Directed assembly of nano-particles with the help of charge patterns created with scanning electron microscope

Directed assembly of nano-particles by charged patterns on an insulator surface is a method that has been applied before, but the creation of the charged patterns was a time consuming process in previous work. Here a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to speed up the charging process. The main challenges do not lie in focusing the electron beam but in storing the charge in the insulator in a highly localized way. The present paper shows the first promising results of directing nano-particles to predefined charge patterns on insulators, where the charge is created with a finely focused electron beam. The nano-particles (palladium) are created in an At atmosphere with a glowing wire generator (GWG). A narrow size interval of charged particles is selected by a mobility analyzer. From gas suspension they are deposited onto the charge patterns. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.