Electrical characterisation of nanowires and nanoparticles contacted using a FIB

Nanowires (NWs) and nanoparticles (NPs) of different materials have been grown using either a polycarbonate porous membrane or mesoporous silica as template. The NWs have lengths between 1 and 20 microns; their diameter, as well as the dimensions of the NPs, are in the range of a few hundreds of nanometers. In order to test their electrical characteristics, some of these NWs and NPs have been electrically contacted by using submicrometer sized metallic Pt stripes deposited using an electron and/or ion beam in a focused ion beam (FIB) system. The preliminary results show that the method used is well suited for fabrication of contacts to NWs and NPs, whose electrical behaviour can be easily evaluated. These nanocontacts could help to design future nanodevices.