Caption: The purplish glow of energized hydrogen plasma contained within a quartz cylinder surrounds and helps purify a silicon wafer coated with a diamond film. The process creates a highly-stable surface suitable for binding biochemicals such as DNA and proteins, and integrating microelectronic devices for use as biological sensors. Professor of chemistry Robert Hamers worked in collaboration with Lloyd Smith, also a professor of chemistry, to develop the chemistry for the new diamond surfaces, and with Dan van der Weide, professor of electrical and computer engineering, to achieve the electronic sensing.
Photo by: Jeff Miller
Date: February 2003
High-resolution 300 DPI JPEG
