Fabrication of narrow-gap nanostructures using electron-beam induced deposition etch masks

Plasmonic metal nanostructures with extremely small features: new effects, fabrication and applications

“… 127 Lately, Hoogenboom's group developed an electron-beam induced deposition etch mask method, achieving Au dimers with sub-10 nm spacing distance. 128 For the FIB process, Ga-ion beams generally only can obtain structures with gap size larger than 10 nm due to the low resolution. Carl Zeiss Company reported a 4 nm nanogap on a suspended Au film obtained using He-ion lithography.…”

3D Nanoprinting via laser-assisted electron beam induced deposition: growth kinetics, enhanced purity, and electrical resistivity

“…Conveniently, EBID has the advantage of being compatible with a wide range of precursor and substrate materials [ 12 ]. Several applications have been explored with EBID and focused electron beam induced etching including: sensors [ 13 – 15 ], field emission cathodes [ 16 – 17 ], plasmonic elements [ 3 , 18 ], lithographic mask repair [ 19 – 21 ], scanning probe tips [ 22 – 25 ], photonic materials [ 26 ], magnetic materials [ 27 – 28 ], nanoparticle separations [ 29 ], and lithographic techniques [ 30 – 31 ] to name a few. While standard patterning of the electron beam has resulted in complex 2D deposits of arbitrary shape, care must be taken as subtle proximity effects can be minimized or exacerbated in some electron beam [ 32 ], gas flux and patterning [ 33 ], and temperature regimes [ 34 ].…”

‘Cleanroom’ in SEM

“…SEM's are often equipped with a commercial plasma cleaner to clean the specimen and specimen chamber. The application of resist in SEM will be difficult too, but patterning can also be achieved by using masks fabricated by FEBIP [2,3]. Any pattern can be deposited, using this technique, on a pre-deposited device layer, and subsequently transferred into the device layer using a plasma etching process.…”