Direct e-beam writing of $1nm$ thin carbon nanoribbons

The fabrication of $1nm$ thin carbon nanoribbons and nanorings is demonstrated. Aromatic self-assembled monolayers are locally cross-linked by electron beam lithography into polymeric carbon nanosheets. Annealing at $1200K$ in ultrahigh vacuum transforms these electrically insulating nanosheets into a conducting two-dimensional phase consisting of nanopatches of graphene with a sheet conductivity of $∼10−2Ssq$⁠. The method allows the direct writing of patterns into the monolayer, permitting the resistless fabrication of arbitrarily sized and shaped carbon nanostructures with a thickness of $1nm$⁠.