| Mar 05, 2012 |
New nanoglue is thin and supersticky
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(Nanowerk News) Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have invented a superthin "nanoglue" that could be used in new-generation microchip fabrication (see paper in Advanced Materials: "Universal Nanopatternable Interfacial Bonding").
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"The material itself (say, semiconductor wafers) would break before the glue peels off," said Tingrui Pan, professor of biomedical engineering. He and his fellow researchers have filed a provisional patent.
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Conventional glues form a thick layer between two surfaces. Pan's nanoglue, which conducts heat and can be printed, or applied, in patterns, forms a layer the thickness of only a few molecules.
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The nanoglue is based on a transparent, flexible material called polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS, which, when peeled off a smooth surface usually leaves behind an ultrathin, sticky residue that researchers had mostly regarded as a nuisance.
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Pan and his colleagues realized that this residue could instead be used as glue, and enhanced its bonding properties by treating the residue surface with oxygen.
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The nanoglue could be used to stick silicon wafers into a stack to make new types of multilayered computer chips. Pan said he thinks it could also be used for home applications — for example, as double-sided tape or for sticking objects to tiles. The glue only works on smooth surfaces and can be removed with heat treatment.
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