2005 Nuggets
Seed Project Nugget: A TEM-compatible platform for linking transport to structures of nanomaterials
Shengyong Xu, Jian Xu and Mingliang Tian
A low-cost, TEM-compatible platform of metal-lead/Si3N4-window/Si/TEM-grid [1], shown in Fig. 1, has been fabricated for TEM analyses, high-intensity electron beam (HIEB) processes [2], and ex situ electrical transport measurements of nanomaterials. By using the HIEB technique on this platform, we could reduce the electrical contact resistance between an as-assembled Au nanowire (NW) and Au leads of the platform by 3-7 orders of magnitude. Also, both the electrical transport and structural information of the same individual polycrystalline Au NWs under high current tests were obtained, where the NWs could sustain a current density up to 108 A/cm2 before they were damaged [3]. Functions of the platform can be further extended for on-site measurement of nanostructures in a nano-device, e.g., a doped Si NW in a field-effect transistor (FET) fabricated on the Si3N4-window
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| Fig. 1 (a) A TEM image of an Au NW assembled between two Au leads (marked with letters “L”), lying on the freestanding Si3N4 window of an Au-lead/Si3N4-window/Si/TEM-grid platform. The upper-left inset is a SEM image of two pieces of the platform. The lower-right inset is a TEM image of the Si3N4 window with 4 Au leads on one platform. (b) Magnified TEM image of the Au NW marked with a rectangle in (a), whose electron diffraction patterns are shown in the upper-left inset. After the contact regions of the Au NW-Au leads, marked by circles in (a), are welded by a HIEB, the 2-probe V-I data of the NW reveals a nominal resistance of 186 , as shown in the lower-right inset. (c) A TEM image of another Au NW assembled on the platform after a current-induced damage test. The inset shows the V-I curve of the NW under the damage test. (d) A zoom-in TEM image of the region marked by a red square in (c). |
[1] Xu et al., accepted by Nanotechnology. [2] Xu et al., Small 1 (2005) 1221. [3] Xu et al., in preparation.
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