Use of a columnar metal thin film as a nanosieve with sub-10 nm pores

Abstract

A columnar-structured nanosieve is unique in the sense that it is a general thin film formed by physical vapor deposition (PVD). Instead of additional processes to make nanopores, the numerous voids naturally formed among columnar grains during PVD are used as nanopores. Since the thin film formed by PVD has vertically grown columnar grains, the fabricated nanosieve has numerous straight-opened nanopores, which is an ideal structure for a nanosieve.