Resistivity and Field Electron Emission of Nanowires Formed by Electron Beam Induced Chemical Vapor Deposition

"Self-standing iron nanowires were fabricated at the apex of a tungsten needle tip by electron beam induced deposition. This sharp needle tip which adhered to the nanowire can be moved with a stepping motor and piezo-driving device, and was attached inside a specially designed transmission electron microscope pecimen holder. A copper conductor substrate, with which the approaching nanowires will build up a closed electric circuit, was set on the holder. The tungsten needle tip accompanied with the EBICVD nanowires made contact with the substrate and then a voltage was applied between the two electrodes. Resistivity values of the examined nanowires, by a devised Lock-in-Amplifier circuit, range from 0.1 -m to 10-3 -m. Our investigation might have implications in the fabrication and characterization of nano-electronics device. Precursor with phenanthrene (C4H10) was used and the deposition experiment was done using a scanning electron microscope at room temperature. It was found that the surface structure at the top of the nanorod, such as a small protrusion within only several nanometers scale, has significant influence on the field emission property. An emission current of several tens of nano-ampere flowing through this nanorod could induce resistance heating. In several minutes, this thermal energy could transform the original amorphous carbon into a graphite-like structure embedded with fullerenes. The turn-on voltage of the graphite-like nanorod was about 11 V less than that of the original amorphous case."