Réalisation de capteurs biologiques à partir de nanofils de silicium – SeNa

This project deals with the fabrication of electronic devices based on silicon nanowires (SiNWs). The main objective is to achieve innovative sensors for biological/chemical applications. This project is in keeping with the development of a new research activity called 'electronic devices based on silicon nanowires' within the 'Groupe Microélectronique' (GM) of the 'Institut d'Electronique et des Télécommunications de Rennes'(IETR), UMR-CNRS 6164 of the University of Rennes 1. The research activities will take place within the clean room platform of microelectronics and microtechnology of the 'Centre Commun de Microélectronique de l'Ouest (CCMO) for which the GM-IETR has the responsibility. This clean room has the use of all necessary equipments for technological fabrication of microelectronics integrated devices and basic microtechnical elements for MEMS applications. This is a strong advantage of the IETR for the emergence and the development of new processes for silicon nanowires based sensors. Owing to their physical and electrical properties, SiNWs represent a promising material with strong potential for the fabrication of sensors with high sensitivity. The success of this project is related to the control of all steps leading to the fabrication of SiNWs based sensors. Key parameters are synthesis of poly-SiNWs, conception of new hard masks, technological achievement of the sensors in clean room and electrical characterizations of these devices. Poly-SiNWs will be synthesized by using the sidewall spacer formation technique. This technique, frequently used in microelectronic technology, exploits a combination of conventional photolithography, anisotropic etchings and the excellent homogeneity and reproducibility of conformal CVD processes. This technique takes the advantage to be suitable with classical silicon technology. Moreover, it does not require advanced and costly lithographic tools. In this project, we propose three different structures for the fabrication of a biological sensor. All steps described highlight the technical and technological feasibilities of the project. Indeed, a part of the technical knowledge on large area silicon technology can be used for the fabrication of SiNWs based sensors (for example, LPCVD, RIE'). The objective is to fabricate a sensor for biological or chemical detection. In this way, we will rest on the experience of the laboratory in this field. Indeed, laboratory acquired knowledge and practical experience for testing suspended gate field effect transistor for DNA hybridization recognition. The goal is to transfer to our devices test protocols already defined to study DNA hybridization recognition. So, this topic will be the first biological application of our sensors. Because poly-SiNWs sensor is based on an electronic signal detection, target molecules do not have to be chemically tagged with fluorescent molecules and then observed through optical readers. Such sensor could be simpler to use than standard optical-based detectors. This is a multidisciplinary project including all steps from conception to final tests.