Electron-beam-induced growth of silicon multibranched nanostructures -: art. no. 113111

Although successful nanobranching has been demonstrated for some materials using a variety of methods, the controlled fabrication of multibranched nanostructures of silicon is an important challenge faced by nanotechnologist; because it is crucial for the assembly of electronic interconnects at the atomic scale. Here, we report an electron-beam-induced approach that enables to grow silicon nanobranched structures at specific locations and to control the growth process at the nanoscale level. We further present a detailed in situ imaging of the growth dynamics and explain the results by a qualitative model based on local heating and charge concentration processes.