Integration of single-crystalline nanocolumns into highly ordered nanopore arrays

Abstract

The arrangement of nanostructures into desired well-ordered architectures is crucial for therealization of functional nanodevices and has been the focus of current nanotechnology.Existing physical and chemical approaches have the ability to assemble nanostructures, butit is still a challenge to arrange basic nanostructures into a highly ordered designed pattern.Here, we report a novel method to integrate tin-doped indium oxide single-crystallinenanocolumns into highly ordered two-dimensional nanopore patterns throughradio-frequency magnetron sputtering by the aid of porous alumina membranes (PAMs).We have further demonstrated that the morphology of the assembled nanopore arrays iscontrollable by adjusting either the PAM configurations or sputtering conditions. Ourpresent method provides the possibility of a general approach for nanounit integration, andthese assembled regular nanopore arrays pave the way for the application of novel filtersand sensors.