Characterization of ion track-etched conical nanopores in thermal and PECVD SiO₂ using small angle X-ray scattering

• Shankar Dutt,
• Rudradeep Chakraborty,
• Christian Notthoff,
• Pablo Mota-Santiago,
• Christina Trautmann and
• Patrick Kluth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 899–909, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.68

• nanopores in different materials, which is essential for optimizing membrane performance in applications that require precise pore geometry. Keywords: etched ion tracks; SiO2; small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS); swift heavy ion irradiation; track-etched nanopores; Introduction Solid-state nanopores have

• dioxide [29][40][30]. Amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2) has excellent chemical stability, well-understood surface chemistry, and compatibility with semiconductor processing, opening up new applications for track-etched nanopores in this material [30]. In this study, we report the characterization of track

• different growth mechanisms, the resulting layers have different properties [47][48] and it can be expected that the track-etched nanopores also show different characteristics, including the track etching process itself. Understanding how the different fabrication methods influence the characteristics of