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Purification of platinum and gold structures after electron-beam-induced deposition

2006; IOP Publishing; Volume: 17; Issue: 15 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/0957-4484/17/15/028

1361-6528

Aurélien Botman, J.J.L. Mulders, R Weemaes, S.A.M. Mentink,

Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications

The technique of electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID), when performed with organic precursors, typically results in relatively low metal content due to the partial decomposition of the organic precursor, leaving carbon-rich remnants in the deposition. Here we describe a method applied to noble-metal structures deposited using EBID, consisting of a post-treatment step of heating in a reactive atmosphere of oxygen, whereby the amount of carbon in the structure is strongly reduced. As a result, we have been able to increase the purity of platinum deposits from 15 at.% to nearly 70 at.%, and gold similarly from 8 at.% to nearly 60 at.%. The resistivity of these structures has also been improved by up to four orders of magnitude, to achieve (1.4 ± 0.2) × 104 µΩ cm in the case of platinum.