Fabrication of versatile nanocomponents using single-crystalline Au nanoplates

We suggest an approach to the fabrication of versatile nanocomponents designed deliberately by selective Ga+ focused-ion-beam etching or Ar+ ion milling of single-crystalline Au nanoplates synthesized by the chemical reaction. The nanocomponents have various shapes like gear, wheel, dumbbell, square and letter A with in-plane size of about 400 nm and thickness of 40-50 nm. They can be picked up or moved freely one by one to be assembled into sophisticated nanodevices or micromachines. The applicability of our approach both to the fundamental research and to the applied research is discussed. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.