Project 8

Plasmon Field Effect Transistor (FET) for a Sensing Platform

(dr. Sung jin KIM, EcE)

(a) Illustration of plasmon FET using gold nano-particles, (b) Photo of the fabricated plasmon FET, and (c) SEM image of the gold nanoparticles on the active region.

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is an oscillation of electrons, and this fascinating nanophotonics phenomenon can be generated by light absorption into nanostructures. We use Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) that can be generated with 0-dimensional metallic nanostructures such as gold or silver nanoparticles. We developed a hybrid device, a Plasmon Field Effect Transistor (PFET), using gold nanostructures and a thin film transistor (Figure). The LSPR absorption of the gold nanostructure can be customized by controlling the size and surrounding medium. The absorbed light energy can be directly converted to an amplified current by the thin film transistor. Due to the sensitivity of the nanostructure and unique light-to-current conversion property, this device can be used for biomedical sensors, gas sensors, and tailored photodetectors [1-4]. The goal of this project is to understand the LSPR and device physics of the plasmon FET and learn the microfabrication processes for gold nanostructure and thin film transistors. The REU student will fabricate the PFET and measure its optoelectronic properties. Students interested in ECE, ChE, Optics, Physics, or Chem will be great candidates.

REFERENCES:

  1. Hossein Shokri Kojori, Ju-Hyung Yun, Younghun Paik, Joondong Kim, Wayne A Anderson, Sung Jin Kim, "Plasmon Field Effect Transistor for Plasmon to Electric Conversion and Amplification", Nano Letters, 16, pp. 250-254, (2015)

  2. Hossein Shokri Kojori, Yiwen Ji, Young Hun Paik, Adam Braunschweig, Sung Jin Kim, "Monitoring Interfacial Lectin Binding with Nanomolar Sensitivity Using a Plasmon Field Effect Transistor", Nanoscale, 8, 17357-17364 (2016)

  3. Han, X., Shokri Kojori, H., Leblanc, R. M., Kim, S. J. “Ultrasensitive Plasmonic Biosensors for Real-Time Parallel Detection of Alpha-L-Fucosidase and Cardiac-Troponin-I in Whole Human Blood”, Analytical chemistry,  vol 90,  pp. 7795-7799, (2018)

  4. Cho, S., A Ciappesoni, M., Allen, M. S., Allen, J. W., Leedy, K. D., Wenner, B. R., Kim, S. J. “Efficient broadband energy detection from the visible to near-infrared using a plasmon FET”, Nanotechnology, vol. 29, pp. 285201 (2018)