Direct e-beam writing of 1nm thin carbon nanoribbons

Abstract

The fabrication of 1nm thin carbon nanoribbons and nanorings is demonstrated. Aromatic self-assembled monolayers are locally cross-linked by electron beam lithography into polymeric carbon nanosheets. Annealing at 1200K in ultrahigh vacuum transforms these electrically insulating nanosheets into a conducting two-dimensional phase consisting of nanopatches of graphene with a sheet conductivity of ∼10−2Ssq. The method allows the direct writing of patterns into the monolayer, permitting the resistless fabrication of arbitrarily sized and shaped carbon nanostructures with a thickness of 1nm.