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Atomic resolution top-down nanofabrication with low-current focused-ion-beam thinning

Li, W; Cui, A; Gu, C; Warburton, PA; (2012) Atomic resolution top-down nanofabrication with low-current focused-ion-beam thinning. Microelectronic Engineering , 98 301 - 304. 10.1016/j.mee.2012.07.108. Green open access

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Abstract

Techniques for scalable fabrication of one-dimensional or quasi-one-dimensional nanowires are of great importance to observe quantum size effects and build quantum information devices. In this work, we developed a technique for size reduction of both lateral and freestanding tungsten composite nanostructures using focused-ion-beam (FIB) thinning. Different exposure times and ion-beam currents were used to control the final size and the thinning rate and accuracy of a group of nanowires, an individual nanowire and a portion of a nanowire by low-current site-specific milling. A transmission electron microscope image of a thinned superconducting tungsten composite nanowire with width reduced from 80 nm to 50 nm shows uniform shrinking along the length of the wire and high resolution image shows no obvious changes of the morphology after thinning. The variation of the superconducting critical current density upon thinning is insignificant; it is 1.7 × 105 and 1.4 × 105 A/cm2 at 4.26 K for the as-deposited and wire with width reduced to 50 nm, respectively. These results suggest that FIB-milling is a potential approach for controllable size reduction enabling the observation of size- and quantum effects.

Type: Article
Title: Atomic resolution top-down nanofabrication with low-current focused-ion-beam thinning
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.mee.2012.07.108
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2012.07.108
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: Size reduction, Atomic resolution, Focused-ion-beam, Thinning, Superconductivity
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > London Centre for Nanotechnology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1389460
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