A new approach to fabrication of nanostructures

A new approach to the fabrication of model structures for nanoelectronics with characteristic sizes down to 10 nm is proposed. The approach consists in electron-beam-induced fabrication of self-supporting structures of nanometre sizes in a through slit formed in the substrate, followed by the deposition of a required material onto the structure, which serves as an active layer in a nanometre-scale device. Features of the fabrication steps are discussed. Bismuth nanobridges were fabricated and their voltage-current characteristics were measured, which demonstrated features of electron transport in these bridges connected with their small sizes and inner structures.