Electron beam lithography for contacting single nanowires on non-flat suspended substrates

•Gas sensor based on individual nanowire.•Electron Beam Lithography on top of non flat Surface.•Micro-sized suspended platforms with low consumption. A methodology based on the use of Electron Beam Lithography for contacting individual nanowires on top of non-flat micromembranes and microhotplates has been implemented, and the practical details have been exhaustively described. The different fabrication steps have been adapted to the substrate’s topology, requiring specific holders and conditions. The methodology is demonstrated on individual SnO2 nanowires, which, after fabrication, have been characterized as functional resistive gas nanosensors towards NH3 and benchmarked against similar devices fabricated using more conventional Dual Beam Focused Ion Beam techniques, demonstrating the superior properties of the here presented methodology, which can be further extended to other non-conventional suspended substrates and nanomaterials.