Evaluation of demolding force for glass-imprint process

Demolding behavior of oxide glasses from molds was experimentally analyzed using a specially developed molding set up equipped with highly sensitive load cell and servomotor. The demolding point and the demolding force were apt to increase with the tensile force applied to the pressing axis, and also to the cooling rate. Especially the demolding force was strongly affected by the cooling rate when the demolding point was located near the glass transition temperature region. These results offer a useful direction for highly accurate glass-molding and glass-imprint processes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Co thickness dependence of structural and magnetic properties in spin quantum cross devices utilizing stray magnetic fields

We investigate the Co thickness dependence of the structural and magnetic properties of Co thin-film electrodes sandwiched between borate glasses in spin quantum cross (SQC) devices that utilize stray magnetic fields. We also calculate the Co thickness dependence of the stray field between the two edges of Co thin-film electrodes in SQC devices using micromagnetic simulation. The surface roughness of Co thin films with a thickness of less than 20 nm on borate glasses is shown to be as small as 0.18 nm, at the same scanning scale as the Co film thickness, and the squareness of the hysteresis loop is shown to be as large as 0.96-1.0. As a result of the establishment of polishing techniques for Co thin-film electrodes sandwiched between borate glasses, we successfully demonstrate the formation of smooth Co edges and the generation of stray magnetic fields from Co edges. Theoretical calculation reveals that a strong stray field beyond 6 kOe is generated when the Co thickness is greater than 10 nm at a junction gap distance of 5 nm. From these experimental and calculation results, it can be concluded that SQC devices with a Co thickness of 10-20 nm can be expected to function as spin-filter devices

Using Laser Interference Lithography in the Fabrication of a Simplified Micro and Nanofluidic Device for Label-free Detection

Recently, we developed a label-free detection method based on optical diffraction, and implemented it in on our fabricated micro- and nanofluidic device. This detection method is simple and useful for detecting biomolecules, but the device fabrication consists of complicated processes. In this paper, we propose a simple method for fabricating the micro- and nanofluidic device; the fabrication combines laser interference lithography with conventional photolithography. The performance of a device fabricated by the proposed method is comparable to the performance of the device in our previous study

Nano-textured metallic surfaces for optical sensing and detection applications

This work describes fabrication of three-dimensionally nano-textured silicon surface structures metalized by thin gold films, and their application for optical sensing and detection of solute molecules utilizing surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect. Two types of sensitive surfaces were prepared by different techniques. The first of them was a checkerboard pattern of 3D nanoblocks defined in compact areas on the surface of a silicon wafer using highly accurate electron-beam lithography (EBL) technique, and fabricated by dry reactive-ion etching (RIE) technique with subsequent metalization of the surface by gold sputtering. The second type of sensitive surface consisted of a square array of nano-apertures, defined on a large area of the silicon surface by a less accurate but simpler ultraviolet holographic lithography, and subsequently fabricated in a sequence of dry and wet etching as well as gold sputtering steps. The fabricated structures were found to exhibit significant near-field enhancement, as evidenced by strong SERS signal from the sensors immersed in aqueous pyridine solutions with concentrations as low as 10 -9 M due to the presence of well-defined 3D periodic texture of the structure