Carbon nanotubes as masks against ion irradiation: An insight from atomistic simulations

Recent experiments show that carbon nanotubes can be used as masks against ion irradiation to make metallic nanowires of a few nanometers in width. In order to ascertain the limitations of this technique, we use molecular dynamics and simulate ion irradiation of multiwalled nanotubes. We derive an equation which for a given nanowire material allows one to estimate the theoretical limit on the minimum width of the wire which can be made using this technique. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.