The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

• Victor Deinhart,
• Lisa-Marie Kern,
• Jan N. Kirchhof,
• Sabrina Juergensen,
• Joris Sturm,
• Enno Krauss,
• Thorsten Feichtner,
• Sviatoslav Kovalchuk,
• Michael Schneider,
• Dieter Engel,
• Bastian Pfau,
• Bert Hecht,
• Kirill I. Bolotin,
• Stephanie Reich and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 304–318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.25

• pattern geometries, especially with curved edges, the available features of commercial patterning control software are not sufficient to even create the corresponding adapted beam paths. To address these issues, we developed the pattern generation toolbox FIB-o-mat with a Python interface. FIB-o-mat

• an application programming interface (API) or patterning options of the manufacturer, large-area patterning can be automated by FIB-o-mat. Another interesting approach for the automation of small and regularly arranged patterns makes use of the pitch in high-level patterns [31]. When setting the

• patterning without affecting the topography of the films [32]. The local modification of the magnetic properties, in particular anisotropy and exchange coupling (including the chiral Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction), originates from structural modifications, such as interface structure, atomic ordering

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• adhesion interface areas are desired. Regarding this, a variety of surface coatings was assessed. Relevant parameters may be the zeta potential and pre-adsorbed cell adhesion proteins from the serum of the medium [4][10]. Before osteoblasts start the adhesion and spreading programs, they settle on the

• surface of the material. Apart from cell biologic parameters, the adhesion interface area and the speed of its formation provide insights concerning the biocompatibility of the surface with regard to osteoblastic cells [11]. Dynamic remodeling of the cytoskeleton is the basis for shape adaptation and

• 500 nm. However, the dimensions and the extent of polarity vary among different cells (not shown). With time, the adhesion interface increases and polarity gets less distinct. Furthermore, the cell exhibits a pronounced elevation of apparently 2 µm with a width of 1 µm (see blue graph in Figure 1b

Extended iron phthalocyanine islands self-assembled on a Ge(001):H surface

• Rafal Zuzak,
• Marek Szymonski and
• Szymon Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 232–241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.19

• scanning probe microscopes [1][2][3]. At the same time, however, metallic substrates usually influence the properties of adsorbed molecular species, leading to hybridization, charge transfer, or screening at the interface [4][5][6]. Also, metallic surfaces may provide relatively weak binding, dominated by

Toward graphene textiles in wearable eye tracking systems for human–machine interaction

• Ata Jedari Golparvar and
• Murat Kaya Yapici

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 180–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.14

• with perfect pattern detection accuracies of 100% and 98%, respectively. Keywords: electrooculography (EOG); flexible electronics; graphene; human–computer interaction (HCI); human–machine interface (HMI); personal assistive device (PAD); wearable smart textile; Introduction Eye tracking technologies

• 11.6 kΩ (at 1 kHz). Additionally, since the operation of the textile electrodes relies on charge flow, moisture and sweat can increase the interface conductivity of the skin electrodes and provide an even better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in long-term monitoring applications in contrast to “wet

• , two resistors, and one capacitor. A small-sized printed circuit board (ca. 0.9 × 1.3 cm) was designed and implemented to demonstrate a proof of concept. It allowed for robust integration and an electrical interface between the buffer-circuit components and the graphene textiles to form “active

Paper-based triboelectric nanogenerators and their applications: a review

• Jing Han,
• Nuo Xu,
• Yuchen Liang,
• Mei Ding,
• Junyi Zhai,
• Qijun Sun and
• Zhong Lin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 151–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.12

• power sources or self-powering strategies. Chen et al. showed the construction of origami P-TENGs as a self-powered paper interface (SPIN) to harvest mechanical energy from contact–separation movements [132] (Figure 6b). The SPIN unit is made of copper tape electrodes, PTFE, and nylon sheet friction

Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• ). The α coefficient map and its average profile differ slightly from the topographic information, but some correspondences are identified. Thicker regions have a smaller α coefficient, as can be seen at the wing–resin interface (Figure 5b). There seems to be a correlation between topography (Figure 5a

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

• Necrotic Mosaic Virus (RCNMV), and Turnip Yellow Mosaic Virus (TYMV) may also be used for the synthesis of Ag nanostructures [272]. The AgNPs can be synthesized either inside the viral template, within the interface, or on the outer surface [272]. In one of the early works, Dujardin et al. [261

Atomic layer deposited films of Al₂O₃ on fluorine-doped tin oxide electrodes: stability and barrier properties

• Hana Krýsová,
• Michael Neumann-Spallart,
• Hana Tarábková,
• Pavel Janda,
• Ladislav Kavan and
• Josef Krýsa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 24–34, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.2

• voltammogram of the sample resembled that of pure FTO, indicating that a significant charge transfer occurred at the electrolyte solution/FTO interface. The blocking properties of a 17 nm thick Al2O3 film after a 5 min exposure to 1 M NaOH were evaluated via EPA calculation and shown in Table 1. A 5 min

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• filaments joining adjacent microvilli” at high magnification. Tsuji et al. investigated the alteration of endothelium and podocytes during progressing glumerulopathy in Col4a3 (Alport syndrome) mice [73]. HIM was used to visualise the podocyte and endothelial interface, which, in contrast to previously

Free and partially encapsulated manganese ferrite nanoparticles in multiwall carbon nanotubes

• Saja Al-Khabouri,
• Salim Al-Harthi,
• Toru Maekawa,
• Mohamed E. Elzain,
• Ashraf Al-Hinai,
• Ahmed D. Al-Rawas,
• Abbsher M. Gismelseed,
• Ali A. Yousif and
• Myo Tay Zar Myint

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1891–1904, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.170

• perpendicular to the graphene plane positioned at 3.1 eV (sp2-hybridized carbon network) [34]. These features can be clearly seen in Figure 6. A work function identification of MnFe2O4/MWCNTs is needed to better understand the electronic structure and the interaction between MWCNTs and MnFe2O4 at the interface

Towards 3D self-assembled rolled multiwall carbon nanotube structures by spontaneous peel off

• Jonathan Quinson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1865–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.168

• off is not observed when no compositional change is induced (i.e., if only undoped or nitrogen-doped MWCNTs are synthesized [21]). The peeling off seems to happen preferentially at a Nx/Cx+1 interface, which is weaker and less continuous than a Cx/Nx+1 interface, as we recently documented [16] and as

• , there is a wavy, a straight, and another wavy section. This sequential changes in the morphology is in agreement with the synthesis sequence used. The interface between the expected N2 and C3 sections is marked by a brighter line. Raman spectra of undoped MWCNTs and nitrogen-doped MWCNTs are

• same structures at the bottom of the CNT forest, although clear structures related to Fe nanoparticles are observed at the N1/C2 interface (see discussion below Figure 4). This confirms that creating a N1/C2 interface is challenging. It is established that the inner diameter of MWCNTs increases with

Scanning transmission imaging in the helium ion microscope using a microchannel plate with a delay line detector

• Eduardo Serralta,
• Nico Klingner,
• Olivier De Castro,
• Michael Mousley,
• Santhana Eswara,
• Serge Duarte Pinto,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1854–1864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.167

• acquisition of the STIM data and the external scan generator are controlled by a LabView interface based on an earlier implementation used for ToF-SIMS in the HIM [14]. The program allows for the generation of sample images in which the gray value, or color, of each pixel is assigned based upon the strength

Piezotronic effect in AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction nanowires used as a flexible strain sensor

• Jianqi Dong,
• Liang Chen,
• Yuqing Yang and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1847–1853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.166

• ), , , and Plm are along the negative direction of the c-axis. That is, the positive polarization charges are gathered on the −c plane whereas the negative polarization charges are generated on the +c plane. At the heterojunction interface, the positive polarization charge on the bottom surface of AlGaN

• couples with the negative polarization charge on the top surface of GaN, resulting in a positive net polarization charge. This results in the attraction of free electrons in the GaN layer, which gather on the GaN side and form a 2DEG [4]. The 2DEG at the heterojunction interface has a higher electron

• piezoelectric polarization along the negative direction of the c axis, which resulted in a negative piezoelectric charge on the +c-plane of the GaN layer. The corresponding net polarization charge at the heterojunction interface decreases, resulting in a decrease in the density of the 2DEG. Therefore, as the

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

• photodegradation activity. Charge transfer between mSiO2@NiPS and TiO2 led to a faster charge-carrier separation and transportation at the interface, improving the photoactivity. The photocatalytic results showed that the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance with a methyl violet

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• structure. As shown in the inset of Figure 2d, the main diffraction peaks of the Ni–Fe PBA precursor are consistent with the standard patterns of Ni3[Fe(CN)6]2 (JCPDS: 51-1897). During a hydrothermal pretreatment, the ion-exchange reaction of OH−/[Fe(CN)6]3− occurred at the interface between NiFe-PBA cubes

• as high as that of NiFe@NC/PPC at the same current density [40]. This is probably due to the synergistic effects between NiFe alloy, transition carbides, and N-doped carbon materials. Akhtar et al. [29] suggested that the presence of Ni and electron-rich nanointerfaces across the Ni–Ni3C interface

• activity. In this work, during hydrothermal pretreatment, the ion-exchange reaction of OH−/[Fe(CN)6]3− occurred at the interface between NiFe-PBA cubes and NaOH solution, resulting in Ni(OH)2/NiFe-PBA core–shell structure [44][45][46]. During the calcination process, Ni(OH)2 was converted to NiCx, and the

Molecular dynamics modeling of the influence forming process parameters on the structure and morphology of a superconducting spin valve

• Alexander Vakhrushev,
• Aleksey Fedotov,
• Vladimir Boian,
• Roman Morari and
• Anatolie Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1776–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.160

• system is not perfectly flat. The surface has noticeable irregularities that penetrate into adjacent layers. The figures also show that there is a mutual penetration of one contact layer into another. Therefore, the layer interface has a certain quantifiable thickness. It should be noted that the atomic

• structure of each layer does not form an ideal single crystal, but rather a polycrystalline system is formed. The influence of the interface quality on the spin valve functionality is an especially important issue, which has been experimentally investigated in previous works [16][17][18][19] where the

• quantum-mechanical transparency of the interface, TF, was assigned. Here, they considered the effect of the mutual solubility of the metals (of a superconductor and a ferromagnet) on the quantum-mechanical transparency. The transparency parameter of the interface for completely non-wetting metals, such as

Mapping of integrated PIN diodes with a 3D architecture by scanning microwave impedance microscopy and dynamic spectroscopy

• Rosine Coq Germanicus,
• Peter De Wolf,
• Florent Lallemand,
• Catherine Bunel,
• Serge Bardy,
• Hugues Murray and
• Ulrike Lüders

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1764–1775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.159

• accessible. Thereby, sMIM can be considered very useful for the failure analysis of several mechanisms, such as interface delineation, local diffusion, or conformity of filling layers. This methodology extends the possibilities to investigate the nanoscale electrical properties and can also solve issues

Absorption and photoconductivity spectra of amorphous multilayer structures

• Oxana Iaseniuc and
• Mihail Iovu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1757–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.158

• explanation of our experimental data, as in the case for CIS-based solar cells with 1 < m < 2 (the transition part to m > 2) [16], is more complicated than that of the data of single-layer structures, because according to [16] the origin of the non-linear behavior may be the interface between the absorber and

Functional nanostructures for electronics, spintronics and sensors

• Anatolie S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1704–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.152

• functional nanostructures consisting of alternating layers of ferromagnetic and superconducting materials – has been observed. Due to the proximity effect of superconductor/ferromagnetic (S/F) layers and Andreev reflection of Cooper pairs at the S/F interface, a number of new phenomena were first

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

• -plane features, at the nanoscale, of the pre-deposited films. Ion irradiation of the Au-coated samples results in delamination, bulging, and perforation of the Au film, which is attributed to the accumulation of gases from radiolysis at the film–substrate interface. The irradiation with Ne+ and Ga+ ions

• of the cells in rows 1 and 2 in Figure 4a and confirmed by AFM imaging in Figure 4b. These effects are attributed to the accumulation of gases from radiolysis at the Au film/PMMA interface and to the pressure that becomes, at a certain fluence and at certain places, sufficiently high to delaminate

The influence of an interfacial hBN layer on the fluorescence of an organic molecule

• Christine Brülke,
• Oliver Bauer and
• Moritz M. Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1663–1684, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.149

• independently by Schwarz and co-workers [31]. Large distances of the molecule with respect to the hBN and the metal interface are expected to be beneficial for the decoupling because the metal wave functions decrease exponentially into the vacuum. We have previously shown that the bonding situation between

• interactions at the interface [50] unlikely. Secondly, the strong dependence of the Raman intensity on the sample position (see above) conforms with the interpretation of a SERS effect related to local hot spots. However, the details of the related adsorption sites remains unclear. Since the SERS effect is

• observed for hBN on SiO2/Si [61], on Cu foils [62], and on other metal foils [63][64] for our samples of hBN/Cu(111). This is an obvious discrepancy, which we cannot explain based on our current data. It may, however, be related to the specific interface between hBN and the single crystalline Cu substrate

A self-powered, flexible ultra-thin Si/ZnO nanowire photodetector as full-spectrum optical sensor and pyroelectric nanogenerator

• Liang Chen,
• Jianqi Dong,
• Miao He and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1623–1630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.145

• external power source. Working mechanism of a PENG based on p-Si/n-ZnO NWs heterojunctions To illustrate the working mechanism of self-powered PDs, schematic diagrams for the different conditions are presented in Figure 2. In the dark, a depletion layer is formed at the heterojunction interface due to

• -axis of the ZnO NWs (Figure 2, middle). Because the direction of the pyroelectric electric field (Epy) is the same as Eb and the barrier height decreases at the heterojunction interface due to the generation of a negative polarization potential, the total electric field in the depletion zone increases

PTCDA adsorption on CaF₂ thin films

• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1615–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.144

• (111) surface with deposition on thicker CaF2/CaF1/Si(111) films. The identification of mostly single molecules on the CaF1/Si(111) interface layer is explained by the presence of atomic-size defects within this layer. Geometry-optimisation calculations using density functional theory reveal a geometry

• films on Si(111) requires the formation of a CaF1 interface layer as the first step. This interface layer is generated by an interface reaction between CaF2 and the silicon surface [28][29], where surface temperatures around 600 °C during deposition facilitate the dissociation of CaF2 to CaF1 and F. The

• dissociated fluorine atoms mostly desorb from the surface, likely in the form of SixF molecules [28][29]. Thicker CaF2 layers can then be grown stoichiometrically on the interface layer by successive CaF2 deposition. The CaF1/Si(111) surface has a (1 × 1) termination after etching the Si(111)-(7 × 7

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

• metal/silver oxide interface. Based on the scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis coupled with energy dispersive X-ray mapping a mechanism was proposed based on solid-state diffusion and the Kirkendall effect to explain the different steps occurring during the oxidation process. Keywords

• film can be explained by the Kirkendall effect [24]. More precisely, as silver diffuses out of the alloy film, vacancies are injected into the metal/oxide interface and migrate within the fast-diffusing medium (represented here by the metal alloy in Figure 8c). As the oxidation process evolves

Walking energy harvesting and self-powered tracking system based on triboelectric nanogenerators

• Mingliang Yao,
• Guangzhong Xie,
• Qichen Gong and
• Yuanjie Su

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1590–1595, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.141

• totally different from its application in the previously reported work [34]. In the latter, the undulated elastic electrode configuration was utilized to harvest the impact from the water waves together with a solid–liquid interface generator to collect the electrostatic energy from the water body. In