Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• operating at 120 kV) and scanning electron microscopy (FEI Nova Nanolab 600 FIB/SEM). The N2 adsorption and desorption isotherms of the samples were recorded using a Micromeritics Tristar 3000 instrument at 77 K. Before running the experiment, the samples were degassed at 150 °C for 12 h in N2 gas. The

Imaging and milling resolution of light ion beams from helium ion microscopy and FIBs driven by liquid metal alloy ion sources

• Nico Klingner,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Paul Mazarov,
• Wolfgang Pilz,
• Fabian Meyer and
• Lothar Bischoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1742–1749, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.156

• /bjnano.11.156 Abstract While the application of focused ion beam (FIB) techniques has become a well-established technique in research and development for patterning and prototyping on the nanometer scale, there is still a large underused potential with respect to the usage of ion species other than

• compared with ion beams such as lithium, beryllium, boron, and silicon, obtained from a mass-separated FIB using a liquid metal alloy ion source (LMAIS) with respect to the imaging and milling resolution, as well as the current stability. Simulations were carried out to investigate whether the

• In modern nanotechnology, focused ion beam (FIB) techniques are well-established for nanoscale structuring, local surface modification, doping, prototyping, as well as for ion beam analysis. One of the main components of such a FIB system is the ion source providing the needed ion species [1

Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• direct, maskless surface patterning with a superior lateral resolution and depth control [2][3]. The portfolio of the currently used FIB-based and FIB-assisted surface patterning techniques includes a number of different methods, such as ion-beam sputtering of surface layers (ion-beam milling), ion-beam

• materials over the entire depth of their penetration path in a target. In our recent work [4], we demonstrated that, in addition to the direct surface patterning by the abovementioned techniques, the radiation damage generated by He+ FIB in the bulk of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrates can be used

• the basis of a comparative study of the role of material-related factors in the FIB-induced surface patterning. PMMA and PC polymers are especially interesting for many reasons: PMMA is widely used as a positive resist for X-ray, deep UV [8], electron and ion-beam lithography [9]. Structural

Oxidation of Au/Ag films by oxygen plasma: phase separation and generation of nanoporosity

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Said A. Mansour,
• Mujaheed Pasha,
• Atef Zekri,
• Janarthanan Ponraj,
• Akshath Shetty and
• Yousef Haik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1608–1614, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.143

• increased in size (Figure 3e,f). To investigate whether the formed nanoporous microspheres have a hollow interior or not, a cross-section SEM specimen from the sample oxidized for 30 min was prepared using focused ion beam (FIB) (Figure 3e). According to the results, the microspheres were not hollow and the

• equipped with an FEI EDS detector and a high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) detector operating at 200 kV. For qualitative elemental chemical analysis, ESPRIT software from Bruker was used. The cross-section film (thickness <100 nm) was prepared using a SEM/FIB Versa 3D dual beam instrument from FEI

• morphological evolution of the films as a function of the oxidation time: (a, b) 3 min, (c, d) 15 min and (e, f) 30 min. For all the samples the electrical power was fixed at 100 W and the pressure was fixed at 3 Pa. The SEM cross-section in panel (e) was prepared using FIB to verify whether the formed

Fabrication of nano/microstructures for SERS substrates using an electrochemical method

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Xiaoping Li,
• Junjie Yang,
• Zhengkai Li,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Xinming Zhang and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.139

• ion beam (FIB) technology can also be used to directly fabricate high-precision nanostructures on surfaces made of silicon, silicon dioxide and metal [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. FIB technology is therefore used as a processing method for SERS substrates. Using the FIB method, Lin et al. [29

• spots decreases. Sivashanmugan et al. [32] employed FIB technology to prepare nanostructures on silicon surfaces, which were then coated with Au and Ag films to generate SERS substrates. The enhancement factor range of R6G using the substrate was between 2.62 × 106 and 1.74 × 107. Gao et al. [33

• processing methods, the precision of FIB processing technology is relatively high. However, FIB processing is an expensive and low-throughput technology. In addition, the processing time of a wide range of micro/nanostructures is long. Therefore, the low-cost and efficient preparation of array nanostructures

Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

• Matthew R. Ball,
• Richard J. M. Taylor,
• Joshua F. Einsle,
• Fouzia Khanom,
• Christelle Guillermier and
• Richard J. Harrison

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1504–1515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.133

• focussed ion beam (FIB) instrument, which uses a gas field ion source (GFIS) to create highly focussed beams of noble gas ions, utilising the same working principle as the field ion microscope (FIM). This was originally used to form a primary helium beam [1], but the principle of the GFIS has since been

Atomic defect classification of the H–Si(100) surface through multi-mode scanning probe microscopy

• Jeremiah Croshaw,
• Thomas Dienel,
• Taleana Huff and
• Robert Wolkow

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1346–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.119

• using a field ion microscope (FIM) [90]. AFM tips used the third-generation Giessibl tuning forks with a FIB mounted tungsten tip (f0 ≈ 28 kHz, Q-factor ≈ 16k–22k) [91]. The tip was cleaned and sharpened in vacuum using a FIM [90]. In situ tip conditioning was done by executing controlled contact on a

An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanoscale characterization

• Santiago H. Andany,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Stefan Hummel,
• Charlène Brillard,
• Mustafa Kangül and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1272–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.111

• readout of cantilever deflection. Since then, more advanced and versatile combined instruments have been proposed for a broad spectrum of applications in nanoscale characterization and nanoscale fabrication inside SEM and focused ion beam (FIB) setups [7][8][9][10][11]. Given the extent of the interest

• sparked by SEM/FIB-AFM systems, it is reasonable to assume that the most recent ion beam microscope, the helium ion microscope (HIM), would be a serious contender for the use in combined setups in conjunction with AFM. Introduced by Ward et al. [12], the imaging capability of the HIM surpasses that of the

3D superconducting hollow nanowires with tailored diameters grown by focused He⁺ beam direct writing

• Rosa Córdoba,
• Alfonso Ibarra,
• Dominique Mailly,
• Isabel Guillamón,
• Hermann Suderow and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1198–1206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.104

• advantage of its small beam diameter (approx. 0.3 nm) and low proximity effect [28]. When precursor molecules from the gas phase are adsorbed on a substrate surface, He+ FIB dissociates them into non-volatile and volatile products. The non-volatile products attach to the surface, resulting in a deposit

• the He+ FIB spot remains fixed during the deposition favoring continuous vertical growth along [17]. Dimensional control for nanowires We investigated the dimensional control for these NWs by optimizing in the deposition the following parameters: the ion beam current and ion dose. SEM images of

• ion beam current from 1.3 to 7 pA. STEM images of these hollow NWs are shown in Figure 3a. The observed non-uniform shape of the cavity in the central nanowire could be explained by several reasons, such as He+ FIB instability or irregular substrate surface. We find a linear dependence of the inner

A set of empirical equations describing the observed colours of metal–anodic aluminium oxide–Al nanostructures

• Cristina V. Manzano,
• Jakob J. Schwiedrzik,
• Gerhard Bürki,
• Laszlo Pethö,
• Johann Michler and
• Laetitia Philippe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 798–806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.64

• (yielding to the same porosity), changing only the second anodization time (from 120 to 600 s) to obtain different film thicknesses (from 209 ± 12 nm to 380 ± 15 nm). Focused ion beam (FIB) milling and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) imaging were used to accurately determine the

• section of an AAO film after FIB cutting (Figure S4, Supporting Information File 1). The x and y values calculated from the proposed model were plotted as a function of the x and y values from the reflectance measurements, in order to check the validity of the proposed model (Figure 5a). In order to

• focused ion beam (FIB) instrument (TESCAN Lyra, Brno, Czech Republic) with a gallium source at 30 kV and 180–400 pA. 2 µm of platinum was deposited to protect the surface prior to FIB cutting. FESEM images were taken in three different areas of the films and three different measurements were carried out

Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• could not be identified visually nor be reproducibly generated. This contrasts with experiments where the smallest constriction was reduced by one order of magnitude down to about 15 nm using a focused ion beam (FIB), i.e., far below the average grain size in the Ag film, in which complex morphological

• importance of ultra-narrow structuring for obtaining reliable results, we present SEM images of Ag nanostructures before and after EM for bow-tie structures with a centre width between 100 and 200 nm in comparison with FIB-patterned bow-tie structures with a centre width below 20 nm (see Figure 1). EM in the

• results. Furthermore, we will show that the chosen starting conditions (bow-tie and FIB-patterned bow-tie structures), which result in the formation of significantly different structures during the EM process, finally undergo similar steps of thinning when getting close to the quantum regime. In order to

Comparison of fresh and aged lithium iron phosphate cathodes using a tailored electrochemical strain microscopy technique

• Matthias Simolka,
• Hanno Kaess and
• Kaspar Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 583–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.46

• (FIB) SEM and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Another technique for post-mortem analysis is atomic force microscopy (AFM). In its basic form, it provides information on the topography of the sample. More advanced AFM modes extract in addition to the topography

Gold-coated plant virus as computed tomography imaging contrast agent

• Alaa A. A. Aljabali,
• Mazhar S. Al Zoubi,
• Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh,
• Ali Al-Radaideh,
• Mohammad A. Obeid,
• Abeer Al Sharabi,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Bayan AbuFares,
• Tasnim Al-Zanati,
• Murtaza M. Tambuwala,
• Naveed Akbar and
• David J. Evans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1983–1993, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.195

• concentration of 0.01–0.05 mg/mL and deposited on 400 mesh carbon grids (SPI supplies), samples were air dried prior to imaging. Energy-dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy A FIB Scios system was used combined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a focused ion beam equipped with X-MaxN 50 mm2 EDS system to

Precise local control of liquid crystal pretilt on polymer layers by focused ion beam nanopatterning

• Maxim V. Gorkunov,
• Irina V. Kasyanova,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alena V. Mamonova and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1691–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.164

• appropriate polarized optical interference patterns, induce planar LC alignment with the director rotating within the substrate plane. Recently, we have reported on LC metasurfaces formed due to local transformation of polymer–LC anchoring from planar to vertical by focused ion beam (FIB) [31]. While the

• particular microscopic mechanism of this transformation is yet to be revealed, it is hard to underestimate the emerging application prospects. Modern FIB devices of deeply submicrometer resolution are digitally controlled with preprogrammed raster templates and can straightforwardly “imprint” arbitrary high

• vertical, mixed in a desired proportion. Digital FIB allows us to accurately control this proportion, to avoid uncertainties related to intermediate treatment doses and to accurately steer the pretilt angle variation across the aligning surface. Results and Discussion Sample fabrication We use commercial

Subsurface imaging of flexible circuits via contact resonance atomic force microscopy

• Wenting Wang,
• Chengfu Ma,
• Yuhang Chen,
• Lei Zheng,
• Huarong Liu and
• Jiaru Chu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1636–1647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.159

• 11 wt % PMMA in anisole solvent at 1500 rpm for 5 min, resulting in a thickness of approximately 3.5 µm. Then, a 300 nm thick Au film was sputtered on the PMMA substrate by using magnetron sputtering. The Au film was subsequently patterned by focused ion beam (FIB) milling (FEI, Helios NanoLab 650

• ). In FIB processing, the ion acceleration voltage and the beam current were 30 kV and 2.5 nA, respectively. The effective area of the circuit pattern was 55 × 55 µm. Finally, samples having different top layer thicknesses were obtained by spinning a more diluted PMMA solution (2–6%) with a speed

Gas sensing properties of individual SnO₂ nanowires and SnO₂ sol–gel nanocomposites

• Alexey V. Shaposhnik,
• Dmitry A. Shaposhnik,
• Sergey Yu. Turishchev,
• Olga A. Chuvenkova,
• Stanislav V. Ryabtsev,
• Alexey A. Vasiliev,
• Xavier Vilanova,
• Francisco Hernandez-Ramirez and
• Joan R. Morante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1380–1390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.136

• electrical contacts with individual nanowires [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. These contacts can be made by means of photolithography, but more often, focused ion beam (FIB) technology is used for this purpose. This approach has several advantages: first, a reliable electrical contact

• contamination on the sample surfaces. Device manufacture Manufacture of the device based on a single nanowire Individual nanowires were electrically contacted by direct focused-ion beam (FIB) platinum deposition, using an FEI dual beam Strata 235 instrument combined with a metal–organic injector to deposit

Fabrication of phase masks from amorphous carbon thin films for electron-beam shaping

• Lukas Grünewald,
• Dagmar Gerthsen and
• Simon Hettler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1290–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.128

• structure without any (in-)elastic scattering events, i.e., the amplitude is only modified slightly. Experimentally, focused ion beam (FIB) milling or electron-beam lithography are used to engrave a well-defined thickness profile in an amorphous thin film thereby exploiting the direct proportionality

• different approaches that yielded reproducible results (Figure 2). For the first method an aC layer was evaporated on the back side of the wafer by PVD (Figure 2c). Afterwards, FIB milling with an intermediate current of 0.75 nA was used to remove Pt and SixNy in a circular area from the top side (Figure 2d

• ). We used circle diameters (aperture sizes) of 10 µm and 20 µm. Continuous scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging with a secondary-electron detector was employed during milling to observe the transition between different material layers. FIB milling was stopped when a homogeneous contrast after the

CuInSe₂ quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy on amorphous SiO₂ surfaces

• Henrique Limborço,
• Pedro M.P. Salomé,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade,
• Jennifer P. Teixeira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Kamal Abderrafi,
• Joaquim P. Leitão,
• Juan C. Gonzalez and
• Sascha Sadewasser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1103–1111, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.110

• present one line for each element. The STEM lamellae were prepared in a focused ion beam (FIB) FEI Dual-Beam Helios 450S with FIB Mo-grids using a technique known as “lift-out” [35]. To improve FIB preparation and visualization of the nanodots in the STEM, the samples were coated with an amorphous carbon

Biomimetic synthesis of Ag-coated glasswing butterfly arrays as ultra-sensitive SERS substrates for efficient trace detection of pesticides

• Guochao Shi,
• Mingli Wang,
• Yanying Zhu,
• Yuhong Wang,
• Xiaoya Yan,
• Xin Sun,
• Haijun Xu and
• Wanli Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 578–588, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.59

• invaluable in research and industrial application. Researchers have paid attention to physical methods (“top-down” techniques) such as focused ion beam lithography (FIB) [14][15], electron beam lithography (EBL) [16][17] or soft nanoimprint nanolithography (NIL) [18], which can produce controllable shapes

A new bioinspired method for pressure and flow sensing based on the underwater air-retaining surface of the backswimmer Notonecta

• Matthias Mail,
• Adrian Klein,
• Horst Bleckmann,
• Anke Schmitz,
• Torsten Scherer,
• Peter T. Rühr,
• Goran Lovric,
• Robin Fröhlingsdorf,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3039–3047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.282

• joint membrane and a socket septum (Figure 3). The dendrite is enveloped in a dendritic sheath whose base shows a ciliary constriction and runs into the soma region of the sensillum (Figure 3). Tomography images using focused ion beam (FIB) techniques revealed that the two types of setae differ in

• the microstructures. Furthermore, the microstructures of the setal bases were analyzed using focused ion beam techniques (FIB, Zeiss Auriga 60). In this case, fresh hemelytra were covered with a thin gold layer using a sputter coater (Sputter Coater 108auto, Cressington). Using the FIB system, a

• trapezium-shaped precut (16 nA/30 kV) was performed and 50 nm thick tomography slices (1 nA/30 kV) covering the area of interest were cut subsequently (see Supporting Information File 1). The resulting stack of images shows the microstructure of the setal bases. One advantage of the FIB slicing technique is

Size limits of magnetic-domain engineering in continuous in-plane exchange-bias prototype films

• Alexander Gaul,
• Daniel Emmrich,
• Timo Ueltzhöffer,
• Henning Huckfeldt,
• Hatice Doğanay,
• Johanna Hackl,
• Muhammad Imtiaz Khan,
• Daniel M. Gottlob,
• Gregor Hartmann,
• André Beyer,
• Dennis Holzinger,
• Slavomír Nemšák,
• Claus M. Schneider,
• Armin Gölzhäuser,
• Günter Reiss and
• Arno Ehresmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2968–2979, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.276

• sensor applications [3][4][5], for stray field design [6][7] and particle transport in lab-on-chip systems [8][9][10][11], or in spintronics and magnonics [12][13][14]. Currently available techniques for domain patterning are either based on focused ion beams (FIB) [15][16][17], ion implantation [18][19

• patterning by Ga ions in a FIB (suffering from destruction of the thin films due to high sputter yields) [32][33], available patterning methods do not achieve the necessary resolution. Currently, the smallest engineered domains in films with in-plane anisotropy are 300 nm wide stripes produced by thermally

Site-controlled formation of single Si nanocrystals in a buried SiO₂ matrix using ion beam mixing

• Xiaomo Xu,
• Thomas Prüfer,
• Daniel Wolf,
• Hans-Jürgen Engelmann,
• Lothar Bischoff,
• René Hübner,
• Karl-Heinz Heinig,
• Wolfhard Möller,
• Stefan Facsko,
• Johannes von Borany and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2883–2892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.267

• single Si NCs. Line irradiation with a fluence of 3000 Ne+/nm2 and a line width of 4 nm leads to the formation of a chain of Si NCs, and a single NC with 2.2 nm diameter is subsequently isolated and visualized in a few nanometer thin lamella prepared by a focused ion beam (FIB). The Si NC is centered

• (DSA) techniques [22] have been implemented to achieve a small implanted volume and consequently a small number of Si NCs. However, neither approach broke through the limit to achieve a volume small enough for single Si NC formation. To achieve this goal, we demonstrate the usage of a FIB for laterally

• is supported by computer simulations of the ion beam mixing and phase separation process. Second, a systematic study of Si+ NC formation is reported, to define optimized irradiation and annealing parameters. Third, these parameters are adapted to the FIB approach using the HIM. For this scenario

Controlling surface morphology and sensitivity of granular and porous silver films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, SERS

• Sherif Okeil and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2813–2831, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.263

• -30 FEG using an electron beam at 25 kV. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the silver films were recorded using a Tecnai G2 F20 microscope operating at 200 kV after the use of focused-ion beam (FIB) for sample preparation [74]. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed on a

• TEM (FIB) images of an as-sputtered 10 nm silver film with a 10 nm silver film treated with nitrogen plasma (g12-p200) for 5 min shows a decrease in the silver film density indicated by a contrast change through which the boundaries of the different crystallites become visible (Figure 4d,e). At the

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

• Antonino Foti,
• Francesco Barreca,
• Enza Fazio,
• Cristiano D’Andrea,
• Paolo Matteini,
• Onofrio Maria Maragò and
• Pietro Giuseppe Gucciardi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2718–2729, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.254

• deposition (EBID) and focused ion beam (FIB) milling [41][42][43] (see [30][44] for reviews). Fabrication methods capable of guaranteeing high reproducibility, cost-effectiveness and scalability to industrial production are, however, still not available at present. Metal vapor deposition on AFM tips is

High-temperature magnetism and microstructure of a semiconducting ferromagnetic (GaSb)_1−x(MnSb)_x alloy

• Leonid N. Oveshnikov,
• Elena I. Nekhaeva,
• Alexey V. Kochura,
• Alexander B. Davydov,
• Mikhail A. Shakhov,
• Sergey F. Marenkin,
• Oleg A. Novodvorskii,
• Alexander P. Kuzmenko,
• Alexander L. Vasiliev,
• Boris A. Aronzon and
• Erkki Lahderanta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2457–2465, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.230

• samples demonstrated linear current–voltage characteristics down to sub-helium temperatures while sustaining high values of conductivity. The cross-section specimens for S/TEM studies were prepared by focus ion beam (FIB) milling in a Helios (FEI, US) SEM/FIB dual-beam system equipped with C and Pt gas

• injectors and a micromanipulator (Omniprobe, US). A 2 μm Pt layer was deposited on the surface of the sample prior to the cross-section preparation by FIB milling. Sections of approximately 8 × 5 μm2 area and 2 μm thickness were cut by 30 kV Ga+ ions, removed from the sample and then attached to the