Structural changes of electron and ion beam-deposited contacts in annealed carbon-based electrical devices

The use of electron and ion beam deposition to make devices containing discrete nanostructures as interconnectors is a well-known nanofabrication process. Classically, one-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been electrically characterized by resorting to these beam deposition...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanotechnology 2015-11, Vol.26 (44), p.445301-8
Main Authors: Batra, Nitin M, Patole, Shashikant P, Abdelkader, Ahmed, Anjum, Dalaver H, Deepak, Francis L, Costa, Pedro M F J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
carbon
Contact
contact annealing
Deposition
Devices
dual beam
Electric contacts
electrical devices
Electrodes
Ion beams
nanofabrication
Nanostructure
Platinum
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Summary:The use of electron and ion beam deposition to make devices containing discrete nanostructures as interconnectors is a well-known nanofabrication process. Classically, one-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been electrically characterized by resorting to these beam deposition methods. While much attention has been given to the interconnectors, less is known about the contacting electrodes (or leads). In particular, the structure and chemistry of the electrode-interconnector interface is a topic that deserves more attention, as it is critical to understand the device behavior. Here, the structure and chemistry of Pt electrodes, deposited either with electron or ion beams and contacted to a CNT, are analyzed before and after thermally annealing the device in a vacuum. Free-standing Pt nanorods, acting as beam-deposited electrode models, are also characterized pre- and post-annealing. Overall, the as-deposited leads contain a non-negligible amount of amorphous carbon that is consolidated, upon heating, as a partially graphitized outer shell enveloping a Pt core. This observation raises pertinent questions regarding the definition of electrode-nanostructure interfaces in electrical devices, in particular long-standing assumptions of metal-CNT contacts fabricated by direct beam deposition methods.
ISSN:0957-4484
1361-6528
DOI:10.1088/0957-4484/26/44/445301