Making Monolayer of Inorganic Nanoparticles on Silicon Substrate

A monolayer of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) was fabricated on a silicon wafer using a cage-shaped protein, ferritin, which can sequester several kinds of inorganic NP in their cavities. Ferritins were bound electrostatically in aqueous condition to the silicon wafer which was modified with aminosilane molecules. The obtained sample was heat-treated at 500°C under oxygen gas, and the protein moiety and aminosilane were completely eliminated. The obtained NP monolayer showed no aggregation or sintering. This new method can be used to produce a dispersed inorganic NP monolayer on a silicon substrate as designed, which could be used as a nanodot array in floating nanodot gate memories.