Nanometer Sized Trees Made By Electron Beam - New Technology

A new type of nanostructure, nanometer-sized trees ("NANOTREES"), have been successfully fabricated by the decomposition of organic metal gas associated with an electron beam irradiation. The branching of the nanotree was found and the diameter of the branch is smaller than 3 nm.

The area of nanotrees grown on insulator substrates ("nanoforest") is constrained by the size of the electron beam used and is about the same or smaller than that of the beam. Therefore, positions and sizes of the nanoforest can be easily controlled in the order of 10 to more than 1000 nm regime. Electric charge-up effect on the surface of substrates is proposed to be a mechanism for the growth of the nanotree structures. Due to the large ratio of their surface area to the substrate and the controllability of structures, compositions and positions, they are anticipated to be applied in nanostructure-making technologies in various fields.

Posted 9^th October 2003