Direct writing of gold nanostructures with an electron beam: On the way to pure nanostructures by combining optimized deposition with oxygen-plasma treatment

• Domagoj Belić,
• Mostafa M. Shawrav,
• Emmerich Bertagnolli and
• Heinz D. Wanzenboeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2530–2543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.253

• direct writing of purer gold nanostructures that can enable their future use for demanding applications. Keywords: FEBID; gold nanostructures; oxygen plasma; postdeposition purification; Introduction Focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) is an additive direct-write method for making complex

• issue. For that reason, this study focuses on the optimization of deposition mechanism using a commercially available metal-organic gold precursor and explores oxygen-plasma treatment as a potentially viable large-scale postdeposition purification method for 2D and 3D nanostructures. Over the last few

• -purity gold nanostructures, removing (or minimizing) the need for any postdeposition purification. Recently, notable advances have been made in this line of work. For example, in situ purification during deposition using simultaneous flows of both O2 and precursor yielded up to a 1:10 C/Au ratio [67

Comparing postdeposition reactions of electrons and radicals with Pt nanostructures created by focused electron beam induced deposition

• Julie A. Spencer,
• Michael Barclay,
• Miranda J. Gallagher,
• Robert Winkler,
• Ilyas Unlu,
• Yung-Chien Wu,
• Harald Plank,
• Lisa McElwee-White and
• D. Howard Fairbrother

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2410–2424, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.240

• surface area Pt catalysts and may reverse the effects of sintering. In marked contrast to the effect observed with AH, densification of the structure was observed during the postdeposition purification of PtCx deposits created from MeCpPtMe3 using atomic oxygen (AO), although the limited penetration depth

• postdeposition purification strategies capable of removing halogen atoms, despite the presence of halide ligands in many organometallic precursors. Compared to carbon, contaminant halogen atoms in FEBID structures present a different challenge when it comes to purification strategies as they cannot be removed by

• postdeposition purification strategy where FEBID structures created from Co2(CO)8 were annealed to 300 °C and exposed to H2 and electron irradiation leading to the formation of compact, carbon- and oxygen-free 20 nm thick Co layers [43]. As a means of comparison, the effect of AH on other contaminant elements