Patent Application: US-24565205-A

Abstract:
a nanoscale oscillation device is disclosed , wherein two nanoscale droplets are altered in size by mass transport , then contact each other and merge through surface tension . the device may also comprise a channel having an actuator responsive to mechanical oscillation caused by expansion and contraction of the droplets . it further has a structure for delivering atoms between droplets , wherein the droplets are nanoparticles . provided are a first particle and a second particle on the channel member , both being made of a chargeable material , the second particle contacting the actuator portion ; and electrodes connected to the channel member for delivering a potential gradient across the channel and traversing the first and second particles . the particles are spaced apart a specified distance so that atoms from one particle are delivered to the other particle by mass transport in response to the potential and the first and second particles are liquid and touch at a predetermined point of growth , thereby causing merging of the second particle into the first particle by surface tension forces and reverse movement of the actuator . in a preferred embodiment , the channel comprises a carbon nanotube and the droplets comprise metal nanoparticles , e . g . indium , which is readily made liquid .

Description:
the term “ channel ” is used herein in its most general sense . it is intended to cover nanotubes ( single or multiwalled , made of various materials such as carbon or boron nitride ), nanorods , nanowires , quasi - one dimensional paths on two - dimensional surfaces that are defined by chemical or physical means ( i . e . by treating the surface to create a barrier to unconstrained two - dimensional surface diffusion ), and the like . a silicon wafer may be etched with a fine groove to provide the present channel . the channel is essentially atomically smooth , as that term is understood in the field of material science . as used herein , and generally understood in the art , “ atomically smooth ” means lacking in contaminants , imperfections or other barriers , cavities or defects that disrupt an ordered atomic structure that would provide an extremely smooth surface . a discussion of atomic smoothness is found in koch et al ., “ modelling of hrem and nanodiffraction for dislocation kinks and core reconstruction ,” j . phys . : condens . matter 12 : 10175 - 10183 ( 2000 ). the term “ atomically smooth ” refers , in the context of the present device , to the ability of a channel in a device according to the present invention to transport atoms along the channel , without the atoms ( or clusters of atoms ) being lost , diverted , or stuck on the channel . the term “ chargeable ” means that a material exhibits physical motion in response to an applied gradient . e . g . voltage . a “ chargeable ” atom may be ferromagnetic , metallic , or a solution or suspension containing a biological molecule capable of exhibiting charged behavior ( e . g . migration though an electrophoretic gel ). the property of being “ chargeable ” is exemplified by metals such as indium , thallium gallium , tin , titanium , lead , mercury , gold , silver , aluminum , platinum or copper , or alloys containing these metals . biological molecules such as dna , organic molecules , polymers , amino acids , peptides , carbohydrates and proteins also exemplify this property , as evidenced by their migration in gel electrophoresis . the term “ ferromagnetic ,” referred to above , means noting or pertaining to a substance , as iron , that below a certain temperature , the curie point , can possess magnetization in the absence of an external magnetic field ; noting or pertaining to a substance in which the magnetic moments of the atoms are aligned . the term “ atoms ” is used in its most general sense to refer to atoms , molecules , or clusters ( preferably less than 10 atoms ) or molecules . “ atoms ” to be transported are supplied by a “ source ” particle , which may contain many millions of “ atoms ”. the source particles (“ droplets ”) of atoms in the present invention are preferably , at their largest growth , between 1 and 1 , 000 , 000 nm in diameter , preferably between 5 and 100 nm in diameter . the term “ mass transport ” means that atoms are moved at a very small scale , mostly individually ( as in surface diffusion ), rather than in group ( as in a droplet or stream that moves according to the laws of hydrodynamic flow ). because of chargeable properties of certain atoms used , the mass transport moves atoms along the channel away from the electrode and towards the counter electrode according to the combination of the channel temperature and the applied electric field . sufficiently high temperature is required to make the atoms mobile , and the electric field ( generated by the applied voltage ) is required to direct the motion of the atoms one way or the other along the channel . the term “ electrical source ” means a voltage source , a current source or a combination of the two . that is , an ideal current source will provide the specified current into any load . an ideal voltage source will provide the specified voltage across any load . however , current sources fail ( i . e . become non - ideal ) when the resistance of the load gets too high ( device can not generate sufficient voltage ). voltage sources fail when the resistance of the load gets too low ( device can not supply sufficient current ). of course , a real current source provides voltage , and a real voltage source provides current , thus being a combination voltage / current source . but the distinctions make above are relevant and may be reflected in the design of the corresponding devices . therefore , as described below , mass transport may be accomplished by a voltage source , a current source , or both . the preferred channel is a multiwalled carbon nanotube ( mwnt ). these nanotubes have a near perfect carbon tubule structure that resembles a sheet of sp 2 bonded carbon atoms rolled into a seamless tube . they are generally produced by one of three techniques , namely electric arc discharge , laser ablation and chemical vapor deposition . the arc discharge technique involves the generation of an electric arc between two graphite electrodes , one of which is usually filled with a catalyst metal powder ( e . g . iron , nickel , cobalt ), in a helium atmosphere . the laser ablation method uses a laser to evaporate a graphite target which is usually filled with a catalyst metal powder too . the arc discharge and laser ablation techniques tend to produce an ensemble of carbonaceous material which contains nanotubes ( 30 - 70 %), amorphous carbon and carbon particles ( usually closed - caged ones ). the nanotubes must then be extracted by some form of purification process before being manipulated into place for specific applications . the chemical vapor deposition process utilizes nanoparticles of metal catalyst to react with a hydrocarbon gas at temperatures of 500 - 900 ° c . a variant of this is plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition in which vertically aligned carbon nanotubes can easily be grown . in these chemical vapor deposition processes , the catalyst decomposes the hydrocarbon gas to produce carbon and hydrogen . the carbon dissolves into the particle and precipitates out from its circumference as the carbon nanotube . thus , the catalyst acts as a ‘ template ’ from which the carbon nanotube is formed , and by controlling the catalyst size and reaction time , one can easily tailor the nanotube diameter and length respectively to suit . carbon tubes , in contrast to a solid carbon filament , will tend to form when the catalyst particle is ˜ 50 nm or less because if a filament of graphitic sheets were to form , it would contain an enormous percentage of ‘ edge ’ atoms in the structure . other forms of nanotube may be used , so long as they have uniform mechanical properties and are chemically inert to the atoms that are to be transported . for example , bc2n or bn nanotubes , as described in zettl , “ non - carbon nanotubes ,” adv . mat . 8 ( 5 ): 443 - 445 ( 1996 ). nanotubes in the general sense of a channel may be formed intrinsically within a substrate by known techniques to cause an atomic ordering of atoms ( e . g . carbon , silicon , boron ) within the substrate to define a graphite - like ordered structures regularly covalently bonded as in the mwnt sp 2 structure . other forms of channel may be employed . an etched , appropriately doped silicon chip can be used to hold two droplets of unequal size with an etched , conductive groove between them . it is important that the channel be atomically smooth , as described above . fig1 schematically depicts a relaxation oscillator mechanism according to the present invention . two metal particles (“ droplets ”) are located adjacent to one another on a carbon nanotube substrate . the particles are indicated throughout the various figures by roman numerals i and ii . the particles must be of different sizes , and should be below 1 μm . they may be as large as 1 mm and still function as described with the presently employed surface tension / electronic effects without larger order forces such as gravity and friction interfering . the particles are attached to a multi - walled nanotube ( mwnt ) 10 . driving electrical current through the substrate is accomplished by a dc voltage source 16 , connected to opposite ends of the mwnt 10 by electrodes 18 and 20 . this charge and resultant current initiates an atomic mass transport process along the nanotube , indicated by arrow 22 . this causes movement of atoms of metal from the droplet at site i to the one at site ii . the changes in sizes of the droplets are indicated by different diameters . droplet i begin at diameter 12 , gradually shrinking to diameter 13 , then diameter 14 . contrariwise , particle ii begins at a small diameter 12 a , then gradually expands . it expands proportionately faster than droplet at i shrinks , so when droplet i is at diameter 14 , droplet ii has grown to a size where the surface of droplet i touches the surface of droplet ii . when droplet ii becomes large enough to touch the shrinking , but still larger , droplet i , the reciprocal growth / shrinkage of the two droplets is no longer driven by mass transport . at the point of contact between the droplets , the fast phase of the relaxation oscillator cycle begins . growing the smaller droplet ii at the larger droplet i &# 39 ; s expense is unfavorable from a surface energy standpoint ( 17 ). thus , when a hydrodynamic channel is created by the physical contact of the two droplets , the oscillator transitions from the metastable state . droplet i consumes its offspring , and the process begins anew . the key advantage of using the process reported in ( 16 ) is that the recovery transport is atomic , not hydrodynamic . by moving atoms individually , via directed surface diffusion , the collective surface energy can be accumulated piecemeal , then rapidly released during the relaxation phase . changes in size of the larger droplet i may be transmitted to an actuator 15 that may be associated with the droplet . the actuator 15 may be attached to either or both droplets , but prefereablyis associated with droplet i . it may be a support used to effectuate locomotion ; a ratchet attached to a gear ; a mechanical or an optical switch . the actuator may be another nanotube or a hinged member of a substrate . the expanding / contracting droplet may also be used to modulate the frequency of electromagnetic radiation incident on the droplet . in this case , the “ actuator ” may be regarded as a beam of radiation , e . g . light or an rf signal , that is reflected from the expanding / contracting droplet . the present oscillations may be accelerated to high frequencies by placement and sizing of the droplets . the frequencies that can be extracted from the oscillations of the present device may be as high as 10 terahertz . by oscillating the size of the larger droplet , a doppler shift in the reflected light may be plus or minus up to one gigahertz as a result of movement of the droplet towards or away from the incident radiation . thus the present oscillator may be used as a frequency shifter in an rf circuit . the actuator may be a nanoscale structure , electromagnetic radiation , or sound waves . the nanoscale structure may be hinged silicon , a nanotube , a nanowire , an insulating material , a semiconductor material , a metal material , a silicon material , a silicon nitride material or a gallium arsenide material . thus the movement shown by arrow / actuator 15 may be transmitted to a physical structure , which will move in response to the oscillating growth and shrinkage of the particle labeled “ droplet i ”, changing diameter as shown in fig1 through diameters 12 , 13 and 14 . also , by oscillating the size of a metal droplet , a nanolens may be created , as described in li et al . “ self - similar chain of metal nanospheres as an efficient nanolens ,” phys . rev . lett . 91 ( 22 ): 227402 - 1 - 227402 - 4 ( november 2003 ). another embodiment involves the use of the present device as a timing device . for example , particle size oscillations can be used to maintain the frequency of a clock signal . mwnts were synthesized by the standard arc technique as described in ebbesen et al . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 641 , 466 issued jun . 24 , 1997 , hereby incorporated by reference to describe a method for large - scale synthesis of carbon nanotubes . in an inert gas at a pressure of 200 - 2500 torr , an arc discharge is made between two carbon rod electrodes by application of a suitable ac or dc voltage ( e . g . about 18 v ) to thereby produce a carbon plasma . the electric current is about 50 - 100 a . as the result a carbon deposit forms on the end of one of the two carbon rods , and a core part of the carbon deposit contains a large amount of carbon nanotubes . this core part can easily be separated from a shell part in which no carbon nanotubes exist . usually carbon nanotubes occupy more than 65 wt % of the core part of the deposit , and the nanotubes coexist with some ( less than 35 wt %) carbon nanoparticles which are nanometer - scale carbon particles with polyhedral cage structures . sometimes a small amount of amorphous carbon also coexists . the nanotube - containing boule was next decorated with indium particles . the sample was lowered into a standard thermal evaporation device comprising a heated chamber that is placed under vacuum . the sample was suspended above a molybdenum “ boat ” containing indium . the vaporized indium condensed on nanotubes in the sample . after the nanotube - containing sample was mounted in a thermal evaporator , the evaporation chamber was evacuated to a pressure of 2 microtorr or less . indium metal of better than 99 % purity was then thermally evaporated onto the sample . the amount of indium metal evaporated corresponded to a uniform thickness of 25 nm , as determined by an in situ crystal thickness monitor . however , because of the wetting properties of indium on mwnts , the morphology of the indium film was that of discrete particles rather than a layer with continuous coverage . the relaxation oscillator was constructed and operated inside a high - resolution transmission electron microscope ( tem ), specifically a jeol fastem 2010 obtainable from jeol usa , peabody , mass ., with a custom - built nanomanipulation stage ( described below ). raw materials for the oscillator were first prepared ex - situ by decorating arc - grown mwnts with indium nanoparticles via thermal evaporation . the decorated mwnts were then mounted on the nanomanipulation stage and inserted into the tem , where the oscillator configuration of fig1 is created in situ . using the nanomanipulator , an electrical connection was made to a nanotube having two indium particles on it , as shown in the tem images in fig3 . it would also be possible to place a mwnt in contact with one droplet so as to be moved by the mass transport and surface - tension size changes of a droplet . by applying a voltage across the mwnt channel with external electronics , an electrical current is established through the channels and the junction . the coated sample was then attached to a thin wire and fixed to the sample side of the tem stage . the sample is shown in an expanded view in insert 44 . the sample is shown attached to pt / ir wire 42 ( platinum 90 % iridium 10 % wire , 12 mil . diameter ) through a small drop of silver paint 40 . as can be seen in the expanded view , the first nanotube is adjacent to a second nanotube as described in connection with fig1 , with a metal droplet 18 adjacent a second droplet , both sitting on a nanotube channel , with the droplet 18 contacting an actuator , such as another nanotube , to be moved by the oscillation . the tem 32 used to assemble and observe the device emits ˜ 200 kev electrons as shown at 36 . the wire 42 holding the sample is in turn attached to a standard sample holder in the stage area 34 . a nanomanipulator 38 also was extended into the stage area 34 for assembly . the nanomanipulator 38 is capable of nanoscale movements by virtue of electronically controlled piezoelectric crystals that deliver small vibrations to a moveable tip ( shaded in fig3 ). the nanomanipulator was obtained from nanofactory instruments ab , walleriusgatan 2 , se 412 58 göteborg , sweden . the tip can be manipulated forwards , backwards , up or down in tiny increments . it is viewed through the tem 32 and positioned so that a freshly etched , fine tungsten tip is in contact with a selected nanotube that has an appropriate arrangement of metal particles and adjacent nanotube . the tip and the sample are connected to a controllable voltage source 48 . the manipulations can be recorded on a ccd camera 50 that records the tem images . fig3 is a time series of four tem images showing relaxation oscillator operation . the larger droplet maintains a radius of approximately 90 - 91 nm during oscillation , while the smaller droplet ii grows to a radius of about 30 nm before contacting the larger droplet i and then shrinking to essentially zero . an applied voltage of 1 . 3 v drives 40 μa from bottom to top through the nanotube substrate . as many as four indium droplets are visible , depending on the frame . the other droplets are not noticeably affected because they are in a colder region of the nanotube substrate . in these images mass is leaving droplet i , causing it to shrink , while the next droplet ii grows . between frames 3 and 4 droplets i and ii touch and the oscillator relaxes . while the gradual transport takes place over many seconds as dictated by the control voltage , the reset to the initial condition occurs rapidly compared to the video acquisition rate of 30 frames per second . the operation of the present device is further illustrated in fig4 . the top panel , fig4 a , shows voltage as a function of time being held first briefly at + 1 . 5 v , then at + 1 . 4 v ( the positive terminal is at the top of fig2 ), then at + 1 . 3v . in fig4 b , tracings of the mass of the particles as a function of time are shown . particle i ( top tracing ) is scaled by − 21 fg . that is , when the mass is shown on the graph as 21 fg , the mass of the particle in fact was 22 fg ( as calculated ). particle ii alternates between ˜ 0 and 0 . 7 fg , while particle i alternates between about 22 fg and 22 . 7 fg , proportionately gaining mass while particle i loses mass , and vice versa . the cycle time varies with applied voltage . at 1 . 5v , the cycles are approximately 1 . 2 second ; at 1 . 4 v , approximately 6 sec . ; and at 1 . 3 v , approximately 30 sec . the masses in fig4 have been calculated from the cross - sectional areas as determined by an automated image processing routine , assuming that the droplets are spheres ( mass =( 7 g / cm3 )( 4π / 3 )( area / π ) 3 / 2 ). mass oscillations over many cycles are evident , with the small droplet showing slow growth followed by rapid relaxation . although it is not immediately apparent in the still images , the automated analysis shows that mass changes in the small droplet are anti - correlated with mass changes in the large , indicating excellent mass conservation within this two - droplet system . changes in the control voltage lead to immediate changes in the mass transfer rate , and thus the oscillation frequency . tem video further illustrated the devices operation . at constant control voltage , there are discernable (˜ 0 . 6 %) drops in the supplied current correlated with the relaxation of the oscillator of fig2 . the distribution of the metal on the nanotube substrate is thus affecting the resistance of the complete circuit , which facilitates practical implementations of this oscillator . that is , the current varies slightly with the size of the droplets . when the larger droplet grows , the resistance across the channel drops slightly . with the circuit resistance as a built - in diagnostic of the oscillator phase , the additional complication and expense of an external monitor ( in this case , the tem ) could become unnecessary in a well - characterized system . in an integrated device , electronics could conveniently monitor and , for instance , automatically adjust the oscillator frequency with closed - loop feedback . in this case , the oscillation frequency is determined by monitoring the cycles of resistance change across the channel . the relaxation mechanism liberates appreciable energies in a very brief period . immediately prior to a relaxation event , the small and large droplets of fig3 have radii of about 30 and 90 nm respectively . after relaxation , the large droplet &# 39 ; s radius has increased to 91 nm . the surface tension γ of liquid indium at 400 - 500 ° c . is 0 . 54 n / m ( ref . 18 ), implying an energy release of 5 fj per relaxation . in the viscous , small reynold &# 39 ; s number limit appropriate at these length scales , the time scale τ for the coalescence of the two droplets can be estimated ( ref . 19 ) as τ ˜ rη / γ , where r is the characteristic drop radius and η is the metal viscosity ( indium &# 39 ; s viscosity is 1 . 3 mn s m - 2 in the relevant temperature range ( ref . 20 )). this time scale , about 200 ps , implies that an oscillator based on this concept might operate at frequencies approaching the gigahertz range , subject of course to the time constraints of the slow phase . the speed of the relaxation event implies correspondingly large peak powers and forces : the oscillator shown in fig3 generates a peak power of ˜ 20 μw , and a peak force ˜ 50 nn . the peak power is about 20 microwatts . note that this power is pulsed — it is achieved during the relaxation event . the average power depends on the repetition rate , which we can vary by varying the control voltage . among the desirable applications of this nanoscale relaxation oscillator are locomotive devices ( ref . 21 ) as the oscillating metal droplets can exert substantial mechanical forces on neighboring objects . reference 21 discloses the design and performance of two prototype microbots which may serve as design templates for use with the present device . these microbots were formed by surface micromachining arrays of 270 micrometer long polycrystalline legs across the surface of a silicon chip . these devices use an electrothermal actuator array . power is supplied to the microbot through a probe . solder self - assembly ( see discussion of ref . 8 ) is used to create portions of the device . solder assembly of the microbot legs used surface tension from a sphere of indium with a diameter of 37 micrometers . the indium was deposited and the chip was heated to the melting point of indium ( 160 ° c . ), where the surface tension of the indium lifted the legs into place . because the present device operates with a constant dc voltage , it could also be constructed with a small on board battery . such a battery has been described in the literature . one may make tiny batteries by etching 200 × 100 × 2 - micron trenches into silicon chips and then filling the trenches with a porous glass electrolyte and lithium and lithium manganese oxide electrodes . lithium ions move through the glass from one electrode to the other to produce current . one may also add nano - sized pores to the glass . this increases the flow of lithium ions and therefore also increases the power of the battery . a small solar cell could also be used to store and / or deliver power to the oscillator . a solar cell would delver more power per added weight than an on board battery . we have constructed numerous oscillators of similar design , including configurations where the growing and shrinking of the droplets causes the substrate nanotube to flex . that is , the mwnt that served as the substrate / channel was flexed by the change in size and adhesion of the droplet on the nanotube . using device geometries demonstrated at the mems scale ( ref . 12 ), we imagine that efficient mechanical coupling to the oscillator could be arranged to provide large angular deflections . such a nanoelectromechanical actuator promises a powerful combination of speed , simplicity , and strength , incorporating as it would high frequency operation , low - voltage dc electrical drive , and surface tension &# 39 ; s advantageous force scaling . thus there has been described a preferred embodiment of a relaxation oscillator according to the present invention . the present examples , methods , procedures , specific materials , times and temperatures are meant to exemplify and illustrate the invention and should not be seen as limiting the scope of the invention , which is defined by the appended claims . any patents or publications mentioned in this specification are indicative of levels of skill in the art and are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each was specifically and individually incorporated by reference and for the purpose of describing and enabling the method or material referred to . the citation of a publication in the specification is not an admission that such publication is prior art to the present invention . 1 . w . s . n . trimmer , sensors and actuators 19 , 267 - 287 ( 1989 ). 2 . j . r . adams , insect potpourri : adventures in entomology ( sandhill crane press , gainesville , fla ., 1992 ). 3 . d . l . hu , b . chan , j . w . m . bush , nature 424 , 663 - 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