The assessment of microscopic charging effects induced by focused electron and ion beam irradiation of dielectrics

Numerical Study of Fabrication-Related Effects of the Structural-Profile on the Performance of a Dielectric Photonic Crystal-Based Fluid Sensor

In this work, fabrication of a dielectric photonic crystal device and numerical study of its spectral characteristics as a refractive index sensor are presented for near infrared range. The proposed nanosensor device is composed of low-cost dielectric materials, i.e., silicon dioxide and niobium pentoxide, and is fabricated using focused ion-beam milling lithography. In the first part, the fabrication process of the device is discussed, along with the process parameters and their effects on the structural properties of the resulting photonic crystal elements. In the second part, the device is numerically tested as a sensor for the biological refractive index range of 1.33 to 1.4. The performance considerations of the biosensor device are studied for 12 different structural profiles based on the fabrication results. It is shown that the angular-wall-profile of the fabricated structures downgrades the performance of the sensor, and the optimum value of hole depth should be in the range of 930–1500 nm to get the best performance. A sensitivity of 185.117 nm/RIU and a figure of merit of 9.7 were recorded for the optimum design of the device; however, a maximum sensitivity of 296.183 nm/RIU and a figure-of-merit of 13.184 RIU⁻¹ were achieved. The device is recommended for a variety of biosensing applications due to its inert material properties, stable design and easy integration with fiber-optic setups.

Multi-pore carbon phase plate for phase-contrast transmission electron microscopy

A new fabrication method of carbon based phase plates for phase-contrast transmission electron microscopy is presented. This method utilizes colloidal masks to produce pores as well as disks on thin carbon membranes for phase modulation. Since no serial process is involved, carbon phase plate membranes containing hundreds of pores can be mass-produced on a large scale, which allows "disposal" of contaminated or degraded phase modulating objects after use. Due to the spherical shape of the mask colloid particles, the produced pores are perfectly circular. The pore size and distribution can be easily tuned by the mask colloid size and deposition condition. By using the stencil method, disk type phase plates can also be fabricated on a pore type phase plate. Both pore and disk type phase plates were tested by measuring amorphous samples and confirmed to convert the sinus phase contrast transfer function to the cosine shape.

Surface charge and carbon contamination on an electron-beam-irradiated hydroxyapatite thin film investigated by photoluminescence and phase imaging in atomic force microscopy

The surface properties of hydroxyapatite, including electric charge, can influence the biological response, tissue compatibility, and adhesion of biological cells and biomolecules. Results reported here help in understanding this influence by creating charged domains on hydroxyapatite thin films deposited on silicon using electron beam irradiation and investigating their shape, properties, and carbon contamination for different doses of incident injected charge by two methods. Photoluminescence laser scanning microscopy was used to image electrostatic charge trapped at pre-existing and irradiation-induced defects within these domains, while phase imaging in atomic force microscopy was used to image the carbon contamination. Scanning Auger electron spectroscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy were used as a reference for the atomic force microscopy phase contrast and photoluminescence laser scanning microscopy measurements. Our experiment shows that by combining the two imaging techniques the effects of trapped charge and carbon contamination can be separated. Such separation yields new possibilities for advancing the current understanding of how surface charge influences mediation of cellular and protein interactions in biomaterials.