Large array of sub-10 nm single-grain Au nanodots for use in nanotechnology

TL;DR

This paper reports the fabrication of uniform, sub-10 nm gold nanodots on silicon, their transformation into single crystals via annealing, and their application as a test-bed for molecular electronics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to create and characterize ultra-small gold nanodots and demonstrates their use in molecular electronics testing.

Findings

Nanodots as small as 5-8 nm can be fabricated on silicon.

Thermal annealing converts amorphous nanodots into single-crystal gold.

The nanodots serve as a new platform for molecular electronics experiments.

Abstract

A uniform array of single-grain Au nanodots, as small as 5-8 nm, can be formed on silicon using e-beam lithography. The as-fabricated nanodots are amorphous, and thermal annealing converts them to pure Au single crystals covered with a thin SiO2 layer. These findings are based on physical measurements, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, and chemical techniques using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. A self-assembled organic monolayer is grafted on the nanodots and characterized chemically with nanometric lateral resolution. We use the extended uniform array of nanodots as a new test-bed for molecular electronics devices.