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2005 Nuggets

Welding and Sculpting of metallic and semiconducting nanowires with a focused electron-beam
Shengyong Xu, Mingliang Tian, Jinguo Wang, Joan M. Redwing, and Moses H. W. Chan, IRG3

We have demonstrated that a focused electron-beam (FEB) in a field-emission transmission electron microscope (FETEM) can be used to sculpt and welding together of metallic, semiconducting nanowires (NWs) and nanoparticles. By using a highly convergent e-beam with a diameter of 0.5 nm and a maximum intensity of 106 A/cm2, we are able to sculpt holes and gaps of 0.3-1 nm in width and complex features (e.g. letters) smaller than 10 nm × 15 nm in size, on a single NW. We can also weld individual NWs and nanoparticles together to form metal-metal (e.g., Au-Au, Au-Sn) and metal-semiconductor (e.g., Au-Si) junctions or contacts. Currently we are trying to apply this FEB technique to a platform of e-beam transparent silicon nitride (SiNx) window patterned on Si wafers. Once NWs and nanoparticles are properly assembled on the SiNx window, they will be modified and connected to pre-patterned metallic leads by the FEB technique, and then the transport measurements of the nanomaterials will be able to be carried out. This in situ FEB technique has an applicable length scale ranging from a few angstroms to 100 nm, therefore may bridge the gap between the processing limitations of STM/AFM and e-beam lithographic techniques. The technique offers a practical way to further scale-down the size of many as-synthesized nanomaterials for the studies on possible quantum effects.