Preparation and characterization of fully separated gold nanowire arrays

We reported on the development of an unconventional approach for the physical synthesis of laterally ordered self-organized arrays of well-separated metallic nanowires supported on nanostructured dielectric templates. The method, combining nanoscale patterning of the polyethylene terephthalate substrate by polarized light of excimer laser with glancing angle deposition of the gold, provides an interesting alternative to lithography-based nanopatterning approaches. Separation of individual nanowires is manifested by anisotropy of their electrical properties. Focused ion beam equipped scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the resulting nanowires were organized in parallel arrays of approximately 2500 wires with an average length of about 1000 μm and uniform width of about 150 nm.