Nanolithography with an atomic force microscope

Abstract

A lithographic technique, employing the vibrating tip of an atomic force microscope to mechanically pattern various materials such as photoresist, metals or semiconductors in the nanometre regime has been developed. We use this technique for the fabrication of etch masks as well as for the patterning of evaporation shadow masks. The tip quality has been found to be a crucial factor in the lithographic resolution. We therefore use ultra hard, amorphous carbon tips, which are prepared by electron beam deposition in an electron microscope. With these tips, additionally sharpened in an oxygen plasma, we now succeed in fabricating hole arrays with periods in the 10 nm regime. These hole arrays are transferred to the electron system of a GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure, and the magneto resistance of such fabricated antidot arrays is discussed. © 1996 Academic Press Limited.