Growth of carbon nanofibers on nanoscale catalyst strips fabricated with a focused ion beam

We studied the growth mode of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on Ni catalyst strips fabricated using a focused ion beam (FIB). We found that the CNF growth on Ni catalysts was strongly affected by the geometry of the microfabricated Ni catalyst strips. Selective growth of vertically aligned CNFs requires ion milling from the outside edge of the sample so that the milled materials are effectively evacuated. The CNF diameter and density on the strip depends on its width. Possible mechanisms to control CNF growth using microfabricated catalysts are analyzed with a liquid model using surface free energies.

Aberration-corrected multipole Wien filter for energy-filtered x-ray photoemission electron microscopy

The aberration of a multipole Wien filter for energy-filtered x-ray photoemission electron microscopy was analyzed and the optimized Fourier components of the electric and magnetic fields for the third-order aperture aberration corrections were obtained. It was found that the third-order aperture aberration correction requires 12 electrodes and magnetic poles.