We review the current status of the use of focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) for the growth of magnetic nanostructures. This technique relies on the local dissociation of a precursor gas by means of an electron beam. The most promising results have been obtained using the Co ₂ (CO) ₈ precursor, where the Co content in the grown nanodeposited material can be tailored up to more than 95 at.%. Functional behaviour of these Co nanodeposits has been observed in applications such as arrays of magnetic dots for information storage and catalytic growth, magnetic tips for scanning probe microscopes, nano-Hall sensors for bead detection, nano-actuated magnetomechanical systems and nanowires for domain-wall manipulation. The review also covers interesting results observed in Fe-based and alloyed nanodeposits. Advantages and disadvantages of FEBID for the growth of magnetic nanostructures are discussed in the article as well as possible future directions in this field.

We show here that using spin orbit coupling interactions at a metallic interface it is possible to control the sign of the spin to charge conversion in a spin pumping experiment. Using the intrinsic symmetry of the “Inverse Rashba Edelstein Effect” (IREE) in a Bi/Ag interface, the charge current changes sign when reversing the order of the Ag and Bi stacking. This confirms the IREE nature of the conversion of spin into charge in these interfaces and opens the way to tailoring the spin sensing voltage by an appropriate trilayer sequence.

We report Hall-effect measurements of epitaxial Fe (001) thin films grown on MgO (001). We have focused on the dependence of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in heteroepitaxial structures $\text{MgO}\left(001\right)//\text{Fe}\left(t\right)/\text{MgO}$ with $t=10$, 2.5, 2, 1.8, and 1.3 nm. Our results have been interpreted in terms of a recent unified theory of the AHE. We have demonstrated that the thickness and roughness of the Fe layer are control parameters to tune both the longitudinal conductivity ${\sigma }_{xx}$ and anomalous Hall conductivity ${\sigma }_{xy}$. In this way, we report a crossover from the intrinsic moderately dirty region of conductivities where ${\sigma }_{xy}=\text{const}$ to the dirty region of poorly conducting materials $\left({\sigma }_{xx}<{10}^4\text{S}/\text{cm}\right)$ where we have found that the relation ${\sigma }_{xy}\propto {\sigma }_{xx}^n$ with $n=1.66\left(4\right)$ holds, in good agreement, with the expected universal scaling relationship reported in other ferromagnetic compounds.

The successful application of focused electron (and ion) beam induced deposition techniques for the growth of nanowires on flexible and transparent polycarbonate films is reported here. After minimization of charging effects in the substrate, sub-100 nm-wide Pt, W, and Co nanowires have been grown and their electrical conduction is similar compared to the use of standard Si-based substrates. Experiments where the substrate is bent in a controlled way indicate that the electrical conduction is stable up to high bending angles, >50°, for low-resistivity Pt nanowires grown by the ion beam. On the other hand, the resistance of Pt nanowires grown by the electron beam changes significantly and reversibly with the bending angle. Aided by the substrate transparency, a diffraction grating in transmission mode has been built based on the growth of an array of Pt nanowires that shows sharp diffraction spots. The set of results supports the large potential of focused beam deposition as a high-resolution nanolithography technique on transparent and flexible substrates. The most promising applications are expected in flexible nano-optics and nanoplasmonics, flexible electronics, and nanosensing.

We report an experimental and computational study of the magnetic and electronic properties of the layered Ru(V) oxide $\mathrm{SrR}{\mathrm{u}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_6$ (hexagonal, $P\overline{3}1m)$, which shows antiferromagnetic order with a Néel temperature of 563(2) K, among the highest for $4d$ oxides. Magnetic order occurs both within edge-shared octahedral sheets and between layers and is accompanied by anisotropic thermal expansivity that implies strong magnetoelastic coupling of Ru(V) centers. Electrical transport measurements using focused-ion-beam–induced deposited contacts on a micron-scale crystallite as a function of temperature show $p$-type semiconductivity. The calculated electronic structure using hybrid density functional theory successfully accounts for the experimentally observed magnetic and electronic structure, and Monte Carlo simulations reveal how strong intralayer as well as weaker interlayer interactions are a defining feature of the high-temperature magnetic order in the material.

We report on a nanomechanical engineering method to monitor matter growth in real time via e-beam electromechanical coupling. This method relies on the exceptional mass sensing capabilities of nanomechanical resonators. Focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) is employed to selectively grow platinum particles at the free end of singly clamped nanotube cantilevers. The electron beam has two functions: it allows both to grow material on the nanotube and to track in real time the deposited mass by probing the noise-driven mechanical resonance of the nanotube. On the one hand, this detection method is highly effective as it can resolve mass deposition with a resolution in the zeptogram range; on the other hand, this method is simple to use and readily available to a wide range of potential users, since it can be operated in existing commercial FEBID systems without making any modification. The presented method allows to engineer hybrid nanomechanical resonators with precisely tailored functionality. It also appears as a new tool for studying growth dynamics of ultra-thin nanostructures, opening new opportunities for investigating so far out-of-reach physics of FEBID and related methods.