Journal article
Exploiting rotational asymmetry for sub-50 nm mechanical nanocalligraphy
- Abstract:
- Nanofabrication has experienced extraordinary progress in the area of lithography-led processes over the last decades, although versatile and adaptable techniques addressing a wide spectrum of materials are still nascent. Scanning probe lithography (SPL) offers the capability to readily pattern sub-100 nm structures on many surfaces; however, the technique does not scale to dense and multi-lengthscale structures. Here, we demonstrate a technique, which we term nanocalligraphy scanning probe lithography (nc-SPL), that overcomes these limitations. Nc-SPL employs an asymmetric tip and exploits its rotational asymmetry to generate structures spanning the micron to nanometer lengthscales through real-time linewidth tuning. Using specialized tip geometries and by precisely controlling the patterning direction, we demonstrate sub-50 nm patterns while simultaneously improving on throughput, tip longevity, and reliability compared to conventional SPL. We further show that nc-SPL can be employed in both positive and negative tone patterning modes, in contrast to conventional SPL. This underlines the potential of this technique for processing sensitive surfaces such as 2D materials, which are prone to tip-induced shear or beam-induced damage.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 1.2MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41378-021-00300-y
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Microsystems and Nanoengineering More from this journal
- Volume:
- 7
- Article number:
- 84
- Publication date:
- 2021-10-20
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-06-04
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2055-7434
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1204278
- Local pid:
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pubs:1204278
- Deposit date:
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2021-10-20
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Farmakidis et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- ©2021 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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