タンパク質の二次元結晶化を利用した量子ドット作製(<小特集>ナノ結晶)

抄録

Two dimensional metallo-protein crystals will provide a way to realizing important break-through in nanometerscale engineering. We employ ferritin molecule to realize an array of quantum nano-dots. Ferritin has a protein shell with a diameter of 1 2 nm and a core of iron oxide with a diameter of 6 nm. Two-dimensional crystals of ferritin molecule were made at air/water interface and transferred onto a Si wafer with little deformation. The protein portion of ferritin was eliminated by the heat-treatment, which left two-dimensional arrays of inorganic iron oxide dots on the Si wafer. The size and repeat distance of the dots were 6 and 12 nm, respectively. Feasibility study of the application of this nano-dot array to the quantum devices is now in progress.