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17 Jun 2002
Bacteria that contaminate the chip fabrication process have been shown to transmit electrons and to fluoresce.
Courtesy of Opto & Laser Europe (OLE) magazine
The bacteria, Pseudomonas syzgii, live in the water used in semiconductor manufacturing. They bury themselves into materials such as silicon and germanium. Crystals form around the bacteria, protecting them.
Researchers Robert Forsberg at the University of Buffalo and Jan Sjogren at the University of Arizona, US, found that the bacteria make sufficiently close contact with the semiconductor crystals in which they are encased that electrons can be passed between the bacteria and crystal. They also found that the microbes self-fluoresce when illuminated by a laser. They now plan to attach microwires to the new "biochip" and to monitor how electron-hole flow is affected by light-stimulated bacterial activity.
Robert Baier, director of the Buffalo research centre on biosurfaces, said: "Chip makers treat the water with everything from ozone to ultraviolet light in an effort to keep these bacteria out, but still they get in. And in this very hostile environment, they adapt. We were trying to figure out how to eliminate these bacteria, but as it turned out we discovered something that could be the beginning of a new field."
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