Fabrication of gold nanowires by electric-field-induced scanning probe lithography and in situ chemical development

A new approach to fabricate surface-confined gold nanostructures by electric-field-induced scanning probe lithography (SPL) for electronic and plasmonic applications, which enables precise control over the feature dimension and position at the nanometer-length scale, is discussed. The approach promises massively parallel implementation through an anodization stamping process and has potential for the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices, biosensors, and surface plasmonic sensors. Clusters of gold atoms are concomitantly deposited during the patterning of SiO2 nanostructures by the SPL. Other metallic nanowires can be fabricated by using gold seeds and an appropriately matched developing route, which suggests that different functional nanowires can also be fabricated. This approach has potential for the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices, biosensors, and surface plasmonic sensors.