1. Nanoimprinted substrates for high-yield production of topological insulator nanoribbons.
- Author
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Wi, Sungjin, Elezi, Eljon, Liu, Amy, Ray, Vishva, Sun, Kai, and Liang, Xiaogan
- Subjects
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TOPOLOGICAL insulators , *NANORIBBONS , *BISMUTH selenide , *SOLID-liquid interfaces , *NANOPARTICLES , *SURFACE states , *NANOELECTRONICS , *ENERGY dissipation - Abstract
We present a growth process mediated by nanoimprinted nanostructures specifically for producing bismuth selenide (BiSe) topological insulator nanoribbons with a high yield. In this process, topological insulator nanostructures are grown on nanoimprinted gratings by using a nanoparticle-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. In comparison with the growth processes performed on flat and randomly rough substrates, such a nanograting-mediated growth method produces topological insulator nanoribbons with a higher yield (∼15 000 nanoribbons/mm), a narrower average ribbon width ( w<60 nm), and a higher uniformity in ribbon width ( σ<30 nm); effectively suppresses the formation of other unwanted morphologies; and also results in the axial growth of nanoribbons along specific in-plane directions relative to pre-structured gratings. Such technical merits of nanograting-mediated growth are attributed to the preferential nucleation of BiSe crystal seeds and the concomitant pinning of catalytic nanoparticles at ordered grating edges. Finally, Aharonov-Bohm interference oscillations in the magnetoresistance were observed and demonstrated the coherent transport of electrons through topological surface states of BiSe nanoribbons. This growth process in combination with large-area nanoimprint lithography could serve as an important foundation for nanomanufacturing topological insulator nanoribbons with controllable feature size, large-area uniformity, and ordering, suitable for applications in future low-dissipation nanoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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