Characterisation of tungsten nano-wires prepared by electron and ion beam induced chemical vapour deposition

In this study we present a morphological characterisation of tungsten nano-wires prepared by electron and ion beam induced chemical vapour deposition. Our observations show that both electron and ion beam as-deposited nano-wires exhibit an amorphous like microstructure. Irradiation of the electron beam deposited wires with 200kV incident electrons in the TEM was found to cause an electron beam induced anneal resulting in the formation of a localised nano-crystalline structure. Wires deposited using 30kV Ga+ ions were found to exhibit the appearance of low temperature superconducting properties with a critical transition temperature Tc of ∼5K