional organic sensing molecules having at least one functional group that binds to said surface and at least one another functional group that serves as a sensor ; and two conducting pads on the top layer making electrical contact with the electrically conducting layer , so that the electrical current can flow between them at a finite distance from the surface of the device . the surface - binding functional group of the multifunctional organic sensing molecule may be one or more aliphatic or aromatic carboxyl , thiol , sulfide , hydroxamic acid or trichlorosilane groups . the functional group that serves as a sensor may be a group suitable for binding and detection of metal ions such as cu 2 + , fe 2 + and ru 2 + such as radicals derived from hydroxamic acids , bipyridyl , imidazol and hydroxyquinoline , or a group that is an efficient light absorber at a given wavelength and is suitable for detection of light such as radicals derived from aliphatic or aromatic hydroxamates , substituted aromatic groups such as cyanobenzoyl and methoxybenzoyl , bipyridyl , hydroxyquinoline , or imidazolyl groups to which a metal porphyrin or a metal phtalocyanin residue is attached .

Description:
the present invention will be more fully appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings . reference is now made to fig1 which depicts schematically a sensor device according to the invention in which a undoped , insulating or semi - insulating layer 1 serves as the base for the device , a thin semiconductor layer 2 on top of the base layer is the conductive layer , ohmic contacts 3 are used as the two current contacts for the device , and on top of the conductive layer 2 a thin film of the multifunctional organic molecules 4 is adsorbed . according to the invention , the multifunctional organic molecule may be adsorbed on a conducting semiconductor surface or on an insulating surface of a dielectric material . the conducting semiconductor surface contains a semiconductor selected from a iii - v and a ii - vi material , or mixtures thereof , wherein iii , v , ii and vi denote the periodic table elements iii = ga , in ; v = as , p ; ii = cd , zn ; vi = s , se , te , and is preferably n - gaas or n -( al , ga ) as , doped for example with si . the dielectric material onto which the multifunctional organic molecule may be adsorbed may be silicon oxide , silicon nitride , or an undoped semiconductor selected from a iii - v and a ii - vi material , or mixtures thereof , wherein iii , v , ii and vi denote the periodic table elements iii = ga , in ; v = as , p ; ii = cd , zn ; vi = s , se , te , and is preferably undoped gaas . in one embodiment , a device according to the invention as shown in fig1 may comprise a conducting layer 2 of 4 - 30 nm of a suitable semiconductor material , needed for current flow , such as n - gaas or n -( al , ga ) as . localization of the current flow in a thin slab , parallel to the surface to be exposed to the molecules , is desirable , for high sensitivity . this is achieved by having an insulating ( near ) surface layer , provided by depletion of the electronic carriers due to the surface potential , and by making the conducting layer 2 very thin . a mechanical support is needed for such a very thin layer and is best provided by an insulating undoped semiconductor substrate 1 , preferably undoped gaas . the two electrical contacts are provided , for example , by two augeni electrodes . in another embodiment , an extra thin insulating layer ( 3 - 10 nm ), preferably made of a material with the same or a lower bandgap than the material used for the conducting layer 2 , is added on top of the conducting layer 2 of thickness between 10 - 200 nm , so that the multifunctional organic molecules adsorb onto said extra layer . in this case current flow will be localized in a region between the electrodes and just inside the conducting layer , near its interface with the extra insulating film . in this case the electrical contacts are deposited on the extra insulating layer and treated in such a way to assure that electrical contact is made with the conducting layer , which is under the insulating layer . according to a further embodiment , another insulating layer may be added on top of the insulating layer 1 , which is of sufficient thickness for mechanical support , prepared by any of the well - established crystal growth techniques , and another thin film of material ( 5 nm ) is grown as an epitaxial layer of high structural perfection on the first , thicker one , and which can be with the same or preferably with higher bandgap . fig2 a and 2b shows examples of these two embodiments . fig2 a shows a device based on the design of high electron mobility transistors ( hemt ), and fig2 b shows a simpler device based on the design of field effect transistors ( fet ). the distance and area between the source and the drain are 2 - 4 μm and 6 μm 2 , respectively . in both structures , the gate has been replaced by adsorbed multifunctional organic molecules . in the structure of fig2 b , the electron density is localized in one dimension , but the electrons have lower mobility than in fig2 a because they are located in the doped layer rather than in the less defective undoped one , as is the case with the iemt - like device of fig2 a . reference is now made to fig2 a , a device structure according to the invention , in which an extra semi - insulating undoped gaas layer is on top of a semi - insulating gaas substrate , the idea being that the extra semi - insulating layer can be made to be of higher quality and thus with fewer defects than the bulk substrate . onto said extra undoped gaas layer a thin layer ( 15 nm ) of conducting n -( al , ga ) as is deposited , two further thin layers of undoped ( al , ga ) as ( 10 nm ) and undoped gaas ( 5 nm ) are deposited on top of the conducting layer , and a thin film 4 of a multifunctional organic molecule is adsorbed on the undoped gaas surface . this structure serves to create what is called a 2 - dimensional electron gas (“ 2 - deg ”) just outside the conducting layer . two augeni electrodes serve as contacts for current flow . the minimum size of the area between the contacts , wherein the multifunctional organic molecules are bound and where the sensing action takes place , depends on the sensitivity of the measurement system and on fabrication limitations . typically the area will be ≧ 0 . 2 μm 2 , with a minimal distance between electrodes of some 100 nm . reference is now made to fig2 b , which illustrates a fet - like device structure according to the invention in which an extra ( al , ga ) as semi - insulating layer ( 150 nm ) is on top of a gaas semi - insulating substrate , a thin layer ( 50 nm ) of conducting semiconductor n - gaas is on top of the semi - insulating ( al , ga ) as layer , a protective upper thin layer of undoped gaas ( 5 nm ) covers the conducting semiconductor n - gaas layer , and a thin film 4 of a multifunctional organic molecule is adsorbed on the undoped gaas surface . two augeni electrodes serve as electrical contacts . the distance and area between the contacts are at least 0 . 1 μm and 0 . 2 μm 2 , respectively . in all these configurations , an added function of the outermost layer onto which the molecules adsorb , can be to give improved protection against the environment in a preferred embodiment , in a hybrid sensor device according to the invention the electrical current flows preferably at a a distance of no less than 10 nm and not more than 1000 nm from its surface . in one embodiment , the sensor device changes its conductivity when it is exposed to specific chemicals . in another embodiment , it changes its current as a response to a pulse of light of given wavelength . for example , with porphyrin radicals , the decay time : of the current , following the light pulse , serves for sensing radicals such as cu 2 + , cn − , n 3 − , ncs − and nco − , and small molecules such as co , no and h 2 o 2 . by means of suitable functional groups other toxic radicals as well as organic and inorganic molecules , including drugs and explosives , can be sensed from a gas phase or from a suitable liquid . the detection is possible by changes induced by the interaction between the molecules bound to the device &# 39 ; s surface and the species to be detected . such changes should affect the surface potential of the area onto which the molecules are adsorbed . this can be due to changes in dipole moment ( permanent or induced ), changes in charge distribution ( in ground or excited state ), changes in surface recombination or any combination of these . according to a further preferred embodiment of the invention , suitable insulating encapsulation for all of the device &# 39 ; s exterior except for the area between the electrodes onto which the sensing molecules are bound , can be provided . reference is now made to fig3 a - 3d which illustrate experiments carried out with devices according to fig2 a and 2b wherein a thin film of the molecules dcdc , dcds or dmds is adsorbed on the upper surface of the device . in both cases , the conducting n -( al , ga ) as and n - gaas layers of the devices of fig2 a and 2b were doped by si . the n -( al , ga ) as layer of fig2 a was doped by si to the concentration of 1 . 2 × 10 18 cm − 3 . the n - gaas layer of fet - like devices of fig2 b was doped with two different dopant concentrations , namely 5 . 0 × 10 17 cm − 3 for the low - doped fet - like device and 6 . 5 × 10 17 cm − 3 for the higher conductivity fet - like device , this difference in doping resulting in about three orders of magnitude change in their charge carrier concentrations . simulations based on the poisson equation indicate that in these two possible structures of fig2 b , the maximum electron density is concentrated at a distance of about 30 to 50 nm from the exposed undoped gaas upper surface . in both devices of fig2 a and 2b , the gate has been replaced by adsorbed multifunctional organic molecules that possess two elements : ( i ) a surface binding element , namely carboxylic acids or cyclic disulfide groups , and ( ii ) a light - absorbing element of distinct electron affinity . two families of molecules were synthesized . the first family is derived from tartaric acid which was di - esterified by p - cyanobenzoic acid to provide the corresponding dicarboxylic acid 2 , 3 - di ( p - cyanobenzoyl ) tartaric acid ( dcdc ). the second family is based on 1 , 2 - dithiane - 4 , 5 - diol which was diesterified by either p - cyanobenzoic acid or p - methoxy - benzoic acid to yield the corresponding disulfides 4 , 5 - dip - cyanobenzoyloxy )- 1 , 2 - dithiane ( dcds ) and 4 , 5 - di ( p - methoxybenzoyloxy )- 1 , 2 - dithiane ( dmds ), respectively . the layers of said organic molecules were adsorbed by immersing the devices in a 1 mm solution of the molecules in dry acetonitrile , for periods ranging from 14 hours for dcdc , and up to 72 hours for dcds and dmds . ft - ir isotherms showed that under these conditions about one layer of the organic molecules is adsorbed . the current - voltage ( i / v ) characteristics in the ambient between the source and drain with , and without , the adsorbed organic layers , was measured in a hemt - like device of fig2 a ( fig3 a - 3c ) and in the low - doped fet - like device of fig2 b ( fig3 d ). in addition , the photocurrent relaxation time was monitored following illumination by a 7 ns pulse - long , tunable ( nd : yag ) pumped dye laser with various wavelength mixing schemes . a constant source - drain voltage of 1 . 0 v was applied and the current change , following the laser pulse , was monitored . in control experiments devices with a gate , biased negatively with respect to the drain , were examined . the results are shown in fig3 a - d . the effects induced by the molecules dcds ( fig3 a ), dmds ( fig3 b ) and dcdc ( fig3 c ) were found to depend on the doping level of the gaas . for both the hemt - like and the fet - like structures with the higher electron concentrations , the molecules affected the current by about 10 - 20 %, depending on the adsorbed molecules . for the lower doped fet - like structure ( fig3 d ), the effect of the dcdc molecules was very dramatic and the current was reduced by an order of magnitude . the reduction in current was more significant for the dicarboxylic acid derivatives than for the disulfide derivatives . the molecule - induced change in the surface potential could be estimated by comparing the results shown in fig3 with those obtained with a negative bias on the gate of a fet transistor . applying a bias of 50 - 100 mv , the reduction in the current between the source and the drain was similar to that obtained upon adsorption of dcdc on the device . however , the effect of the molecules on other electronic properties of the structure cannot be explained simply by the change in surface potential . reference is now made to fig4 a - 4b . the results are presented as solid and dashed lines for molecules 1 , 2 - dithiane - 4 , 5 - di ( hydroxyquinoline ) cu + complex and 1 , 2 - dithiane - 4 , 5 - di ( hydroxyquinoline ), respectively . while the first molecule has resonance absorption at 237 nm , the second molecule absorbs more strongly at 266 nm . as seen in the figures , when the light pulse coincides with the absorption of the adsorbed molecules , the relaxation time becomes shorter as compared to the case of non - resonant absorption . the time response of the device upon illumination changes drastically when the wavelength of the pulsed illuminating light coincides with the absorption of the adsorbed organic molecules that are adsorbed on its surface . this different time response can serve for detecting specific ions / molecules . in the example in fig4 exposing the device cu + solution results in changing the time response of the device at the probed wavelengths . light - induced , time - dependent studies were carried out for the hemt - like device of fig2 a . without the dcdc molecules , photocurrent was measured upon exposure , as shown in the insert in fig5 . upon excitation at a wavelength that corresponds to energy exceeding the band gap ( 1 . 4 ev ), only a short component of about 20 nsec is observed . this photocurrent results from electron - hole excitation and its relaxation time is consistent with previous photoluminescence measurements ( lunt et al ., 1991 ). the decay of the photocurrent changed drastically when the dcdc molecules were adsorbed , as shown in fig5 a - 5d for a device coated with dcdc and exposed to a laser pulse at various wavelenghts . the decay can be expressed by two additional exponents , t 1 and t 2 . table 1 summarizes the results presented in fig5 and gives the absorption coefficient of the adsorbed molecule at each wavelength . both ti and t 2 become shorter the better the excitation wavelength matches the absorption band of the adsorbed molecules . similar results are obtained with the fet - like device , but with slower decays . thus , the above described studies of the interactions between adsorbed organic molecules and the electronic charge carriers in specially made gaas structures by time and wavelength dependent measurements of the photocurrent , show that adsorption of the molecules modifies the photocurrent decay time by orders of magnitude . the effects are molecularly specific , as they depend on the electronic properties and on the absorption spectrum of the molecules . the understanding of the electronic interaction between a molecule adsorbed on a semiconductor substrate and the charge carriers in the substrate is a key to achieve suitable combination of predetermined molecular properties with those of solid state electronic devices . according to the present invention , it is shown how one can use structures that are ultra - sensitive to this interaction , how this interaction can be probed by a new method based on time and wavelength dependent studies of the photocurrent , and how the results of such measurements can be used to understand this interaction . the sensor device of the present invention has several advantages over existing sensors :( i ) high sensitivity . the sensitivity of the device does not depend linearly on its surface area , and is defined by the ratio between the number of free charge carriers before the sensor is exposed to light or a chemical to that after it is exposed ; ( ii ) high versatility . due to the ability to use the same solid state structure with different adsorbed multifunctional organic molecules , the same design principle of the sensor can be used for a variety of applications . the versatility depends only on the ability to synthesize organic molecules with the right specificity and to bind them to the semiconductor surface ; ( iii ) small dimension . due to the microelectronics methods used for production of the semiconductor surface and because the sensitivity does not depend linearly on the surface area , very small sensors can be built . according to the present invention , in contrary to what could be expected by simple extrapolation of existing knowledge and experience , it is shown that it is possible to combine all the four criteria required for good quality of sensors , namely sensitivity , selectivity , robustness , and versatility , in an organic - semiconductor hybrid sensor device which does not have a gate and does not require the junction - type configuration . the sensor device of the invention has the surprising novel feature that its sensitivity depends supra - linearly on its area . it can be constructed so that small area devices have the same sensitivity as large area ones . it is versatile due to the ability to use tailor - made organic molecules and its robustness stems from the fact that the sensing part of the device , namely the organic molecules , affect the electron flow at a distance away from them , i . e . the sensing element does not pass any current . thus , the sensor device of the invention can , due to its special design , high sensitivity and selectivity and small dimensions , serve as a sensor for a large variety of chemicals and as a light detector with wavelength specific sensitivity . 1 . besser , r . s . and c . r . helms , 1988 , appl . phys . lett ., 52 , 1707 . 2 . bruening , m ., e . moons , d . cahen , j . libman , and a . shanzer , 1994 , j . amer . chem . soc . 116 , 2972 . 3 . bruening , m ., e . moons , d . cahen , and a . shanzer , 1995 , j . phys . chem . 99 , 8368 4 . lisensky , g . c ., r . l . penn , c . j . murphy , and a . b . ellis , 1990 , science , 248 , 840 . 5 . lunt , s . r ., g . n . ryba , p . g . santangelo , and n . s . lewis , 1991 , j . appl . phys . 70 , 7449 . 6 . mandelis , a . and c . christofides , 1993 , “ physics , chemistry , and technology of solid state gas sensors devices ”, vol . 125 in “ chemical analysis ”, ed . j . d . winefordner , john wiley & amp ; sins , inc ., ny . 7 . oh , y . t . et al ., 1994 , j . appl . phys . 76 , 1959 . 9 . rickert , j ., t . weiss , and w . gopel , 1996 , sensors and actuators b - 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