Formation of nanopores in a SiN/SiO{sub 2} membrane with an electron beam

Journal Article · Mon Sep 12 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2043247· OSTI ID:20709756

Mengyue, Wu; Krapf, Diego; Zandbergen, Mathijs; Zandbergen, Henny; Batson, Philip E ^[1]

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1. Kavli Institute of NanoScience, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CJ Delft (Netherlands)

An electron beam can drill nanopores in SiO{sub 2} or silicon nitride membranes and shrink a pore to a smaller diameter. Such nanopores are promising for single molecule detection. The pore formation in a 40 nm thick silicon nitride/SiO{sub 2} bilayer using an electron beam with a diameter of 8 nm (full width of half height) was investigated by electron energy loss spectroscopy with silicon nitride facing toward and away from the source. The O loss shows almost linear--independent of which layer faces the source, while N loss is quite complicated. After the formation of a pore, the membrane presents a wedge shape over a 70 nm radius around the nanopore.

• OSTI ID: 20709756
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2043247; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ELECTRONS
ENERGY LOSSES
ENERGY SPECTRA
MEMBRANES
NANOSTRUCTURES
POROUS MATERIALS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON NITRIDES
SILICON OXIDES