2824 results about "Self-assembly" patented technology

This invention relates to processes for the assembly of three-dimensional structures having periodicities on the scale of optical wavelengths, and at both smaller and larger dimensions, as well as compositions and applications therefore. Invention embodiments involve the self assembly of three-dimensionally periodic arrays of spherical particles, the processing of these arrays so that both infiltration and extraction processes can occur, one or more infiltration steps for these periodic arrays, and, in some instances, extraction steps. The product articles are three-dimensionally periodic on a scale where conventional processing methods cannot be used. Articles and materials made by these processes are useful as thermoelectrics and thermionics, electrochromic display elements, low dielectric constant electronic substrate materials, electron emitters (particularly for displays), piezoelectric sensors and actuators, electrostrictive actuators, piezochromic rubbers, gas storage materials, chromatographic separation materials, catalyst support materials, photonic bandgap materials for optical circuitry, and opalescent colorants for the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions.

Apparatuses and methods for forming displays are claimed. One embodiment of the invention includes a contact smart card wherein fluidic self assembly is used to build the microelectronic structures on the display such that a contact smart data is transmitted unidirectionally. A contact smart card is inserted directly into a device that transfers data to a display coupled to the smart card. Another embodiment of the invention relates to a contactless smart card in which fluidic self assembly is also used here to build the display. Data is transmitted to an antenna that is embedded in the contactless card in which a plurality of blocks were deposited thereon.

Copolymer structures are formed by exposing a substrate with an imaging layer thereon to two or more beams of selected wavelengths to form interference patterns at the imaging layer to change the wettability of the imaging layer in accordance with the interference patterns. A layer of a selected block copolymer is deposited onto the exposed imaging layer and annealed to separate the components of the copolymer in accordance with the pattern of wettability and to replicate the pattern of the imaging layer in the copolymer layer. Stripes or isolated regions of the separated components may be formed with periodic dimensions in the range of 100 nm or less.

A method for the self assembly of a macroscopic structure with a pre-formed nano object is provided. The method includes processing a nano object to a desired aspect ratio and chemical functionality and mixing the processed nano object with a solvent to form a suspension. Upon formation of the suspension, a substrate is inserted into the suspension. By either evaporation of the solvent, changing the pH value of the suspension, or changing the temperature of the suspension, the nano objects within the suspension deposit onto the substrate in an orientational order. In addition, a seed crystal may be used in place of the substrate thereby forming single-crystals and free-standing membranes of the nano-objects.

A material includes a layer with a plurality of self-assembled structures comprising compositions. The structures are localized in separate islands covering a portion of the layer in an integrated assembly. In some embodiments, the compositions include nanoparticles. In particular, some embodiments pertain to a material with a self-assembled formation of inorganic particles with an average diameter less than about 100 nm. The structures can be used as devices within an integrated article. The method for producing the articles comprise a localization process defining boundaries of the devices and a self-assembly process within the identified boundaries.

Methods for fabricating sublithographic, nanoscale microstructures in two-dimensional square and rectangular arrays utilizing self-assembling block copolymers, and films and devices formed from these methods are provided.

Embodiments of methods and an apparatus for utilizing a directed self-assembly (DSA) process on block copolymers (BCPs) to form a defect-free photoresist layer for feature transfer onto a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, a method for performing a dry development process includes transferring a substrate having a layer of block copolymers disposed thereon into an etching processing chamber, wherein at least a first type and a second type of polymers comprising the block copolymers are aggregated into a first group of regions and a second group of regions on the substrate, supplying an etching gas mixture including at least a carbon containing gas into the etching processing chamber, and predominately etching the second type of the polymers disposed on the second groups of regions on the substrate in the presence of the etching gas mixture.

Methods for fabricating arrays of nanoscaled alternating lamellae or cylinders in a polymer matrix having improved long range order utilizing self-assembling block copolymers, and films and devices formed from these methods are provided.

Methods for fabricating sublithographic, nanoscale microstructures in line arrays utilizing self-assembling block copolymers, and films and devices formed from these methods are provided.

The invention relates to a special micro-fluidic chip for cholera diagnosis with one-dimensional self-assembly magnetic bead chain electrodes, belonging to the field of testing. Rapid diagnosis of fulminating infectious disease cholera with low cost is one of many expectations in the development of medical technology, and the invention provides a micro-fluidic chip for simultaneously detecting and rapidly diagnosing cholera by using multiple characteristic antibodies of cholera. The chip is provided with three micro liquid storage tanks, and the invention is characterized in that capillary passages in parallel configuration contain in the chip, the parallel configuration contains four micro-passages that are mutually in parallel, four magnetic bead chain working electrodes are respectively installed inside the four micro-passages, the surface substances of the four magnetic bead chain working electrodes are respectively four antibody substances that are cholera TP0821 antibody, cholera TP0319 antibody, cholera TP0624 antibody and cholera O139 mycoprotein antibody. The integrated structure and the appearances of specific magnetic bead chain working electrodes facilitate to improve the diagnosis efficiency of cholera diseases.

Methods and apparatuses for assembling a structure onto a substrate. A method according to one aspect of the invention includes dispensing a slurry onto a substrate wherein the slurry includes a first plurality of elements, each of which is designed to mate with a receptor region on said substrate and each of which comprises a functional element. The method further includes dispensing in a flow having a first direction a slurry onto a substrate, wherein the slurry includes a fluid.

The invention relates to a porous metal organic framework material based on transition metal cobalt and a preparation method thereof. The metal organic framework material is a compound with supramolecular porous network structure and formed by self-assembly of metal ions and organic ligands through coordination complexation. The porous cobalt-based metal organic framework material contains one or more metal ions, and one or more organic ligands; and at least one of the metal ions is Co (II). The porous cobalt-based organic framework material has excellent selective adsorption on CH4 in a separation process of CH4 and N2; and the advantage of adsorption selectivity on CH4 is particularly evident under low pressure. The material is particularly suitable for development and recovery of oil field gas, coal bed methane and biogas.

Methods for fabricating sublithographic, nanoscale microchannels utilizing an aqueous emulsion of an amphiphilic agent and a water-soluble, hydrogel-forming polymer, and films and devices formed from these methods are provided.

The invention provides sensor, preferably biosensor devices and method of fabrication. The devices have significant advantages over the prior art methods having compatibility with future trends in clinical diagnostics and chemical detection. The underlying principle involves the integration of nanometer diameter, micron long metal or semiconductor rods onto a substrate to form a suspended nanomechanical cantilevers. The cantilever rods are rigidly attached to the substrate on one or both ends, and resonate at a characteristic frequency depending on the diameter, length, and stiffness of the rod. The metal or semiconductor rods are integrated onto the substrate using electrofluidic or fluidic assembly techniques. A receptor coating is placed on the metal or semiconductor rods prior to or following rod alignment using self-assembly chemistries. Sensing is accomplished when the target agent binds to the receptor substance, causing a change in the mass of the cantilever rod, and a corresponding change in the resonant frequency. This change in resonant frequency can be detected using an electrical readout. The sensing circuitry is integrated with CMOS or TFT technologies to form compact multi-analyte senor arrays on single crystal silicon, glass, or polymeric substrates. Circuits can also be included on the substrate to transmit the array data via wireless methods to a remote workstation for analysis. Devices may be integrated on chips with other analysis devices.

The invention belongs to the technical field of membrane preparation and water purification and discloses a high-performance two-dimensional layered Ti3C2-MXene membrane, a preparation method thereof and an application of the Ti3C2-MXene membrane in water treatment. The method comprises steps as follows: (1), Ti3AlC2 powder and an HF solution are mixed, stirred for a reaction, centrifugally washed and dried, and Ti3C2 powder is obtained; (2), the Ti3C2 powder and a solvent are mixed, stirred for the reaction, washed and dried, and treated powder is obtained; (3), the treated powder is dissolved in the solvent and subjected to ultrasonic treatment and centrifugation, a liquid supernatant is taken and dried, and a two-dimensional nanosheet is obtained; (4), a solution is prepared from the two-dimensional nanosheet and deposited on a porous substrate with a nano self-assembly technology, and the high-performance two-dimensional layered Ti3C2-MXene membrane is obtained. The membrane has ultrahigh water flux, higher selectivity and good mechanical property and stability; the method is simple, low in energy consumption and cost, good in repeatability and wide in applicability.

Methods and apparatuses are provided for assembling a structure on a support having a pattern of binding sites. In accordance with the method, a first fluid is provided on the surface of the support with the first fluid being of a type that that increases viscosity when heated, the first fluid having first micro-components suspended therein each adapted to engage the binding sites. The first fluid proximate to selected binding sites is heated to increase the viscosity of the responsive fluid proximate to the selected binding sites so that the first micro-components suspended in the first fluid are inhibited from engaging the selected binding sites.

The present invention provides novel hydrogels and methods of making and using such hydrogels. The present invention provides hydrogels that may be formed by the self-assembly of peptides in solution. Such self-assembly may be brought about by a change in one or more characteristics of the solution. Characteristics of the solution that may be changed include pH, ionic strength, temperature, and concentration of one or more specific ions. In addition, hydrogels of the invention may be disassembled by changing one or more characteristic of the hydrogel such as pH, ionic strength, temperature, and concentration of one or more specific ions.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for patterning a surface that includes forming a block copolymer atop a heterogeneous reflectivity surface, wherein the block copolymer is segregated into first and second units; applying a radiation to the first units and second units, wherein the heterogeneous reflectivity surface produces an exposed portion of the first units and the second units; and applying a development cycle to selectively remove at least one of the exposed first and second units of the segregated copolymer film to provide a pattern.

The invention belongs to the surface patterning microstructure construction technique, which relates to a method for constructing a microstructure with anti-reflection performance on a foundation base by combining the self-assembly technique with the reactive ion beam etching technique. The method is to take monolayer polymeric micro-spheres, silicon dioxide micro-spheres and nano-particles of metal or metal oxides as a barrier layer and implement the RIE etching to the foundation base, then an approximate cone-shaped microstructure is constructed on the foundation base, and the structure has extreme high anti-reflection performance, thereby effectively improving the light energy utilization rate, reducing the interference of veiling glare in an optical system, increasing the optical transmittance, and further improving the sensitivity and stability of the optical system, and the method can be used for constructing large-area anti-reflection structures. The method of the invention has advantages of simple operation, changeable foundation base, strong applicability, good repeatability, low cost, high efficiency, adjustable anti-reflective applied wavelength and conformity to industrialized standards, and can be used for making photoelectric devices such as solar batteries and white light sensors.

A process for preparing nano water paint comprising the steps of: A. Modifying the chemical property on the surface of nano particles by hydroxylation for forming hydroxyl groups at high density on the surface of the nano particles; B. Forming self-assembly monolayers of low surface energy compounds on the nano particles by substituting the self-assembly monolayers for the hydroxyl groups on the nano particles for disintegrating the clusters of nano particles and for forming the self-assembly monolayers homogeneously on the surface of the nano particles; and C. Blending or mixing the nano particles having self-assembly monolayers formed thereon with organic paint to form nano water paint.

Porous films with straight pores oriented normal to the plane of the films are produced through solution processing techniques. The production takes advantage of inorganic-surfactant or inorganic-polymer co-assembly and a patterned substrate. The patterned substrate, which is also produced via solution phase self-assembly, forces vertical orientation in a hexagonal cylinder system with no practical limits in substrate size or type. This provides a route to vertically oriented inorganic pores with a pitch ranging from 3 nm to over 15 nm and pore sizes ranging from 2 nm to over 12 nm. The size is tuned by choice the choice of organic templating agents and the deposition conditions. The pores can be produced with or without a capping layer which can be used to seal the nanopores.

Disclosed are porous ceramic balls with a hierarchical porous structure ranging in size from nanometers to micrometers, and preparation methods thereof. Self-assembly polymers and sol-gel reactions are used to prepare porous ceramic balls in which pores ranging in size from ones of nanometers to tens of micrometers are hierarchically interconnected to one another. This hierarchical porous structure ensures high specific surface areas and porosities for the porous ceramic balls. Further, the size and distribution of the pores can be simply controlled with hydrophobic solvent and reaction time. The pore formation through polymer self-assembly and sol-gel reactions can be applied to ceramic and transition metals. Porous structures based on bioceramic materials, such as bioactive glass, allow the formation of apatite therein and thus can be used as biomaterials of bioengineering, including bone fillers, bone reconstruction materials, bone scaffolds, etc.

Disclosed are embodiments of a semiconductor structure having a contact-level air gap within the interlayer dielectrics above a semiconductor device in order to minimize parasitic capacitances (e.g., contact-to-contact capacitance, contact-to-diffusion region capacitance, gate-to-contact capacitance, gate-to-diffusion region capacitance, etc.). Specifically, the structure can comprise a semiconductor device on a substrate and at least three dielectric layers stacked above the semiconductor device. An air gap is positioned with the second dielectric layer aligned above the semiconductor device and extending vertically from the first dielectric layer to the third dielectric layer. Also disclosed are embodiments of a method of forming such a semiconductor structure using a self-assembly approach.

The invention is a method for making a master mold to be used for nanoimprinting patterned-media magnetic recording disks. The method uses conventional optical or e-beam lithography to form a pattern of generally radial stripes on a substrate, with the stripes being grouped into annular zones or bands. A block copolymer material is deposited on the pattern, resulting in guided self-assembly of the block copolymer into its components to multiply the generally radial stripes into generally radial lines of alternating block copolymer components. The radial lines of one of the components are removed and the radial lines of the remaining component are used as an etch mask to etch the substrate. Conventional lithography is used to form concentric rings over the generally radial lines. After etching and resist removal, the master mold has pillars arranged in circular rings, with the rings grouped into annular bands.

The invention relates to a nanometer antiseptic paint and provides a nanometer composite oxide antiseptic paint for various metal substrates. After the paint is used for treated metal, the coating can be solidified at the normal temperature and has excellent antiseptic property. The composite oxide comprises nanometer silicon dioxide sol and nanometer titanium dioxide sol. After the coating is dried, nanometer particles of the composite oxide subject to the modification of fluorocarbon-type silane coupling agent and other types of organic silane coupling agent undergo self-assembly to form a dense coating with a thickness of 1-5 microns.

A self assembly step for the manufacture of an electronic component comprising, e.g., a semiconductor chip or semiconductor array or wafer comprises forming a diblock copolymer film placed on a random copolymer film substrate operatively associated with the electronic component and the diblock copolymer film wherein the surface energy of the random copolymer film is tailored by use of a photolithographic process prior to the self assembly step. By prior deterministic control over regional surface properties of the random copolymer film, domains of the diblock copolymer film form only in predefined areas. This approach offers simplified processing and a precise control of regions where domain formation occurs. Selective removal of some of the domains allows for further processing of the electronic component.

A method and apparatus for solvent annealing a layered substrate including a layer of a block copolymer are provided. The method includes (a) introducing an annealing gas into a processing chamber; (b) maintaining the annealing gas in the processing chamber for a first time period; (c) removing the annealing gas from the processing chamber; and (d) repeating steps (a)-(c) a plurality of times in order induce the block copolymer to undergo cyclic self-assembly. The apparatus includes a processing chamber comprising a process space; a substrate support in the process space; an annealing gas supply and a purge gas supply, both in fluid communication with the process space; a heating element positioned within the processing chamber; an exhaust port in the processing chamber; and a sequencing device programmed to control the annealing gas supply, the heating element, the isolation valve of the exhaust port, and the purge gas supply.

Disclosed in the present application are compositions comprising a bioresorbable polymer matrix and a bio active agent, wherein the bioactive agent is dispersed within polymer matrix as a solid. Also provided herein are methods for preparing a bioactive agent formulation, wherein the agent is present in a solid form and, wherein the agent is occluded into a polymeric matrix by polymerization of polymer matrix precursors or by self assembly of the polymer.

The invention relates to a preparation method of a self-assembly material having surface-enhanced Raman activity, belonging to the technical field of material chemistry. The preparation method comprises the following steps: synthesizing gold nano particles; synthesizing gold nano rods; modifying DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) 1 with the gold nano particles; modifying DNA 2 with the gold nano rods; coupling the gold nano rods with Raman beacon molecules; and assembling and characterizing the gold nano rods and the gold nano particles. The nano material assembly body prepared by the invention has a uniform and controllable assembly structure and has Raman activity, thereby making monomolecular detection possible.

The invention relates to a composite amorphous phase-change heat storage material and a preparation method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of composite materials. The composite material is prepared from a porous material used as a support material and an inorganic hydrous salt used as a phase-change material in manners of absorbing the inorganic hydrous salt into a porous structure of the support material by virtue of the capillary adsorption action of the porous material, and self-assembly of a surfactant. The method comprises the following steps: firstly, emulsifying and dispersing the molten inorganic hydrous salt phase-change material such as calcium chloride hexahydrate by the emulsifying dispersion effect of the surfactant under an ultrasonic condition, so as to form a stable emulsion; adding expanded graphite to the emulsion to evenly disperse; putting the mixture into a vacuum oven, vacuumizing and keeping in a constant state for 30 minutes at room temperature, so as to prepare a novel composite amorphous phase-change heat storage material which is high in phase-change latent heat, good in heat-conducting property, and low in cost.