| Abstract Scope |
Photon, electron, and ion based nanopatterning is often limited to unique materials, damaging to their surface properties, and relatively coarse in terms of depth control. Accordingly, an approach for arbitrary 3-dimensional surface shaping via nanomilling is demonstrated in this work. The method is employed to sculpt various slopes and curvatures, isolate distinct microstructural features, and expose sub-surface layers. Working with materials including polycrystalline perovskite photovoltaic half-cells, ferroelectric thin films, and superlattices, their various functional properties are proven to be undiminished. Advancing such a negligibly damaging and truly nanoscale capability, for site selectively revealing buried structures, independent investigations features of interest, or even engineering strain states by targeted geometric relaxation, is important for modern structural and functional nanomaterials. This is especially critical as these technologies are increasingly reliant on 3-dimensionally engineered gradients, nanostructuring, and/or general architectures. |