Nanometer-spaced platinum electrodes with calibrated separation

TL;DR

This paper presents a fabrication method for platinum electrode pairs with nanometer-scale separation, using electron beam lithography and chemical deposition, enabling precise control and robust measurements at atomic scales.

Contribution

The authors introduce a novel technique combining lithography and electrodeposition to reliably produce and calibrate nanometer-spaced platinum electrodes with atomic-scale precision.

Findings

The electrodes have separations between 20 and 3.5 nm.

The conductance measurement accurately calibrates electrode separation.

The electrodes are robust under high voltages and used for transport measurements.

Abstract

We have fabricated pairs of platinum electrodes with separation between 20 and 3.5 nm. Our technique combines electron beam lithography and chemical electrodeposition. We show that the measurement of the conductance between the two electrodes through the electrolyte provides an accurate and reproducible way to control their separation. We have tested the robustness of the electrodes by applying large voltages across them and by using them to measure the transport properties of Au nano-clusters. Our results show that the technique reliably produces metallic electrodes with a separation that bridges the minimum scale accessible by electron beam lithography with the atomic scale.