Large Array of Sub‐10‐nm Single‐Grain Au Nanodots for use in Nanotechnology

Abstract

A uniform array of single-grain Au nanodots, as small as 5-8 nm, can be formed on silicon using e-beam lithography. The as-fabricated nanodots are amorphous, and thermal annealing converts them to pure Au single crystals covered with a thin SiO(2) layer. These findings are based on physical measurements, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, and chemical techniques using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. A self-assembled organic monolayer is grafted on the nanodots and characterized chemically with nanometric lateral resolution. The extended uniform array of nanodots is used as a new test-bed for molecular electronic devices.

Charge transport through redox active [H7P8W48O184]33− polyoxometalates self-assembled onto gold surfaces and gold nanodots

“…Once the best conditions have been determined on commercially available substrates, POM layers have been prepared onto template-stripped Au surfaces ( TS Au) 85 and Au nanodots [86][87] tetrahedra green) and schematization (not at scale) of its electrostatic deposition onto a 8-amino-1octanethiol (AOT) SAM. The POM has a wheel-shaped structure with a diameter of ~2.0 nm and a thickness of ~1.0 nm.…”

Molecular Electronics: From Single‐Molecule to Large‐Area Devices

“…Typically, in a few μm 2 C‐AFM image (Figure c), 2000–4000 NMJs are measured in a single scan. Current or conductance histograms are simply extracted from these C‐AFM images and repeating this approach at various bias allow the measurement of 2D histograms of the current‐voltages (I−V) curves . With this NMJ approach, focusing on the archetype alkylthiol junctions, it was observed that the number of the conductance peaks depends on the atomic details of the electrode surface: 2 peaks for NMJs on single crystal Au nanodot vs. 3 peaks for SAMs on more disordered polycrystalline Au surfaces .…”

Guided immobilisation of single gold nanoparticles by chemical electron beam lithography

“…Periodic arrays of nanometre-sized metal structures hold great promise for future applications, e.g., in nanoelectronics [1–4] or in biohybrid devices [5–6]. The most common technique to generate such structures is the evaporation of a thin metal film through a resist mask structured by electron beam lithography (EBL) or other lithographic techniques [1,7].…”

“…The most common technique to generate such structures is the evaporation of a thin metal film through a resist mask structured by electron beam lithography (EBL) or other lithographic techniques [1,7]. In general, these fabrication techniques involve five or more processing steps, including formation, patterning and development of resist films, metal evaporation/sputtering and lift-off, whereby feature sizes rarely go beyond the 10 nm threshold [1]. Depending on the chosen substrate, e.g., SiO 2 , additional metal layers such as Ti are needed as adhesive layers.…”