University researchers have developed methods to synthesize structured glassy carbon nanofibers inside the pores of a porous silicon template by carbonization and obtain free-standing nanofiber by dissolution of the porous silicon template. The carbon nanofibers adopt the shape and morphology of the porous silicon template. The carbon/porous silicon composites are robust, surviving repeated thermal and organic vapor adsorption cycles. The carbon nanocasting approach creates surfaces that: (a) have increased affinity for non-polar organic molecules such as toluene, leading to a 10× improvement in the sensitivity of the sensor; (b) have increased surface area relative to the template leading to greater capacity as an adsorbent; (c) are very stable; and, (d) uniformly cover the underlying silicon layer. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel method to continuously pattern nanofibers on 2D and 3D substrates. A unique polymer ink formulation provides the right balance of viscosity and elasticity necessary to enable controlled, seamless near-field electrospinning of nanofibers at very low voltages. (more...)

As part of the Tacky Dot® donation, the University is offering for commercialization an improved method for mounting particles on a substrate having both tacky and non-tacky areas using a direct current potential This invention especially has utility for the handling and transfer of solder balls and other conductive particles to form solder bumps on the contact pads of electronic devices. (more...)

Current one-pot syntheses of MOFs and ZIFs are limited in the types of metals that can be utilized in the open frameworks. This invention provides the methodology for introducing any metal into the open framework paving the way for these materials to be used in gas storage and separation, chemical and biological sensing, molecular reorganization, and catalysts. (more...)

Photolithography is the most widely used micro-fabrication technique as it is a parallel, cost effective, and high throughput process. However, conventional photolithography techniques have a resolution limit that is about half of the illumination light wavelength in free space. To date, various approaches to improve photolithography resolution have developed, but each is flawed. For example, electron-beam lithography, focused ion-beam lithography and dip-pen lithography are slow series processes not suitable for large-area pattern fabrication, and implementing reduced wavelength illumination drastically increases instrument complexity and cost. To address these problems, Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a family of deep-subwavelength photolithography technologies. These novel technologies are based on adding an artificial metal-dielectric structure to conventional photolithography processes to fabricate reduced patterns of the conventional photolithography masks. The technique overcomes the resolution limit of the conventional photolithography and can achieve deep-subwavelength resolution comparable to that of plasmonic nanolithography and near field contact photolithography. Furthermore, it can fabricate large-area uniform patterns while plasmonic nanolithography can not. (more...)