Viscosity and surface-free energy effects in thermal shrinking of solid-state nanopores

Abstract

Solid-state nanopores are fabricated by either drilling these in thin membranes or by shrinking large pores with electron/ion beam. Simple heating of thin membranes with many large pores has been shown recently to controllably shrink these to nanoscale in parallel. Thermal heating of solid membrane in furnace changes the physical material properties. A model for the experimental nanopore shrinking data is developed. The parametric variations of viscosity, movement of adatoms and diffusion coefficients at temperature points around 1000 °C are characterized. The model provides a framework to understand and predict thermal shrinking of nanopores.