Professor Sepaniak group research manuscript was accepted in Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) and published online today.
The paper Nanotransfer printing using plasma etched silicon stamps and mediated by in situ deposited fluoropolymer was a collaboration between Sepaniak group and scientists at Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
In the paper, the researchers developed a new protocol of creating silicon stamps for highly efficient nanotransfer printing (nTP) that relies on in situ formation of a fluoropolymer release layer immediately following anisotropic plasma etching of silicon. The potential of a current nTP approach has been demonstrated by imprinting various functional test structures of low nanometer scale.( abstract from the authors).
Deepak Bhandari, graduate student in Sepaniak’s group and first author of the paper, described the findings as setting “a new record of nTP feature resolution down to sub-100 nm”.
JACS, founded in 1879, is the flagship journal of the American Chemical Society and the preeminent journal in the field. Being most cited journal in chemistry, this weekly periodical is devoted to the publication of fundamental research papers in all areas of chemistry and publishes approximately 16,000 pages of Articles, Communications, Book Reviews, and Computer Software Reviews a year.
Excited about the paper, Deepak wants to recognize Prof. Sepaniak as an outstanding research mentor. “Credit not only goes to the group but also to ORNL facility”, he added, “Having DOE facilities nearby Knoxville area is a great advantage to UT students. This work would be hardly possible without users’ facility out there at Oak Ridge National Laboratory”.
A native of Nepal, Deepak obtained both his bachelor and master degree in chemistry in Tribhuvan University, Nepal. After joining in UT in Fall 2006, Deepak focused his research on “development of surface-enhanced Raman Scattering substrates using both conventional and nanolithographic approaches and their implementation in analytical detections”. Graduating this May, Deepak joined ORNL as a postdoctoral research associate and plans to pursue a career in academia in the future.