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Ion-beam sculpting at nanometre length scales

Nature volume 412, pages 166–169 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Manipulating matter at the nanometre scale is important for many electronic, chemical and biological advances1,2,3, but present solid-state fabrication methods do not reproducibly achieve dimensional control at the nanometre scale. Here we report a means of fashioning matter at these dimensions that uses low-energy ion beams and reveals surprising atomic transport phenomena that occur in a variety of materials and geometries. The method is implemented in a feedback-controlled sputtering system that provides fine control over ion beam exposure and sample temperature. We call the method “ion-beam sculpting”, and apply it to the problem of fabricating a molecular-scale hole, or nanopore, in a thin insulating solid-state membrane. Such pores can serve to localize molecular-scale electrical junctions and switches4,5,6 and function as masks7 to create other small-scale structures. Nanopores also function as membrane channels in all living systems, where they serve as extremely sensitive electro-mechanical devices that regulate electric potential, ionic flow, and molecular transport across cellular membranes8. We show that ion-beam sculpting can be used to fashion an analogous solid-state device: a robust electronic detector consisting of a single nanopore in a Si3N4 membrane, capable of registering single DNA molecules in aqueous solution.

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Figure 1: Strategy to make nanopores using argon ion-beam sputtering.
Figure 2: Sculpting a nanopore.
Figure 3: Temperature dependence of ion-beam sculpting.
Figure 4: Flux dependence of ion-beam sculpting.
Figure 5: Molecular events in a nanopore detector.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics,

    Jiali Li & Jene A. Golovchenko

  2. Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Derek Stein, Michael J. Aziz & Jene A. Golovchenko

  3. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Ciaran McMullan & Daniel Branton

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  1. Jiali Li
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Correspondence to Jene A. Golovchenko.

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Li, J., Stein, D., McMullan, C. et al. Ion-beam sculpting at nanometre length scales. Nature 412, 166–169 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35084037

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