Beams of electrons and ions are now fairly routinely focused to dimensions in the nanometer range. Since the beams can be used to locally alter material at the point where they are incident on a surface, they represent direct nanofabrication tools. The authors will focus here on direct fabrication rather than lithography, which is indirect in that it uses the intermediary of resist. In the case of both ions and electrons, material addition or removal can be achieved using precursor gases. In addition ions can also alter material by sputtering ͑milling͒, by damage, or by implantation. Many material removal and deposition processes employing precursor gases have been developed for numerous practical applications, such as mask repair, circuit restructuring and repair, and sample sectioning. The authors will also discuss structures that are made for research purposes or for demonstration of the processing capabilities. In many cases the minimum dimensions at which these processes can be realized are considerably larger than the beam diameters. The atomic level mechanisms responsible for the precursor gas activation have not been studied in detail in many cases. The authors will review the state of the art and level of understanding of direct ion and electron beam fabrication and point out some of the unsolved problems.

The fracture strength of silicon nanowires grown on a [111] silicon substrate by the vapor−liquid−solid process was measured. The nanowires, with diameters between 100 and 200 nm and a typical length of 2 µm, were subjected to bending tests using an atomic force microscopy setup inside a scanning electron microscope. The average strength calculated from the maximum nanowire deflection before fracture was around 12 GPa, which is 6% of the Young's modulus of silicon along the nanowire direction. This value is close to the theoretical fracture strength, which indicates that surface or volume defects, if present, play only a minor role in fracture initiation.

We present a technique for local growth of high-resolution, high-aspect-ratio magnetic tips and thin adherent magnetic cap coatings on top of batch fabricated scanning force microscopy silicon tips. A focused electron beam of a scanning electron microscope is used for decomposition of a directed cobalt carbonyl vapor flux. Exposure parameters determine the tip geometry and tip length. Deposits consist of cubic Co clusters of 2–5 nm in size dispersed in a stabilizing carbonaceous matrix. Magnetic force microscope sensors having magnetic tip apex diameters between 50 and 240 nm were produced. Tracks of magnetic transitions written in recording media of hard disks were used to characterize tip performance.

Codeposition of hydrocarbons is a severe problem during focused electron beam writing of pure metal nanostructures. When using organometallic precursors, a low metal content carbonaceous matrix embedding and separating numerous nanosized metal clusters is formed. In this work, we present a new and easy approach to obtain high purity gold lines: the use of inorganic PF3AuCl as a precursor. Electrical resistivities as low as 22 μΩ cm at 295 K (ten times the bulk Au value) were obtained. This is to our knowledge the best value for focused electron beam deposition obtained from the vapor phase so far. No special care was taken to prevent hydrocarbon contamination. The deposited nanostructure consists of gold grains varying in size and percolation with beam parameters.

We investigated the performance of Hall sensors with different Co-C ratios, deposited directly in nanostructured form, using Co(2)(CO)(8) gas molecules, by focused-electron or ion-beam-induced deposition. Due to the enhanced intergrain scattering in these granular wires, the extraordinary Hall effect can be increased by two orders of magnitude with respect to pure Co, up to a magnetic field sensitivity of 1 Omega T(-1). We show that the best magnetic field resolution at room temperature is obtained for Co ratios between 60% and 70% and is better than 1 microT Hz(-1/2). For an active area of the sensor of 200 x 200 nm(2), the room temperature magnetic flux resolution is phi(min) = 2 x 10(-5)phi(0) in the thermal noise frequency range, i.e. above 100 kHz.

The gas flux direction in focused electron beam induced processes can strongly destabilize the morphology on the nanometer scale. We demonstrate how pattern parameters such as position relative to the gas nozzle, axial rotation, scanning direction, and patterning sequence result in different growth modes for identical structures. This is mainly caused by nanoscale geometric shadowing, particularly when shadowing distances are comparable to surface diffusion lengths of (CH3)3-Pt-CpCH3 adsorbates. Furthermore, two different adsorbate replenishment mechanisms exist and are governed by either surface diffusion or directional gas flux adsorption. The experimental study is complemented by calculations and dynamic growth simulations which successfully emulate the observed morphology instabilities and support the proposed growth model.

Electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID), also referred to as focused electron-beam-induced processing (FEBIP), is a lowvacuum materials processing technique in which a focused electron beam is used to directly write nanometer-sized structures onto a substrate in a constant partial pressure of precursor molecules. 1À4 EBID has a unique and attractive combination of capabilities, including high spatial resolution and the flexibility to deposit self-supporting three-dimensional nanostructures on nonplanar surfaces. EBID offers a number of advantages compared to other vacuum-based nanofabrication strategies. EBID is capable of creating smaller features than ion-beaminduced deposition (IBID), with less amorphization and without ion implantation. 5À7 Although the resolution of EBID is comparable to that of electron beam lithography (EBL) and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), 8,9 it needs no resist layers or etching step for pattern transfer. The advantages of EBID have also been recently been combined with those of atomic layer deposition (ALD) to create purely metallic but geometrically well-defined nanostructures. 10 Current applications of EBID include repairing masks used in UV lithography, 11À14 creating line gratings on vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, 15 and fabricating tips for scanning probe microscopy. 16,17

We simulated and measured near-field distributions of molecules impinging on a flat substrate from tube-based nozzles with varying exit aperture geometries (straight, bevelled and doubly perforated). Simulations were performed with the test-particle Monte Carlo approach taking into account the Knudsen number (molecular/transient flow) at the nozzle exit. Distributions were measured via thermal decomposition of Co2(CO)8 molecules on a homogeneously heated substrate. For all geometries and Knudsen numbers a good match between the simulation and experiment was found. For the first time the maximum accessible molecule flux with respect to the total flux exiting the nozzle could be quantified: it is around 7% for a straight cylindrical tube, around 27% for a bevelled tube and around 32% for a doubly perforated tube, all nozzles being 300 µm distant from the substrate and having a 400 µm aperture. Optimum substrate–nozzle angles were determined and shadow effects quantified.