We report a new approach for progressive and well-controlled downsizing of nanostructures below the 10 nm scale. Low energetic ion beam (Ar+) is used for gentle surface erosion, progressively shrinking the dimensions with ~ 1 nm accuracy. The method enables shaping of nanostructure geometry and polishing the surface. The process is clean room / high vacuum compatible being suitable for various applications. Apart from technological advantages, the method enables study of various size phenomena on the same sample between sessions of ion beam treatment.
In the majority of cases nanostructures prepared by focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) employing an organometallic precursor contain predominantly carbon-based ligand dissociation products. This is unfortunate with regard to using this high-resolution direct-write approach for the preparation of nanostructures for various fields, such as mesoscopic physics, micromagnetism, electronic correlations, spin-dependent transport and numerous applications. Here we present an in-situ cleaning approach to obtain pure Co-FEBID nanostructures. The purification procedure lies in the exposure of heated samples to a H$_2$ atmosphere in conjunction with the irradiation by low-energy electrons. The key finding is that the combination of annealing at $300^circ$C, H$_2$ exposure and electron irradiation leads to compact, carbon- and oxygen free Co layers down to a thickness of about 20,nm starting from as-deposited Co-FEBID structures. In addition to this, in temperature-dependent electrical resistance measurements on post-processed samples we find a typical metallic behavior. In low-temperature magneto-resistance and Hall effect measurements we observe ferromagnetic behavior.
We report experiments on surface nanopatterning of Si targets which are irradiated with 2 keV Ar + ions impinging at near-glancing incidence, under concurrent co-deposition of Au impurities simultaneously extracted from a gold target by the same ion beam. Previous recent experiments by a number of groups suggest that silicide formation is a prerequisite for pattern formation in the presence of metallic impurities. In spite of the fact that Au is known not to form stable compounds with the Si atoms, ripples nonetheless emerge in our experiments with nanometric wavelengths and small amplitudes, and with an orientation that changes with distance to the Au source. We provide results of sample analysis through Auger electron and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopies for their space-resolved chemical composition, and through atomic force, scanning transmission electron, and high-resolution transmission microscopies for their morphological properties. We discuss these findings in the light of current continuum models for this class of systems. The composition of and the dynamics within the near-surface amorphized layer that ensues is expected to play a relevant role to account for the unexpected formation of these surface structures.
Graphene is a unique material to study fundamental limits of plasmonics. Apart from the ultimate single-layer thickness, its carrier concentration can be tuned by chemical doping or applying an electric field. In this manner the electrodynamic properties of graphene can be varied from highly conductive to dielectric. Graphene supports strongly confined, propagating surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) in a broad spectral range from terahertz to mid-infrared frequencies. It also possesses a strong magneto-optical response and thus provides complimentary architectures to conventional magneto-plasmonics based on magneto-optically active metals or dielectrics. Despite of a large number of review articles devoted to plasmonic properties and applications of graphene, little is known about graphene magneto-plasmonics and topological effects in graphene-based nanostructures, which represent the main subject of this review. We discuss several strategies to enhance plasmonic effects in topologically distinct closed surface landscapes, i.e. graphene nanotubes, cylindric nanocavities and toroidal nanostructures. A novel phenomenon of the strongly asymmetric SPP propagation on chiral meta-structures and fundamental relations between structural and plasmonic topological indices are reviewed.
Piezoresistance is the change in the electrical resistance, or more specifically the resistivity, of a solid induced by an applied mechanical stress. The origin of this effect in bulk, crystalline materials like Silicon, is principally a change in the electronic structure which leads to a modification of the charge carriers effective mass. The last few years have seen a rising interest in the piezoresistive properties of semiconductor nanostructures, motivated in large part by claims of a giant piezoresistance effect in Silicon nanowires that is more than two orders of magnitude bigger than the known bulk effect. This review aims to present the controversy surrounding claims and counter-claims of giant piezoresistance in Silicon nanostructures by presenting a summary of the major works carried out over the last 10 years. The main conclusions that can be drawn from the literature are that i) reproducible evidence for a giant piezoresistance effect in un-gated Silicon nanowires is limited, ii) in gated nanowires a giant effect has been reproduced by several authors, iii) the giant effect is fundamentally different from either the bulk Silicon piezoresistance or that due to quantum confinement in accumulation layers and heterostructures, the evidence pointing to an electrostatic origin for the piezoresistance, iv) released nanowires tend to have slightly larger piezoresistance coefficients than un-released nanowires, and v) insufficient work has been performed on bottom-up grown nanowires to be able to rule out a fundamental difference in their properties when compared with top-down nanowires. On the basis of this, future possible research directions are suggested.
Investigations of the complex behavior of the magnetization of manganese arsenide thin films due to defects induced by irradiation of slow heavy ions are presented. In addition to the thermal hysteresis suppression already highlighted in M. Trassinelli et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 081906 (2014), we report here on new local magnetic features recorded by a magnetic force microscope at different temperatures close to the characteristic sample phase transition. Complementary measurements of the global magnetization measurements in different conditions (applied magnetic field and temperatures) enable to complete the film characterization. The obtained results suggest that the ion bombardment produces regions where the local mechanical constraints are significantly different from the average, promoting the local presence of magneto-structural phases far from the equilibrium. These regions could be responsible for the thermal hysteresis suppression previously reported, irradiation-induced defects acting as seeds in the phase transition.