Focused Electron Beam Induced Deposition – Principles and Applications

Focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) is a direct beam writing technique for nanoand micro-structures. By proper selection of the precursor gas, which is dissociated in the focus of the electron beam, different functionalities of the resulting deposits can be obtained. This contribution discusses nano-granular FEBID materials. Quite generally, nano-granular metals can be considered as tunable model systems for studying the interplay of electronic correlation effects, quantum size effects and disorder. After the introduction into the FEBID process a brief overview of the different electronic transport regimes in nano-granular metals is given. Recent experimental results on electron irradiation effects on the transport properties are presented. These results indicate a new methodology for highly miniaturized strain sensor element fabrication based on the specific electronic properties of nanogranular FEBID structures.