Electrochemical electron beam lithography: Write, read, and erase metallic nanocrystals on demand.

We develop a solution-based nanoscale patterning technique for site-specific deposition and dissolution of metallic nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are grown at desired locations by electron beam-induced reduction of metal ions in solution, with the ions supplied by dissolution of a nearby electrode via an applied potential. The nanocrystals can be "erased" by choice of beam conditions and regrown repeatably. We demonstrate these processes via in situ transmission electron microscopy using Au as the model material and extend to other metals. We anticipate that this approach can be used to deposit multicomponent alloys and core-shell nanostructures with nanoscale spatial and compositional resolutions for a variety of possible applications

Bubble and Pattern Formation in Liquid Induced by an Electron Beam

Liquid cell electron microscopy has emerged as a powerful technique for in situ studies of nanoscale processes in liquids. An accurate understanding of the interactions between the electron beam and the liquid medium is essential to account for, suppress, and exploit beam effects. We quantify the interactions of high energy electrons with water, finding that radiolysis plays an important role, while heating is typically insignificant. For typical imaging conditions, we find that radiolysis products such as hydrogen and hydrated electrons achieve equilibrium concentrations within seconds. At sufficiently high dose-rate, the gaseous products form bubbles. We image bubble nucleation, growth, and migration. We develop a simplified reaction-diffusion model for the temporally and spatially varying concentrations of radiolysis species and predict the conditions for bubble formation by . We discuss the conditions under which hydrated electrons cause precipitation of cations from solution, and show that the electron beam can be used to “write” structures directly, such as nanowires and other complex patterns, without the need for a mask

Archeological Impact Evaluations and Surveys in the Texas Department of Transportation\u27s Bryan, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Yoakum Districts, 2000-2001

This document constitutes the final report of work done by Prewitt and Associates, Inc. (PAI), under a contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to provide archeological services in four TxDOT districts—Bryan, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Yoakum— in east-central and south-central Texas. Under this contract, PAI completed Impact Evaluations and Surveys to assist TxDOT in meeting the requirements of their Memorandum of Understanding with the Texas Historical Commission and a Programmatic Agreement between the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Texas Historical Commission, and TxDOT. The contract began on 8 February 2000 and concluded on 8 February 2002. During these two years, 46 work orders were completed. The 46 work orders consisted of 71 Impact Evaluations, 20 Surveys, 5 Surveys with Geoarcheological Evaluations, and 1 work order to produce this report. Combined, these work orders entailed efforts at 58 bridge replacements, 16 projects involving primarily road widening or realignment, and 1 project consisting of creation of a wetland mitigation area. During completion of these work orders, five newly discovered or previously recorded archeological sites were investigated. Fifteen of the Impact Evaluations led to a recommendation that an archeological survey be completed before construction. The remaining 56 Impact Evaluations resulted in a recommendation that no survey be required based on the extent of disturbance and the limited potential for sites with good integrity. Three of the Surveys investigated sites that were recommended for testing to assess eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and designation as State Archeological Landmarks. The other 22 Surveys either did not find any archeological sites or investigated sites that could be assessed as ineligible for National Register listing and State Archeological Landmark designation using the survey data

Controlling nanowire growth through electric field-induced deformation of the catalyst droplet.

Semiconductor nanowires with precisely controlled structure, and hence well-defined electronic and optical properties, can be grown by self-assembly using the vapour-liquid-solid process. The structure and chemical composition of the growing nanowire is typically determined by global parameters such as source gas pressure, gas composition and growth temperature. Here we describe a more local approach to the control of nanowire structure. We apply an electric field during growth to control nanowire diameter and growth direction. Growth experiments carried out while imaging within an in situ transmission electron microscope show that the electric field modifies growth by changing the shape, position and contact angle of the catalytic droplet. This droplet engineering can be used to modify nanowires into three dimensional structures, relevant to a range of applications, and also to measure the droplet surface tension, important for quantitative development of strategies to control nanowire growth.European Research Council (Grant ID: 279342)This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1227

Stability of Schottky and Ohmic Au Nanocatalysts to ZnO Nanowires

Manufacturable nanodevices must now be the predominant goal of nanotechnological research to ensure the enhanced properties of nanomaterials can be fully exploited and fulfill the promise that fundamental science has exposed. Here, we test the electrical stability of Au nanocatalyst-ZnO nanowire contacts to determine the limits of the electrical transport properties and the metal-semiconductor interfaces. While the transport properties of as-grown Au nanocatalyst contacts to ZnO nanowires have been well-defined, the stability of the interfaces over lengthy time periods and the electrical limits of the ohmic or Schottky function have not been studied. In this work, we use a recently developed iterative analytical process that directly correlates multiprobe transport measurements with subsequent aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy to study the electrical, structural, and chemical properties when the nanowires are pushed to their electrical limits and show structural changes occur at the metal-nanowire interface or at the nanowire midshaft. The ohmic contacts exhibit enhanced quantum-mechanical edge-tunneling transport behavior because of additional native semiconductor material at the contact edge due to a strong metal-support interaction. The low-resistance nature of the ohmic contacts leads to catastrophic breakdown at the middle of the nanowire span where the maximum heating effect occurs. Schottky-type Au-nanowire contacts are observed when the nanowires are in the as-grown pristine state and display entirely different breakdown characteristics. The higher-resistance rectifying I-V behavior degrades as the current is increased which leads to a permanent weakening of the rectifying effect and atomic-scale structural changes at the edge of the Au interface where the tunneling current is concentrated. Furthermore, to study modified nanowires such as might be used in devices the nanoscale tunneling path at the interface edge of the ohmic nanowire contacts is removed with a simple etch treatment and the nanowires show similar I-V characteristics during breakdown as the Schottky pristine contacts. Breakdown is shown to occur either at the nanowire midshaft or at the Au contact depending on the initial conductivity of the Au contact interface. These results demonstrate the Au-nanowire structures are capable of withstanding long periods of electrical stress and are stable at high current densities ensuring they are ideal components for nanowire-device designs while providing the flexibility of choosing the electrical transport properties which other Au-nanowire systems cannot presently deliver

Letter from Frances B. Hatcher, as well as letters of recommendation from Luther M. Defoe, A. Ross Hill, J. C. Jones, and Sam Frank Taylor

Letter concerning a position in the mathematics department at Utah Agricultural College, as well as recommendations

Salt-assisted vapor-liquid-solid growth of one-dimensional van der Waals materials

We have combined the benefits of two catalytic growth phenomena to form nanostructures of transition metal trichalcogenides (TMTs), materials that are challenging to grow in a nanostructured form by conventional techniques, as required to exploit their exotic physics. Our growth strategy combines the benefits of vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth in controlling dimension and growth location, and salt-assisted growth for fast growth at moderate temperatures. This salt-assisted VLS growth is enabled through use of a catalyst that includes Au and an alkali metal halide. We demonstrate high yields of NbS3 1D nanostructures with sub-ten nanometer diameter, tens of micrometers length, and distinct 1D morphologies consisting of nanowires and nanoribbons with [010] and [100] growth orientations, respectively. We present strategies to control the growth location, size, and morphology. We extend the growth method to synthesize other TMTs, NbSe3 and TiS3, as nanowires. Finally, we discuss the growth mechanism based on the relationships we measure between the materials characteristics (growth orientation, morphology and dimensions) and the growth conditions (catalyst volume and growth time). Our study introduces opportunities to expand the library of emerging 1D vdW materials and their heterostructures with controllable nanoscale dimensions.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure