Ion track-based nanoelectronics

In the last years, concepts have been developed to use etched ion tracks in insulators, such as polymer foils or silicon oxide layers as hosts for nano- and microelectronic structures. Depending on their etching procedure and the thickness of the insulating layer in which they are embedded, such tracks have typical diameters between some 10 ran and a few W and lengths between some 100 mn and some 10 pm. Due to their extremely high aspect ratios, and due to the possibility to cover very large sample areas, they exceed the potential of nanolithography. In this paper, the strategies of etched ion track manipulation are briefly outlined, that lead to the formation of nanotubules, nanowires, or tubular arrangements of nanoclusters. Examples where nanoelectronic structures are based on single ion tracks, are nanocondensors or sensors for temperature, light, pressure, humidity and/or alcohol vapor. By combination of ion track metallization and conducting track-to-track connections on the foil surface, micromagnets, microtransformers and microcondensors could be formed within polymer foils. Finally, we present our new "TEMPOS" (Tunable Electronic Material with Pores in Oxide on Silicon) concept(a) where nanometric pores, produced by etching of tracks in silicon oxide on silicon wafers, are used as charge extraction (or injection) channels. In comparison with the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOS-FETs), the TEMPOS structures have a number of additional parameters (such as the track diameter, density, and shape, and the material embedded therein and its spatial distribution) which makes these novel structures much more complex. This eventually leads to higher compactation of the TEMPOS circuits and to unexpected electronic properties. TEMPOS structures can overtake the function of tunable resistors, condensors, photocells, hygrocells, diodes, sensors, and other elements. As an example, some corresponding current/voltage relations and TEMPOS circuits are presented. In this work we concentrate on TEMPOS structures with fullerene and phthatocyanine. Though not yet verified, TEMPOS structures could, in principle, be scaled down to nanometer sizes.