Liu Dongqing

Annealing effect of platinum-incorporated nanowires created by focused ion/electron-beam-induced deposition

Focused ion-beam-induced deposition (FIBID) and focused electron-beam-induced deposition (FEBID) are convenient and useful in nanodevice fabrication. Since the deposition is from the organometallic platinum precursor, the conductive lines directly written by focused ion-beam (FIB) and focused electron-beam (FEB) are carbon-rich materials. We discuss an alternative approach to enhancing the platinum content and improving the conductivity of the conductive leads produced by FIBID and FEBID, namely an annealing treatment. Annealing in pure oxygen at 500 °C for 30 min enhances the platinum content values from ~18% to 30% and ~ 50% to 90% of FIBID and FEBID, respectively. Moreover, we find that thin films will be formed in the FIBID and FEBID processes. The annealing treatment is helpful to avoid the current leakage caused by these thin films. A single electron transistor is fabricated by FEBID and the current—voltage curve shows the Coulomb blockade effect.