title: Felling of individual freestanding nanoobjects using focused-ion-beam milling for investigations of structural and transport properties.
abstract: We report that, to enable studies of their compositional, structural and electrical properties, freestanding individual nanoobjects can be selectively felled in a controllable way by the technique of low-current focused-ion-beam (FIB) milling with the ion beam at a chosen angle of incidence to the nanoobject. To demonstrate the suitability of the technique, we report results for zigzag/straight tungsten nanowires grown vertically on support substrates and then felled for characterization. We also describe a systematic investigation of the effect of the experimental geometry and parameters on the felling process and on the induced wire-bending phenomenon. The method of felling freestanding nanoobjects using FIB is an advantageous new technique enabling investigations of the properties of selected individual nanoobjects.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Lab of Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China. liwuxia@aphy.iphy.ac.cn
authors.forename: Wuxia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.forename: Ajuan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yiqian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Changzhi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: McComb
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Warburton