Basic: Bio-inspired Assembly of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits

In the recent years, biologically-inspired self-assembly of artificial structures, some with useful optical properties, has been demonstrated. However, to date there has been no demonstration of self-assembly of useful electronic devices for the construction of complex systems. In this paper, a new process called BASIC (Bio-Inspired Assembly of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits) is proposed. The main theme is to use the mutual binding (hybridization) and specificity of DNA strands (oligonucleotides) for the assembly of useful silicon devices on silicon or other substrate. These devices need to be 'released' from their host substrate into a liquid medium where they can be functionalized with single stranded DNA. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, which naturally lend themselves for such application, due to the presence of an oxide layer underlying the silicon layer, are used. These devices can vary in size and have a thin gold layer on one surface. This approach can be used to assemble micro and nano- scale devices and circuits and can also be a powerful technique for heterogeneous integration of materials (e.g. Si on Glass or polymer). The general idea of the BASIC process can also be extended to be used with any antibody/antigen complex. Preliminary results regarding the fabrication and release of the device islands will be presented. In addition, surface AFM characterization of the gold surfaces, prior to attachment of bio-molecules, is also presented.