Arrayed Tip based Pattern Lithography with Built-in Capacitive Proximal Leveling Sensor (original) (raw)
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We designed and fabricated large arrays of polymer pens having sub-20 nm tips to perform chemical lift-off lithography (CLL). As such, we developed a hybrid patterning strategy called polymer-pen chemical lift-off lithography (PPCLL). We demonstrated PPCLL patterning using pyramidal and v-shaped polymer-pen arrays. Associated simulations revealed a nanometer-scale quadratic relationship between contact line widths of the polymer pens and two other variables: polymer-pen base line widths and vertical compression distances. We devised a stamp support system consisting of interspersed arrays of flat-tipped polymer pens that are taller than all other sharp-tipped polymer pens. These supports partially or fully offset stamp weights thereby also serving as a leveling system. We investigated a series of v-shaped polymer pens with known height differences to control relative vertical positions of each polymer pen precisely at the sub-20 nm scale mimicking a high-precision scanning stage. In...
Review of Scientific Instruments, 1999
Scanning probe lithography ͑SPL͒ is capable of sub-30-nm-patterning resolution and nanometer-scale alignment registration, suggesting it might provide a solution to the semiconductor industry's lithography challenges. However, SPL throughput is significantly lower than conventional lithography techniques. Low throughput most limits the widespread use of SPL for high resolution patterning applications. This article addresses the speed constraints for reliable patterning of organic resists. Electrons field emitted from a sharp probe tip are used to expose the resist. Finite tip-sample capacitance limits the bandwidth of current-controlled lithography in which the tip-sample voltage bias is varied to maintain a fixed emission current during exposure. We have introduced a capacitance compensation scheme to ensure continuous resist exposure of SAL601 polymer resist at scan speeds up to 1 mm/s. We also demonstrate parallel resist exposure with two tips, where the emission current from each tip is individually controlled. Simultaneous patterning with multiple tips may make SPL a viable technology for high resolution lithography.
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Sub-5 nm lithography and metrology are the key technologies for more CMOS and beyond CMOS nanoelectronics. To keep up with scaling down of nanoelectronic components, novel instrumentation for nanometer precise placement, overlay alignment, and measurement are essential to enable fabrication of next generation nanoelectronic systems. In particular, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) based methods for surface modification and measurement are the emerging techniques for producing and testing of sub-5 nm features. In this article, the authors demonstrate nanoscale lithography and coordinate metrology technologies, both being based on SPM methodology. Scanning probes with a piezoresistive deflection read-out and an integrated deflection actuator, later on referred to as the active piezoresistive cantilevers, were used for lithography employing field emission patterning. They were also integrated with the so-called nanomeasuring machine (NPM) and used for surface imaging, which made it possible to measure the structure dimensions in the 25 × 25 × 5 mm 3 space with 0.1 nm resolution and great accuracy. The basic NPM concept relies on a unique arrangement, enabling the so-called Abbe error-free measurements in all axes over the total scan range. The combination of the active piezoresistive cantilevers and NPM technologies makes it possible to store the exact location on the investigated surface, which can be found again with an accuracy of less than 2.5 nm. This system is also predestinated for the critical dimension, quality, and overlay control.
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MRS Proceedings, 2003
A novel atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe has been developed to expand the capability and applications of dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) technology. This new probe has integrated microchannels and reservoirs for continuous ink feed, which allow "fountain-pen" writing called "Fountain Pen Nanolithography" (FPN). Ink is transported from the reservoirs through the microchannels and eventually dispensed onto substrates via a volcano-like dispensing tip. Numerical simulations have been performed to select optimal materials and suitable tip shapes providing a stable fluid-air interface in the tip. Microchannel and dispensing tip have been fabricated by surface micromachining, in particular employing 3 layers of thin films. Fluid flow through the microchannels has been experimentally examined. The probe was used to write on a gold substrate.
Commercially available high-throughput Dip Pen Nanolithography
SPIE Proceedings, 2008
Dip Pen Nanolithography ® (DPN ®) is an inherently additive SPM-based technique which operates under ambient conditions, making it suitable to deposit a wide range of biological and inorganic materials. Massively parallel two-dimensional nanopatterning with DPN is now commercially available via NanoInk's 2D nano PrintArray™, making DPN a high-throughput, flexible and versatile method for precision nanoscale pattern formation. By fabricating 55,000 tip-cantilevers across a 1 cm 2 chip, we leverage the inherent versatility of DPN and demonstrate large area surface coverage, routinely achieving throughputs of 3x10 7 μm 2 per hour. Further, we have engineered the device to be easy to use, wire-free, and fully integrated with the NSCRIPTOR's scanner, stage, and sophisticated lithography routines. We herein discuss the methods of operating this commercially available device, subsequent results showing sub-100 nm feature sizes and excellent uniformity (standard deviation < 16%), and our continuing development work. Simultaneous multiplexed deposition of a variety of molecules is a fundamental goal of massively parallel 2D nanopatterning, and we will discuss our progress on this front, including ink delivery methods, tip coating, and patterning techniques to generate combinatorial libraries of nanoscale patterns. Another fundamental challenge includes planar leveling of the 2D nano PrintArray, and herein we describe our successful implementation of device viewports and integrated software leveling routines that monitor cantilever deflection to achieve planarity and uniform surface contact. Finally, we will discuss the results of 2D nanopatterning applications such as: 1) rapidly and flexibly generating nanostructures; 2) chemically directed assembly and 3) directly writing biological materials. We will demonstrate flexibly generated nanostructures that are useful in that they complement and exceed the capabilities of existing techniques (e.g., nano imprint lithography and e-beam lithography); we will also demonstrate nanostructures that are valuable for plasmonics surface studies, particularly SERS enhancement.
Easy Writing of Nanopatterns on a Polymer Film Using Electrostatic Nanolithography
Small, 2006
Lithographic techniques based on scanning probe microscopy (SPM) have been developed to pattern various substrates, such as metals, semiconductors, and organic/polymer films, due to that tools simplicity and ability to produce high-precision nanopatterns. [1] Fabrication of nanostructures with polymeric material is a key step in the application of organic materials to nanodevices, molecular electronics, and nanosensors. Nanostructures from soft polymeric materials can be fabricated by depositing a polymer on a substrate (e.g., self-assembly) and also by using lithographic techniques, such as scanning probe lithography (SPL), soft lithography, or electron-beam lithography. For example, in dippen nanolithography (DPN) and electrochemical DPN, nanopatterns were created by deposition of molecular or macromolecular materials from an atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip onto a substrate, whereas, in electrostatic nanolithography patterns were drawn on thin polymer films on a solid substrate using a biased AFM tip. Among the various patterning techniques, such as electron-beam lithography, photolithography, imprint lithography, and SPM lithography; electrostatic nanolithography and thermomechanical writing are unique owing to their low cost and the ease in patterning of polymer films on a substrate. But the slow scanning speed of AFM-based lithographic techniques may be a limiting factor towards the practical applications of this technique. Recently, a two-dimensional (2D)-AFM cantilever array has been developed to transform this slow technique to a fast industrial prototype, such as a millipede system. A few polymers, such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), polysulfone, polyaniline, and polythiophene, have been patterned using different SPM techniques. However, exploring the patterning ability of various polymeric materials at different conditions is important to find suitable materials for specific applications in polymer nanodevice fabrication.