Shaping single walled nanotubes with an electron beam
- Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Universite Paris-Sud, CNRS, UMR 8502, F-91405 Orsay Cedex (France)
- Universite de Nantes, Nantes Atlantique Universites, CNRS, Institut des Materiaux Jean Rouxel (IMN), UMR6502, BP32229, F-44322 Nantes Cedex 3 (France)
We show that electron irradiation in a dedicated scanning transmission microscope can be used as a nano-electron-lithography technique allowing the controlled reshaping of single walled carbon and boron nitride nanotubes. The required irradiation conditions have been optimized on the basis of total knock-on cross sections calculated within density functional based methods. It is then possible to induce morphological modifications, such as a local change of the tube chirality, by sequentially removing several tens of atoms with a nanometrical spatial resolution. We show that electron beam heating effects are limited. Thus, electron beam induced vacancy migration and nucleation might be excluded. These irradiation techniques could open new opportunities for nanoengineering a large variety of nanostructured materials.
- OSTI ID:
- 21070022
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 77, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.77.045410; (c) 2008 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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