Structure and resonant characteristics of amorphous carbon pillars grown by FIB-CVD

Beam induced deposition is a superior technique for nano-fabrication and nano-mechanics that allows many degrees of freedom, so that any shape can be grown at any position with nanometer accuracy. We have already reported the three-dimensional growth of amorphous carbon, having a nanostructure of wineglass, coils, and bellows, using precursor of phenanthrene gas and a focused Ga+ ion beam (FIB) induced chemical vapor deposition (CVD). High-precision Ga-ion beams controlled by highly stabilized ion optics in an FIB system (SM15020, SEIKO Instruments) enabled not only normal growth of carbon nano-pillars on substrate, but also lateral growth. In this paper, we report an evaluation of the Young's modulus of such amorphous carbon pillars by measuring the resonant frequency of pillars Many improvements are needed in our experimental conditions to clearly define the growth condition. However, the very large Young's modulus and the flexibility of the nano-structure fabrication in FIB-CVD holds great possibility for future applications of these DLC pillars grown by FIB-CVD.