Methods for forming an electrode structure, which can be used as a biosensor, are provided in which the electrode structure has non-random topography located on one surface of an electrode base. In some embodiments, an electrode structure is obtained that contains no interface between the non-random topography of the electrode structure and the electrode base of the electrode structure. In other embodiments, electrode structures are obtained that have an interface between the non-random topography of the electrode structure and the electrode base of the electrode structure.

A method is for manufacturing a plurality of silicon microneedles which have a bevelled tip. The method includes providing a silicon substrate having a front face and a rear face, forming a first mask arrangement on the front face of the substrate, the first mask arrangement defining one or more gaps, and performing a SF.sub.6 based plasma etch of the front face through the gaps in the first mask arrangement to provide one or more etch features having a sloping face. The SF.sub.6 based plasma etch undercuts the first mask arrangement with an undercut that is at least 10% of the depth of a corresponding etch feature. The method further includes forming a second mask arrangement on the etch features to define locations of the microneedles, in which the second mask arrangement is located entirely on sloping faces of the etch features, and performing a DRIE (deep reactive ion etch) anisotropic plasma etch of the etched front face of the substrate to form a plurality of microneedles which have a bevelled tip, where the sloping faces of the etch features at least in part give rise to the bevelled tips of the microneedles.

A method of forming a thin film structure involves performing one or more repetitions to form a template on a wafer. The repetitions include: depositing a layer of a template material to a first thickness T1; and ion beam milling the layer of the template material to remove thickness T2, where T2<T1, resulting in a layer of the template material with thickness T1?T2. The ion beam milling is performed at a channeling angle relative to a deposition plane of the wafer, the channeling angle defined relative to a channeling direction of a crystalline microstructure of the template material. After the repetitions, additional material is deposited on the template to form a final structure. The additional material has a same crystalline microstructure as the template material.

Provided is a method for growing a nanowire, including: providing a substrate with a base portion having a first surface and at least one support structure extending above or below the first surface; forming a dielectric coating on the at least one support structure; forming a photoresist coating over the substrate; forming a metal coating over at least a portion of the dielectric coating; removing a portion of the dielectric coating to expose a surface of the at least one support structure; removing a portion of the at least one support structure to form a nanowire growth surface; growing at least one nanowire on the nanowire growth surface of a corresponding one of the at least one support structure, wherein the nanowire comprises a root end attached to the growth surface and an opposing, free end extending from the root end; and elastically bending the at least one nanowire.

Nanoneedles and nanoneedle arrays and methods of making nanoneedles are provided. The methods can include multilayer fabrication methods using a negative photoresist and/or a positive photoresist. The nanoneedle arrays include one or more nanoneedles attached to a surface of a substrate. The nanoneedle can have both a proximal opening and a distal opening, and an inner passageway connecting the proximal opening and the distal opening. The nanoneedle can have a functional coating. The nanoneedle can include iron, cobalt, nickel, gold, and oxides and alloys thereof. The nanoneedle arrays can be used for the administration and/or the extraction of agents from individual cells. In one or more aspects, the nanoneedles can be magnetic nanoneedles. An oscillating magnetic field applied to a magnetic nanoneedle can induce one or both of heating and vibration of the magnetic nanoneedle. The heating and/or vibration can cause a magnetic nanoneedle to penetrate the wall of a cell.

A method of manufacturing a plurality of through-holes (132) in a layer of material by subjecting the layer to directional dry etching to provide through-holes (132) in the layer of material; For batch-wise production, the method comprises after a step of providing a layer of first material (220) on base material and before the step of directional dry etching, providing a plurality of holes at the central locations of pits (210), etching base material at the central locations of the pits (210) so as to form a cavity (280) with an aperture (281), depositing a second layer of material (240) on the base material in the cavity (280), and subjecting the second layer of material (240) in the cavity (280) to said step of directional dry etching using the aperture (281) as the opening (141) of a shadow mask.

A process flow for forming magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) nanopillars with minimal sidewall residue and minimal sidewall damage is disclosed wherein a pattern is first formed in a hard mask that is an uppermost MTJ layer. Thereafter, the hard mask sidewall is etch transferred through the remaining MTJ layers including a reference layer, free layer, and tunnel barrier between the free layer and reference layer. The etch transfer may be completed in a single RIE step that features a physical component involving inert gas ions or plasma, and a chemical component comprised of ions or plasma generated from one or more of methanol, ethanol, ammonia, and CO. In other embodiments, a chemical treatment with one of the aforementioned chemicals, and a volatilization at 50 C. to 450 C. may follow an etch transfer through the MTJ stack with an ion beam etch or plasma etch involving inert gas ions.

Methods and apparatus for subtractively fabricating three-dimensional structures relative to a surface of a substrate and for additively depositing metal and dopant atoms onto the surface and for diffusing them into the bulk. A chemical solution is applied to the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a spatial pattern of electron-hole pairs is generated by projecting a spatial pattern of illumination characterized by a specified intensity, wavelength and duration at each pixel of a plurality of pixels on the surface. An electrical potential is applied across the interface of the semiconductor and the solution with a specified temporal profile relative to the temporal profile of the spatial pattern of illumination. Such methods are applied to the fabrication of a photodetector integral with a parabolic reflector, cell size sorting chips, a three-dimensional photonic bandgap chip, a photonic integrated circuit, and an integrated photonic microfluidic circuit.

Devices, systems and techniques are described for producing and implementing articles and materials having nanoscale and microscale structures that exhibit superhydrophobic, superoleophobic or omniphobic surface properties and other enhanced properties. In one aspect, a surface nanostructure can be formed by adding a silicon-containing buffer layer such as silicon, silicon oxide or silicon nitride layer, followed by metal film deposition and heating to convert the metal film into balled-up, discrete islands to form an etch mask. The buffer layer can be etched using the etch mask to create an array of pillar structures underneath the etch mask, in which the pillar structures have a shape that includes cylinders, negatively tapered rods, or cones and are vertically aligned. In another aspect, a method of fabricating microscale or nanoscale polymer or metal structures on a substrate is made by photolithography and/or nano imprinting lithography.

Methods and apparatus for subtractively fabricating three-dimensional structures relative to a surface of a substrate and for additively depositing metal and dopant atoms onto the surface and for diffusing them into the bulk. A chemical solution is applied to the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a spatial pattern of electron-hole pairs is generated by projecting a spatial pattern of illumination characterized by a specified intensity, wavelength and duration at each pixel of a plurality of pixels on the surface. Charge carriers are driven away from the surface of the semiconductor on a timescale short compared to the carrier recombination lifetime. Such methods are applied to creating a spatially varying doping profile in the semiconductor substrate, a photonic integrated circuit and an integrated photonic microfluidic circuit.