Molecular beam deposition of DNA nanometer films

The development of novel photonic devices which incorporate biological materials is strongly tied to the development of thin film forming processes. Solution-based ("wet") processes when used with biomaterials in device fabrication suffer from dissolution of underlying layers, incompatibility with clean environment, inconsistent film properties, etc. We have investigated ultra-high-vacuum molecular beam deposition of surfactant-modified deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). We have obtained effective deposition rates of approximately 0.1-1 A/s, enabling reproducible and controllable deposition of nanometer-scale films.