Chapter 1
Introduction
In the past half-century, advances in electronics have been driven by increases in
their complexity and performance, and decreases in unit size (Moore’s law) [ 1 ]. The
mainstream microelectronics industry continues to provide ever-increasing perfor-
mance and functionality and brings new technologies in computing, memory, and
telecommunication that change the way we live [ 2 ]. These developments have in
turn spurred interest in“macroelectronics,”which requires the low-cost distribution
of nanoelectronic units and circuits over the largest possible area in unconventional
configurations, for instance onflexible substrates and in 3D geometries [ 3 ]. This
new type of electronics is expected to bring unimaginable applications inflexible
displays and integrated circuits (ICs) [ 4 ], from paper-like computers [ 5 , 6 ] to novel
methods and solutions for seamless integration of electronics with our daily life or
even our bodies (for example, wearable and implantable biomedical electronics) [ 7 –
18 ].
Traditional nanoelectronics fabrication technology mainly relies on the
“top-down”paradigm, in which nanostructures of electronic units are patterned by
lithography techniques and subsequently etched from single-crystalline bulk
materials (for example, silicon wafers) [ 19 , 20 ]. This fabrication paradigm intrin-
sically precludes a high yield, high resolution transfer of nanoelectronic units from
the rigid wafer to other substrates. Several unconventional transfer techniques have
been developed [ 21 , 22 ], however, they are still at an early stage, with operation
resolution at the micro- or even millimeter scale, and difficult for large-scale fab-
rication and manufacturing. Another possible solution involves patterned organic
electronic materials instead of inorganic materials [ 6 , 11 – 13 ]. Theirflexible prop-
erties and fabrication processes are promising for potential use in large-scale
flexible display and consumer wearable electronic devices, however, organic
electronic materials do not offer high performance, reliability for advanced
amplification device and sensors in ambient environment.
As an alternative, inorganic nanomaterials synthesized through the“bottom-up”
paradigm are considered as good candidate for the applications in thisfield [ 23 – 26 ].
In the bottom-up paradigm, nanomaterials are synthesized from the most primitive
©Springer International Publishing AG 2018
J. Liu,Biomimetics Through Nanoelectronics, Springer Theses,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68609-7_
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