Profile simulation and fabrication of gold nanostructures by separated nanospheres with oblique deposition and perpendicular etching

Abstract

This paper investigates in detail the profiles of the nanostructures fabricated by nanosphere lithography through oblique deposition and perpendicular etching. 2D or 3D nanostructures can be achieved by this cost-effective method. Because the optical response of a particular nanoparticle depends on its size and shape, this angle deposition method can produce various shapes of nanostructures, which are suitable for localized surface plasmon resonance biosensor applications. The nanostructure profiles under various deposition and etching conditions are simulated in our work. The calculated 3D profiles are verified by the 3D nanostructures fabricated in our experiments, and the calculated 2D profiles are in good agreement with the fabricated nanocrescents reported by another research group. This paper gives a full theoretical solution of the obtainable nanostructure shapes by nanosphere lithography utilizing oblique deposition and perpendicular etching. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.