Shaped nanomembranes: From fundamental perception to new concepts and applications

Ultra-thin membranes out of inorganic materials can be easily formed into various shapes and geometries on a single chip. Imagine the following experiment: A compressively strained layer is released from the substrate by e.g. selective underetching. If the layer is homogeneously strained, the film forms wrinkles, whereas it bends if there is a large enough strain gradient across the thickness of the film. We exploit these two phenomena to create large periodic arrays of wrinkled nanochannel arrays and rolled-up micro-and nanotubes. The unique approach to transform a 2D layer system, defined by advanced deposition and lithography techniques, into a 3D object technology, opens entirely new perspectives towards reproducible, size scalable and multi-functional components for on-and off-chip applications. We demonstrate ionic sensitive field-effect transistors, novel micro-and nanojet engines, optofluidic sensors, single microtube batteries, new concepts for lab-in-a-tube systems and metamaterial fiber optics.