Liquid Cell TEM Enables Write, Read and Erase Metallic Particles on Demand

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles, Princeton University, and the IBM Watson have used Hummingbird Scientific’s in-situ liquid-electrochemical cell TEM specimen holder to demonstrated the read, write, and erase behavior of Au/Cu/Ni nanocrystals under electron-induced beam radiation in liquid solution. Their finding are published in Science Advances

The researchers were able to choose suitable electrochemical control and irradiation parameters to grow and “erase” Au/Cu/Ni nanoclusters under electron beam-induced reduction of metal ions in solution. Their findings could potentially provide better alternative to conventional e-beam lithographic technique by allowing site-specific deposition of multiple materials with a few-nanometer precision.

Jeung Hun Park, Daniel A. Steingart, Suneel Kodambaka, and Frances M. Ross ” Electrochemical electron beam lithography: Write, read, and erase metallic nanocrystals on demand”, Science Advances, 3, e1700234 (2017), DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700234

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