"controlling" internal microstructure of nanopatterned oxides via soft electron beam lithography (soft-eBL)

A nanoscale patterning approach for ceramic oxides, based on the combination of electron beam lithography and liquid precursor (so-called soft-electron beam lithography, soft-eBL), is elaborated in the context of control over "internal microstructure". Soft-eBL synergistically combines the traditional top-down approach with the emerging bottom-up method. Depending on the thermal treatment, a wide variety of "tailored" microstructures can be obtained, ranging from nanoscale porosity to single-crystal epitaxy. Such exquisite control over the size, shape, materials diversity and the internal microstructure of nanopatterns provides an excellent platform for further detailed and quantitative understanding of the role of spatial and dimensional constraints on fundamentals of nucleation, growth and external shape evolution of oxides.