McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

CPM Seminar

The Ion Beam Sculpting of Molecular-Scale Devices

D. Stein

Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard University

We envision nanopores at the heart of a solid-state device capable of detecting, manipulating, and ultimately sequencing individual molecules of DNA. To reliably fabricate pores whose diameter is commensurate with that of the DNA molecule (~2nm), low energy ion beams are used to tailor the size of holes in solid-state membranes by a new technique we call ion beam sculpting". Feedback provides dimensional control on the single nanometre scale, as well as a means of studying the dynamics of matter under ion beam irradiation. The result was the discovery of a surprising new matter transport phenomenon, which is exploited in the fabrication of a single-molecule detector.

Thursday, August 23rd 2001, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, Boardroom (room 104)