Fabrication of multiplex quasi-three-dimensional grids of one-dimensional nanostructures via stepwise colloidal lithography.

By using O2-plasma etched monolayers of hexagonally close-packed latex spheres as masks for metal vapor deposition, we successfully demonstrate a stepwise colloidal lithography to stepwise grow highly ordered multiplex quasi-three-dimensional grids of metallic one-dimensional nanostructures, e.g., nanowires and nanorods. The success of the present approach is centered at manipulation of the incidence angle of metal vapor beams with respect to the normal direction of colloidal masks and particularly the azimuth angle phi of the projection of the vapor beam incidence on the masks with respect to the vector from one sphere to the nearest neighbors. Stepwise deposition of different metals by regularly varying phi allows consecutively stacking of 1D nanostructures into multiplex quasi-3D grids. This stepwise angle-resolved colloidal lithography should provide a significant nanochemical complement of conventional lithographic techniques, enabling us to easily fabricate sophisticated 3D nanostructures with defined vertical and lateral heterogeneity.