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Reduction of nanowire diameter beyond lithography limits by controlled catalyst dewetting

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Kerlich, A 
Amram, D 
Gavrilov, A 
Cohen, S 

Abstract

Catalyst assisted vapour-liquid-solid is the most common method to realize bottom-up nanowire growth; establishing a parallel process for obtaining nanoscale catalysts at pre-defined locations is paramount for further advancement towards commercial nanowire applications. Herein, the effect of a selective area mask on the dewetting of metallic nanowire catalysts, deposited within lithography-defined mask pinholes, is reported. It was found that thin disc-like catalysts, with diameters of 120-450 nm, were transformed through dewetting into hemisphere-like catalysts, having diameters 2-3 fold smaller; the process was optimized to about 95% yield in preventing catalyst splitting, as would otherwise be expected due to their thickness-to-diameter ratio, which was as low as 1/60. The catalysts subsequently facilitated InP and InAs nanowire growth. We suggest that the mask edges prevent surface migration mediated spreading of the dewetted metal, and therefore induce its agglomeration into a single particle. This result presents a general strategy to diminish lithography-set dimensions for NW growth, and may answer a fundamental challenge faced by bottom-up nanowire technology.

Description

Keywords

catalyst engineering, bottom up, nanowires, dewetting

Journal Title

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0022-3727
1361-6463

Volume Title

Publisher

IOP Publishing
Sponsorship
The financial support of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) and of the Israeli Nanotechnology Focal Technology Area on "Nanophotonics for Detection" (Grant 4369512) is highly appreciated. The fabrication was performed at the Micro-Nano Fabrication Unit (MNFU), Technion.