Application of transmission electron microscopes to nanometre-sized fabrication by means of electron beam-induced deposition

Electron beam-induced deposition was carried out using a scanning transmission electron microscope with a field emission gun to fabricate nanometre-sized structures. A small amount of a metal-organic gas was introduced near the substrate in the microscope chamber, and focused electron beams were irradiated. Two- and three-dimensional structures were fabricated by scanning the beam position. The minimum line width of the freestanding structures was 8 nm at a constant gas flux used. This line width of 8 nm is considered to be achieved by employing a high accelerating voltage, which leads to a small probe size, and the optimum scanning speed.