Fabricating Nanogaps by Nanoskiving |
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Authors: | Parisa Pourhossein Ryan C Chiechi |
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Institution: | Stratingh Institute for Chemistry and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen |
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Abstract: | There are several methods of fabricating nanogaps with controlled spacings, but the precise control over the sub-nanometer spacing between two electrodes-and generating them in practical quantities-is still challenging. The preparation of nanogap electrodes using nanoskiving, which is a form of edge lithography, is a fast, simple and powerful technique. This method is an entirely mechanical process which does not include any photo- or electron-beam lithographic steps and does not require any special equipment or infrastructure such as clean rooms. Nanoskiving is used to fabricate electrically addressable nanogaps with control over all three dimensions; the smallest dimension of these structures is defined by the thickness of the sacrificial layer (Al or Ag) or self-assembled monolayers. These wires can be manually positioned by transporting them on drops of water and are directly electrically-addressable; no further lithography is required to connect them to an electrometer. |
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Keywords: | Chemistry Issue 75 Materials Science Chemical Engineering Electrical Engineering Physics Nanotechnology nanodevices (electronic) Nanoskiving nanogaps nanofabrication molecular electronics nanowires fabrication etching ultramicrotome scanning electron microscopy SEM |
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