Fabrication of gold nanowires on insulating substrates by field-induced mass transport

A method for the fabrication of nanometer size gold wires on insulating surfaces is presented. An oscillating gold-coated atomic force microscope tip is brought into close proximity of a silicon dioxide surface. The application of a negative sample voltage produces the transport of gold atoms from the tip to the surface. The voltage is applied when there is a tip-surface separation of similar to3 nm. The finite tip-surface separation enhances the tip lifetime. It also allows the application of sequences of multiple voltage pulses. Those sequences allow the fabrication of continuous nanowires. The atomic force microscope gold deposition is performed at room temperature and in ambient conditions which makes the method fully compatible with standard lithographic techniques. Electron transport measurements of the wires show a clear metallic behavior. Electrical resistivities of similar to 3x10(-7) Omega m and current densities of up to 5x10(11) A m(-2) are reported. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.