Fabrication of 2-and 3-dimensional nanostructures

Amongst tools for fabricating periodic and aperiodic nanostructures and nan odevices, electron beam-induced organometallic chemical vapor deposition (E -OMCVD) offers a highly flexible and controllable one-step deposition proce ss. E-OMCVD enables maskless fabrication of nanoscale research and custom s tructures that have least dimensions near or below 10nm - a scale at which other methods prove difficult or costly. Using the focused electron beam in a modified HB501 field-emission scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), pads and wires with uniform thickness and well-defined shapes have been defined and deposited. Although conditions for fabricating the smalles t deposits have not yet been optimized, the edge acuity (sharpness) of the deposits is consistently as low as 4nm or less and the corresponding smalle st wire width is 8nm. Under different deposition conditions, three-dimensio nal open structured nanonetworks have been fabricated. Results of an invest igation of E-OMCVD parameters are presented for the metallocene compound, n ickelocene (Ni(C5H5)(2)), as source organometallic.