A Josephson junction based on a highly disordered superconductor/low-resistivity normal metal bilayer

• Pavel M. Marychev and
• Denis Yu. Vodolazov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 858–865, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.71

• -thickness SN-N-SN bilayer in which the superconducting layer is partially (or entirely) etched by means of a focused ion beam. A sufficiently thick normal metal layer act as a good thermal bath, which yields a nonhysteretic current–voltage characteristic even at low temperatures. However, the increase of

A set of empirical equations describing the observed colours of metal–anodic aluminium oxide–Al nanostructures

• Cristina V. Manzano,
• Jakob J. Schwiedrzik,
• Gerhard Bürki,
• Laszlo Pethö,
• Johann Michler and
• Laetitia Philippe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 798–806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.64

• (yielding to the same porosity), changing only the second anodization time (from 120 to 600 s) to obtain different film thicknesses (from 209 ± 12 nm to 380 ± 15 nm). Focused ion beam (FIB) milling and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) imaging were used to accurately determine the

• focused ion beam (FIB) instrument (TESCAN Lyra, Brno, Czech Republic) with a gallium source at 30 kV and 180–400 pA. 2 µm of platinum was deposited to protect the surface prior to FIB cutting. FESEM images were taken in three different areas of the films and three different measurements were carried out

Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

• the BNNTs, the PL is photostable, althougt the SPE purity is still not exceptional. In [118] SPE in a ball-like 0D BN allotrope with dimensions ≈1–100 nm, known as nanococoon BNNC, is shown. The density of the SPEs was increased by dual-beam focused ion beam and SEM to selectively irradiate the sample

• controlled formation and properties. Random generation in the material using bubble strain-induced SPEs is also demonstrated in [125]. Focused ion beam irradiation was used to mill holes in the h-BN to achieve array-like SPEs around the perimeter of the holes [126]. This method yield is very high compared to

• grown on copper, nickel and iron substrates, with a high density of SPEs of ≈100−200 per 10 × 10 µm2 with more defined ZPLs at (580 ± 10) nm. The most promising approaches seem to be the strain-induced methods and the focused ion beam method, possibly combined with low-pressure CVD for more controlled

Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• could not be identified visually nor be reproducibly generated. This contrasts with experiments where the smallest constriction was reduced by one order of magnitude down to about 15 nm using a focused ion beam (FIB), i.e., far below the average grain size in the Ag film, in which complex morphological

Comparison of fresh and aged lithium iron phosphate cathodes using a tailored electrochemical strain microscopy technique

• Matthias Simolka,
• Hanno Kaess and
• Kaspar Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 583–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.46

• spectroscopy (EDS or EDX) it adds chemical information on the elemental distribution to the structural analysis. Further methods that have been applied to study ageing in LFP are X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), focused ion beam

Gold-coated plant virus as computed tomography imaging contrast agent

• Alaa A. A. Aljabali,
• Mazhar S. Al Zoubi,
• Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh,
• Ali Al-Radaideh,
• Mohammad A. Obeid,
• Abeer Al Sharabi,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Bayan AbuFares,
• Tasnim Al-Zanati,
• Murtaza M. Tambuwala,
• Naveed Akbar and
• David J. Evans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1983–1993, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.195

• concentration of 0.01–0.05 mg/mL and deposited on 400 mesh carbon grids (SPI supplies), samples were air dried prior to imaging. Energy-dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy A FIB Scios system was used combined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a focused ion beam equipped with X-MaxN 50 mm2 EDS system to

Precise local control of liquid crystal pretilt on polymer layers by focused ion beam nanopatterning

• Maxim V. Gorkunov,
• Irina V. Kasyanova,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alena V. Mamonova and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1691–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.164

• alignment of rubbed polymer layers can be locally flipped to vertical by irradiation with a focused ion beam on a scale of tens of nanometers. Results: We propose a digital method to precisely steer the liquid crystal director tilt at polymer surfaces by combining micrometer-size areas treated with focused

• appropriate polarized optical interference patterns, induce planar LC alignment with the director rotating within the substrate plane. Recently, we have reported on LC metasurfaces formed due to local transformation of polymer–LC anchoring from planar to vertical by focused ion beam (FIB) [31]. While the

• ion beam and pristine areas. The liquid crystal tends to average the competing vertical and planar alignment actions and is stabilized with an intermediate pretilt angle determined by the local pattern duty factor. In particular, we create micrometer-sized periodic stripe patterns with this factor

Subsurface imaging of flexible circuits via contact resonance atomic force microscopy

• Wenting Wang,
• Chengfu Ma,
• Yuhang Chen,
• Lei Zheng,
• Huarong Liu and
• Jiaru Chu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1636–1647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.159

• 11 wt % PMMA in anisole solvent at 1500 rpm for 5 min, resulting in a thickness of approximately 3.5 µm. Then, a 300 nm thick Au film was sputtered on the PMMA substrate by using magnetron sputtering. The Au film was subsequently patterned by focused ion beam (FIB) milling (FEI, Helios NanoLab 650

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• generated in the analyzer. The work function of the sample was calculated as WF = hν Ecut-off, where Ecut-off was determined from the intersection of the linear extrapolation of the secondary-electron cut-off (SECO) with the background. All samples were sputtered with argon ions using a scanning focused ion

• beam source in order to remove surface contaminants. A monoatomic argon ion source was utilized with energy of 2 keV, ion current 10 µA, raster area 1 × 1 mm2 and sputtering time 30 s. Results and Discussion Separated metal nanoparticles on the substrate In TE materials the NIs applicable for an

Gas sensing properties of individual SnO₂ nanowires and SnO₂ sol–gel nanocomposites

• Alexey V. Shaposhnik,
• Dmitry A. Shaposhnik,
• Sergey Yu. Turishchev,
• Olga A. Chuvenkova,
• Stanislav V. Ryabtsev,
• Alexey A. Vasiliev,
• Xavier Vilanova,
• Francisco Hernandez-Ramirez and
• Joan R. Morante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1380–1390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.136

• electrical contacts with individual nanowires [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. These contacts can be made by means of photolithography, but more often, focused ion beam (FIB) technology is used for this purpose. This approach has several advantages: first, a reliable electrical contact

• contamination on the sample surfaces. Device manufacture Manufacture of the device based on a single nanowire Individual nanowires were electrically contacted by direct focused-ion beam (FIB) platinum deposition, using an FEI dual beam Strata 235 instrument combined with a metal–organic injector to deposit

Fabrication of phase masks from amorphous carbon thin films for electron-beam shaping

• Lukas Grünewald,
• Dagmar Gerthsen and
• Simon Hettler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1290–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.128

• , which induces unwanted scattering events. Results: Phase masks of conductive amorphous carbon (aC) were successfully fabricated with optical lithography and focused ion beam milling. Analysis by TEM shows the successful generation of Bessel and vortex beams. No charging or degradation of the aC phase

• structure without any (in-)elastic scattering events, i.e., the amplitude is only modified slightly. Experimentally, focused ion beam (FIB) milling or electron-beam lithography are used to engrave a well-defined thickness profile in an amorphous thin film thereby exploiting the direct proportionality

CuInSe₂ quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy on amorphous SiO₂ surfaces

• Henrique Limborço,
• Pedro M.P. Salomé,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade,
• Jennifer P. Teixeira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Kamal Abderrafi,
• Joaquim P. Leitão,
• Juan C. Gonzalez and
• Sascha Sadewasser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1103–1111, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.110

• present one line for each element. The STEM lamellae were prepared in a focused ion beam (FIB) FEI Dual-Beam Helios 450S with FIB Mo-grids using a technique known as “lift-out” [35]. To improve FIB preparation and visualization of the nanodots in the STEM, the samples were coated with an amorphous carbon

Nanoscale optical and structural characterisation of silk

• Meguya Ryu,
• Reo Honda,
• Adrian Cernescu,
• Arturas Vailionis,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Jitraporn Vongsvivut,
• Jing-Liang Li,
• Denver P. Linklater,
• Elena P. Ivanova,
• Vygantas Mizeikis,
• Mark J. Tobin,
• Junko Morikawa and
• Saulius Juodkazis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 922–929, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.93

• modalities of sample preparation for nanoscale imaging include focused ion beam milling and microtome slicing. When the thickness of samples, especially soft biomaterials, is close to 100 nm the cutting tool might cause tear- and cut-induced strain below the surface. In turn, this can cause artifacts in the

Biomimetic synthesis of Ag-coated glasswing butterfly arrays as ultra-sensitive SERS substrates for efficient trace detection of pesticides

• Guochao Shi,
• Mingli Wang,
• Yanying Zhu,
• Yuhong Wang,
• Xiaoya Yan,
• Xin Sun,
• Haijun Xu and
• Wanli Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 578–588, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.59

• invaluable in research and industrial application. Researchers have paid attention to physical methods (“top-down” techniques) such as focused ion beam lithography (FIB) [14][15], electron beam lithography (EBL) [16][17] or soft nanoimprint nanolithography (NIL) [18], which can produce controllable shapes

A new bioinspired method for pressure and flow sensing based on the underwater air-retaining surface of the backswimmer Notonecta

• Matthias Mail,
• Adrian Klein,
• Horst Bleckmann,
• Anke Schmitz,
• Torsten Scherer,
• Peter T. Rühr,
• Goran Lovric,
• Robin Fröhlingsdorf,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3039–3047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.282

• joint membrane and a socket septum (Figure 3). The dendrite is enveloped in a dendritic sheath whose base shows a ciliary constriction and runs into the soma region of the sensillum (Figure 3). Tomography images using focused ion beam (FIB) techniques revealed that the two types of setae differ in

• the microstructures. Furthermore, the microstructures of the setal bases were analyzed using focused ion beam techniques (FIB, Zeiss Auriga 60). In this case, fresh hemelytra were covered with a thin gold layer using a sputter coater (Sputter Coater 108auto, Cressington). Using the FIB system, a

Site-controlled formation of single Si nanocrystals in a buried SiO₂ matrix using ion beam mixing

• Xiaomo Xu,
• Thomas Prüfer,
• Daniel Wolf,
• Hans-Jürgen Engelmann,
• Lothar Bischoff,
• René Hübner,
• Karl-Heinz Heinig,
• Wolfhard Möller,
• Stefan Facsko,
• Johannes von Borany and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2883–2892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.267

• single Si NCs. Line irradiation with a fluence of 3000 Ne+/nm2 and a line width of 4 nm leads to the formation of a chain of Si NCs, and a single NC with 2.2 nm diameter is subsequently isolated and visualized in a few nanometer thin lamella prepared by a focused ion beam (FIB). The Si NC is centered

• , this limit can only be achieved if the beam diameter becomes smaller than the lateral straggling in the collision cascade. One particularly flexible way of doing this is to use a focused ion beam. We employed a focused Ne+ beam from a helium ion microscope [32]. Such equipment allows focusing a 30 keV

• He+ beam to a diameter smaller than 0.5 nm or alternatively a 25 keV Ne+ beam in less than 2 nm. Currently, no other commercially available technology can provide a better-focused ion beam. However, due to the lateral straggling and the reduced geometrical overlap of neighboring collision cascades

Charged particle single nanometre manufacturing

• Philip D. Prewett,
• Cornelis W. Hagen,
• Claudia Lenk,
• Steve Lenk,
• Marcus Kaestner,
• Tzvetan Ivanov,
• Ahmad Ahmad,
• Ivo W. Rangelow,
• Xiaoqing Shi,
• Stuart A. Boden,
• Alex P. G. Robinson,
• Dongxu Yang,
• Sangeetha Hari,
• Marijke Scotuzzi and
• Ejaz Huq

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2855–2882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.266

• multibeam electron writers [13] are emerging as novel tools of the future. In addition to resist-based lithography, these are capable of writing patterns by electron beam induced deposition [14]. Focused ion beam tools are also becoming increasingly important. The latter include multi-beam ion beam systems

• quasi-proximity effect. This is not due to ion backscattering but rather to the shape of the focused ion beam which on the scale of 10 nm or so, exhibits a “halo” in which the central Gaussian spot is surrounded by a second broader lower-intensity region [21][22]. These limitations historically

Controlling surface morphology and sensitivity of granular and porous silver films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, SERS

• Sherif Okeil and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2813–2831, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.263

• -30 FEG using an electron beam at 25 kV. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the silver films were recorded using a Tecnai G2 F20 microscope operating at 200 kV after the use of focused-ion beam (FIB) for sample preparation [74]. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed on a

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

• Antonino Foti,
• Francesco Barreca,
• Enza Fazio,
• Cristiano D’Andrea,
• Paolo Matteini,
• Onofrio Maria Maragò and
• Pietro Giuseppe Gucciardi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2718–2729, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.254

• deposition (EBID) and focused ion beam (FIB) milling [41][42][43] (see [30][44] for reviews). Fabrication methods capable of guaranteeing high reproducibility, cost-effectiveness and scalability to industrial production are, however, still not available at present. Metal vapor deposition on AFM tips is

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• pearlitic steel with round dimples, no microstructural changes within the 100Cr6 samples in the heat affected zone were expected [15]. Figure S2, Supporting Information File 1 shows a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a cross-section through a laser-textured sample prepared by focused ion beam

• microscopy of the laser surface textured samples was performed with a FEI Helios 650 (Hillsborough, USA) scanning electron/focused ion beam microscope used in electron beam mode only. Tribological characterization The tribological pin-on-disc tests for the experiments against different counter body materials

• . Supporting Information Figure S1: Optical micrograph of a scale-like surface texture after 1000 m of dry sliding against sapphire. Figure S2: Scanning electron microscopy image of a focused ion beam cross-section of a laser-textured sample. Figure S3: Optical micrograph of a PEEK disc after a dry sliding

Thickness-dependent photoelectrochemical properties of a semitransparent Co₃O₄ photocathode

• Malkeshkumar Patel and
• Joondong Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2432–2442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.228

• focused ion beam system (FIB, FEI, Quanta 3D FEG). The elemental compositions in the cross sections of the Co3O4 layers in the working electrode were determined as line profiles by an energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) attachment to the FETEM. Thickness and average surface roughness of the deposited

Hydrothermal-derived carbon as a stabilizing matrix for improved cycling performance of silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion full cells

• Mirco Ruttert,
• Florian Holtstiege,
• Jessica Hüsker,
• Markus Börner,
• Martin Winter and
• Tobias Placke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2381–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.223

• -sections were prepared by a focused ion beam (FIB) milling process using gallium ions extracted from a high brightness liquid metal ion source. Nitrogen adsorption experiments were performed on a 3Flex Physisorption device (Micromeritics GmbH) at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (−196 °C). Before the

Directional light beams by design from electrically driven elliptical slit antennas

• Shuiyan Cao,
• Eric Le Moal,
• Quanbo Jiang,
• Aurélien Drezet,
• Serge Huant,
• Jean-Paul Hugonin,
• Gérald Dujardin and
• Elizabeth Boer-Duchemin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2361–2371, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.221

• milled in the gold film using a focused ion beam (FIB) at the NanoFab facility (Institut Néel, Grenoble, France). A scanning electron microscopy image of an elliptical slit is shown in Supporting Information File 1. Schematics of the experiment. A single (a) circular or (b) elliptical slit etched in a

Two-dimensional photonic crystals increasing vertical light emission from Si nanocrystal-rich thin layers

• Lukáš Ondič,
• Marian Varga,
• Ivan Pelant,
• Alexander Kromka,
• Karel Hruška and
• Robert G. Elliman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2287–2296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.213

• with etching [14] or focused ion beam milling [15] are used to prepare photonic structures with well-defined dimensions on small areas. These approaches are therefore suitable for laboratory testings but not for practice. This issue was recently solved by developing large-scale production techniques

Intrinsic ultrasmall nanoscale silicon turns n-/p-type with SiO₂/Si₃N₄-coating

• Dirk König,
• Daniel Hiller,
• Noël Wilck,
• Birger Berghoff,
• Merlin Müller,
• Sangeeta Thakur,
• Giovanni Di Santo,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Joachim Mayer,
• Sean Smith and
• Joachim Knoch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2255–2264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.210

• SiO2-layer to facilitate the preparation of cross sections by the focused ion beam technique using a FEI Strata FIB 205 workstation. Some samples were further thinned by means of a Fischione NanoMill. The TEM analysis of the cross sections was performed on a FEI Tecnai F20 TEM operated at 200 kV at the