High-precision nanofabrication technology for metal nanoparticle ensembles using nanotemplate-guided thermal dewetting.

We present a hybrid nanofabrication technology for realizing single-crystalline metal nanoparticle ensembles, such as trimers, heptamers and periodic arrays; well-suited for nanoplasmonics applications. Top-down engineered nanotemplates result in the deterministic formation of isolated polycrystalline gold islands with precise volume and position, which are transformed into single-crystalline nanoparticles using bottom-up self-assembly based on nanotemplate-guided thermal dewetting.