Electrodynamically controlled production of 3D structures of functional nanoparticles

The defined arrangement of functional nanoparticles in 3D structures is at present only possible with scanning microprobe techniques (AFM, STM). Thus, the construction speed is strongly limited. For the production of 3D nanostructures on larger surface areas additive manufacturing could be employed with, however, limited lateral resolution which is not sufficient for structuring on the nanoscale. Therefore, in this work it is intended to deposit charged nanoparticles in a defined manner on substrates with the means of electrical fields which will be controlled by external electrodes (“masks”). By varying the particle material multicomponent strcutures with different mixing scales can be realized. Since the envisaged corona charging and the particle motion are independent of the particle material arbitrary material systems can be used. In order to relax internal stresses or to obtain smooth surfaces the generated 3D structures can be heat treated later on. It has been shown that this method works in principle but it habe never been applied for functional structures.