A low-kiloelectronvolt focused ion beam strategy for processing low-thermal-conductance materials with nanoampere currents

• Annalena Wolff,
• Nico Klingner,
• William Thompson,
• Yinghong Zhou,
• Jinying Lin and
• Yin Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1197–1207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.97

• current, 50% beam overlap. The lifted-out lamella was pre-thinned at 50.5° (front side) and 53.5° (backside) using 5 kV, 0.6 nA, and 50% beam overlap. The final thinning was performed using 5 kV, 0.23 nA, and 50% overlap at 50.5° (front side) and 53.5° (backside). Polishing was not performed as the

Level set simulation of focused ion beam sputtering of a multilayer substrate

• Alexander V. Rumyantsev,
• Nikolai I. Borgardt,
• Roman L. Volkov and
• Yuri A. Chaplygin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 733–742, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.61

• structures to protect the surface. Cross section specimens for transmission electron microscopy investigation were prepared using in situ lift-out [39]. Final polishing was performed at the glancing incidence angles of the ion beam through the gradual decrease of the accelerating voltage from 30 to 2 kV. The

Modulated critical currents of spin-transfer torque-induced resistance changes in NiCu/Cu multilayered nanowires

• Mengqi Fu,
• Roman Hartmann,
• Julian Braun,
• Sergej Andreev,
• Torsten Pietsch and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 360–366, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.32

• STT-induced features can be interpreted as asynchronous changes of the magnetization direction of different NiCu layers as well as spin accumulation at different interfaces. (a) SEM image after nanowire deposition and surface polishing. The bright dots represent the deposited nanowires the tops of

A graphene quantum dots–glassy carbon electrode-based electrochemical sensor for monitoring malathion

• Sanju Tanwar,
• Aditi Sharma and
• Dhirendra Mathur

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 701–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.56

• collected after centrifugation. To obtain the GQDs, the final black suspension was filtered through a 0.22 µm syringe filter. Fabrication of the electrochemical sensor A mirror-like surface was first achieved on the bare GCE by polishing it with 0.3 and 0.05 μm alumina powder. In the next step the GCE was

Hydroxyapatite–bioglass nanocomposites: Structural, mechanical, and biological aspects

• Olga Shikimaka,
• Mihaela Bivol,
• Bogdan A. Sava,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Christu Tardei,
• Beatrice G. Sbarcea,
• Daria Grabco,
• Constantin Pyrtsac,
• Daria Topal,
• Andrian Prisacaru,
• Vitalie Cobzac and
• Viorel Nacu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1490–1504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.123

• composites sintered at these temperatures exhibited low bonding between constituent particles. This was manifested by the impossibility to obtain a sufficiently smooth surface during polishing, which is necessary for microindentation testing. Constituent particles were pulled out from the surface instead of

• being polishing. Therefore, the composites sintered at 1100 and 1150 °C were excluded from further investigations. Porosity and density measurements The SEM results correlate well with the density (ρa) and porosity (Pa) measurements of the composites, the data of which are presented in the diagrams of

Double-layer symmetric gratings with bound states in the continuum for dual-band high-Q optical sensing

• Chaoying Shi,
• Jinhua Hu,
• Xiuhong Liu,
• Junfang Liang,
• Jijun Zhao,
• Haiyan Han and
• Qiaofen Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1408–1417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.116

• polishing and deep RIE, followed by removal of the BOX layer of the donor substrate by wet etching using hydrofluoric acid. Finally, the gratings are fabricated on the top layer with EBL and RIE, while the silicon handle and BOX layer on top are removed in the same way. It should be pointed out that the

Laser-processed antiadhesive bionic combs for handling nanofibers inspired by nanostructures on the legs of cribellate spiders

• Sebastian Lifka,
• Kristóf Harsányi,
• Erich Baumgartner,
• Lukas Pichler,
• Dariya Baiko,
• Karsten Wasmuth,
• Johannes Heitz,
• Marco Meyer,
• Anna-Christin Joel,
• Jörn Bonse and
• Werner Baumgartner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1268–1283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.105

• thank K. Zieger and C. Opitz (BAM division 9.5) for polishing the metal samples as well as K. Kistermann (GFE Aachen) for his active support at the FIB-SEM. Funding This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program within the project “BioCombs4Nanofibers

Influence of water contamination on the sputtering of silicon with low-energy argon ions investigated by molecular dynamics simulations

• Grégoire R. N. Defoort-Levkov,
• Alan Bahm and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 986–1003, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.86

• commonly used for the final polishing in TEM lamellae preparation, it is interesting to understand the impact of water in this specific case. To quantify the impact of contaminants on the irradiation process, we looked at the distributions of implanted argon particles and compared them to the distribution

The effect of metal surface nanomorphology on the output performance of a TENG

• Yiru Wang,
• Xin Zhao,
• Yang Liu and
• Wenjun Zhou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 298–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.25

• EM-30) was used to observe the nanocrystalline structure of the samples in detail. Fabrication Fabrication The copper surface was pretreated by polishing the copper sheets with sandpaper of 1000, 3000, and 5000 mesh. Subsequently, the copper was acid deoiled to remove organic stains on the surface

Measurement of polarization effects in dual-phase ceria-based oxygen permeation membranes using Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Kerstin Neuhaus,
• Christina Schmidt,
• Liudmila Fischer,
• Wilhelm Albert Meulenberg,
• Ke Ran,
• Joachim Mayer and
• Stefan Baumann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1380–1391, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.102

• according to the Fe3−xCoxO4 phase diagram [10]. For electrical conductivity measurements, the samples were burnished using sanding paper (1200 graining). For KFPM measurements, the samples were embedded in epoxy resin and polished to mirror using diamond polishing paste. The roughness of the polished

• the sign of the polarization, it was observed in some cases that charge is obviously distributed along scratches on the surface, which were introduced by polishing. This underlines the hypothesis, that fast charge transport in ceria-based materials via the uppermost surface layers is still possible at

Is the Ne operation of the helium ion microscope suitable for electron backscatter diffraction sample preparation?

• Annalena Wolff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 965–983, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.73

• study of microstructure, grain size, and orientation as well as strain of a crystallographic sample. In addition, the technique can be used for phase analysis. A mirror-flat sample surface is required for this analysis technique and different polishing approaches have been used over the years. A

• commonly used approach is the focused ion beam (FIB) polishing. Unfortunately, artefacts that can be easily induced by Ga FIB polishing approaches are seldom published. This work aims to provide a better understanding of the underlying causes for artefact formation and to assess if the helium ion

• alterations and, in some instances, phase transformation of Cu to Cu3Ga occurred when polishing with Ga ions. Polishing with high-energy Ne ions at a glancing angle maintains the crystal structure and significantly improves indexing in EBSD measurements. By milling down to a depth equaling the depth of the

Uniform arrays of gold nanoelectrodes with tuneable recess depth

• Elena O. Gordeeva,
• Ilya V. Roslyakov,
• Alexey P. Leontiev,
• Alexey A. Klimenko and
• Kirill S. Napolskii

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 957–964, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.72

• mechanical polishing or ion etching and subsequent re-deposition of the current collector. It is worth noting that a great number of Au electrodes within the array is extremely important for a practical application of NEAs under the kinetic control of a target electrochemical process. In this case, the

Determination of elastic moduli of elastic–plastic microspherical materials using nanoindentation simulation without mechanical polishing

• Hongzhou Li and
• Jialian Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 213–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.17

• specimen is assumed to be a perfectly flat surface, thus ignoring the influences of surface roughness that might be encountered in experiment. For nanoindentation measurements, a flat surface is fabricated from curved specimens by mechanical polishing. However, the position of the polished curved surface

• influences of surface roughness that might be encountered in experiment. For nanoindentation measurements, a flat surface is fabricated from curved specimens by mechanical polishing. However, the position of the polished curved surface cannot be controlled [13]. Small-scale microplastics with curved

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 layers of the wing a cross-sectional image of the fragment of the Chalcopterix rutilans male rear wing was obtained by SEM. Before preparing and polishing the cross section with a FIB, the wing was inserted in an evaporator to cover the surface with a thin Pt layer in order to make it conductive

• and reduce the curtain effect during FIB polishing. The Ga+ beam of the FIB was adjusted to 30 kV and 1 nA to mill a cross section of the wing while polishing was carried out under 30 kV, 16 kV and 5 kV, all of them with a beam current of 50 pA. Determination of the SPM parameters The sample thickness

• wavelength spectrum. The image in (b) shows the ventral side, which is almost all red, remarkably similar to the iridescent wing of the female C. rutilans. SEM image of the cross section of a red region fragment of the Chalcopterix rutilans male rear wing. The smooth region was obtained by polishing using

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

• ) have a slightly different polishing rate, which results in the observed topography. In the AFM topography image, one can localize the two deep trench isolation structures in the silicon wafer, as well as the anode and cathode contacts. It is important to note that a low roughness is required for a

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

• polishing Figure 2 also demonstrates another issue with sample preparation, that is, polishing. Polishing is critical for the extraction of quantitative information using the SIMS method, since surface relief distorts the extraction field, enhancing extraction of secondary ions at topographic highs relative

• substitute in the crystal lattice within a solid solution. The Li signal appears to be stronger along mica sheets perpendicular to the c-axis of the crystal structure. However, this may be the result of surface topography similar to that observed in the zircon samples, as a result of polishing picking out

Analysis of catalyst surface wetting: the early stage of epitaxial germanium nanowire growth

• Owen C. Ernst,
• Felix Lange,
• David Uebel,
• Thomas Teubner and
• Torsten Boeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1371–1380, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.121

• ) wafer. The subsequent chemical–mechanical polishing provided a highly flat surface (RMS = 0.3 nm). Gold with a nominal thickness of 1 nm was evaporated from an effusion cell onto the heated substrate with a deposition rate of 0.01 nm/s, which was calibrated before with an Inficon XTC/3 quartz crystal

Exfoliation in a low boiling point solvent and electrochemical applications of MoO₃

• Matangi Sricharan,
• Bikesh Gupta,
• Sreejesh Moolayadukkam and
• H. S. S. Ramakrishna Matte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 662–670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.52

• (SCE) as reference electrode were used for the electrochemical testing of the exfoliated MoO3 dispersions and its composites. In brief, the GCE was cleaned with a polishing cloth using fine alumina abrasive powders and washed thoroughly in deionized water. The required amount of the dispersion of known

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• first cutting MEA samples (8 × 8 mm2) and embedding them in epoxy resin. Then, the MEA cross-sections were prepared by mechanical polishing until a mirror-like surface was achieved and were observed using a Zeiss FEG-SEM LEO1530. Electrochemical measurements RRDE measurements The electrochemical

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

• layer prior to the protective Pt bi-layer deposition assisted by electron and ion beams. The final polishing of the lamella was done using 1 keV in energy to reduce the lateral damage and the Ga implantation effects in the lamellae. EDS was performed in the same STEM microscope in order to check the [Cu

In situ AFM visualization of Li–O₂ battery discharge products during redox cycling in an atmospherically controlled sample cell

• Kumar Virwani,
• Younes Ansari,
• Khanh Nguyen,
• Francisco José Alía Moreno-Ortiz,
• Jangwoo Kim,
• Maxwell J. Giammona,
• Ho-Cheol Kim and
• Young-Hye La

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 930–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.94

• deposits cover most of the glassy carbon surface. The deposits have rod-like, partial spherical and spherical shapes. The measured deposits are 200–400 nm at 100% discharge capacity of 2.2 µAh. The deposits do not appear to adhere preferentially to surface features on glassy carbon such as polishing marks

• 1 ppm [42]. Glassy carbon was laser cut into 12 mm diameter discs. The surface of the glassy carbon was polished [43] to an average root-mean-square roughness of less than 10 nm. Upon polishing, the glassy carbon was cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and deionized water and further dried in a vacuum

A comparison of tarsal morphology and traction force in the two burying beetles Nicrophorus nepalensis and Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera, Silphidae)

• Liesa Schnee,
• Benjamin Sampalla,
• Josef K. Müller and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 47–61, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.5

• various roughness scales on insect attachment forces, traction force experiments (Figure 5c–d) were conducted on epoxy casts (Epoxydharz L®, No 236349, Conrad electronics, Hirschau, Deutschland) made by using a two-step-method [54], on glass slides (Figure 5e: smooth) and on Al2O3 polishing paper (261X

• nanotribometric friction measurements, non-polar and strongly polar Al2O3 polishing papers were made to give the two different roughnesses (micro-rough and rough). Al2O3 polishing papers were silanized for the production of non-polar test surfaces [19], whereas for polar surfaces the polishing papers were treated

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

• higher than 25 K/s, thus for simplicity, only the time at peak temperature is taken into account for the thermal budget calculation. Energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) Cross-sectional samples were obtained by classical lamella preparation including sawing, grinding, polishing

Characterization of the microscopic tribological properties of sandfish (Scincus scincus) scales by atomic force microscopy

• Weibin Wu,
• Christian Lutz,
• Simon Mersch,
• Richard Thelen,
• Christian Greiner,
• Guillaume Gomard and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2618–2627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.243

• (National Instruments, Austin, USA) code. The tests were conducted at room temperature and in air with 50% relative humidity. Sample preparation for the non-biological samples relied on grinding with SiC papers of #800 down to #4000 grid. Mechanical polishing was carried out with a 3 µm diamond suspension

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• perform the laser surface texturing. The last polishing step was performed with a colloidal SiO2 suspension (OP-U from Struers, Willich, Germany). The entire sample preparation process yielded a scratch-free surface, having a surface roughness of Ra < 0.01 µm as determined by optical profilometry