Polymeric rolled-up microtubes by using strained semiconductor templates

In this paper it is reported a novel approach for the fabrication of polymeric microtubes based on the combination of semiconductor strain released thin films and Layer-by-Layer (LbL) deposition technique. The structure consisting of a LbL self-assembled polylectrolytes (PEs) film deposited onto a strained GaAs/InGaAs bilayer, was properly patterned and structured to enable the self rolling of an array of channels of different lengths. Then, the semiconductor film, acting as a sacrificial template, was selectively etched to obtain polymer microtubes. The so-realized polymeric channels were characterized in detail using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Additionally, such microtubes were analyzed by confocal microscopy to prove the successful incorporation of a dye molecule within the polymeric nanowalls.