Advancing atomic nanolithography: cold atomic Cs beam exposure of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers

O'Dwyer, Colm; Gay, G.; Viaris de Lesegno, B.; Weiner, J.; Mutzel, M.; Haubrich, D.; Meschede, D.; Ludolph, K.; Georgiev, G.; Oesterschulze, E.

Advancing atomic nanolithography: cold atomic Cs beam exposure of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers

Files

codwyer-jpconf.pdf(694.82 KB)

Accepted Version

Date

2005-01

Authors

O'Dwyer, Colm

Gay, G.

Viaris de Lesegno, B.

Weiner, J.

Mutzel, M.

Haubrich, D.

Meschede, D.

Ludolph, K.

Georgiev, G.

Oesterschulze, E.

Publisher

IOP Publishing

Published Version

10.1088/1742-6596/19/1/019

Abstract

We report the results of a study into the quality of functionalized surfaces for nanolithographic imaging. Self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coverage, subsequent post-etch pattern definition and minimum feature size all depend on the quality of the Au substrate used in atomic nanolithographic experiments. We find sputtered Au substrates yield much smoother surfaces and a higher density of {111} oriented grains than evaporated Au surfaces. A detailed study of the self-assembly mechanism using molecular resolution AFM and STM has shown that the monolayer is composed of domains with sizes typically of 5-25 nm, and multiple molecular domains can exist within one Au grain. Exposure of the SAM to an optically-cooled atomic Cs beam traversing a two-dimensional array of submicron material masks ans also standing wave optical masks allowed determination of the minimum average Cs dose (2 Cs atoms per SAM molecule) and the realization of < 50 nm structures. The SAM monolayer contains many non-uniformities such as pin-holes, domain boundaries and monoatomic depressions which are present in the Au surface prior to SAM adsorption. These imperfections limit the use of alkanethiols as a resist in atomic nanolithography experiments. These studies have allowed us to realize an Atom Pencil suitable for deposition of precision quantities of material at the microand nanoscale to an active surface.

Keywords

Functionalized surfaces , Nanolithographic imaging , Nanolithograpy , Self-assembled monolayer , Atom pencil

Citation

O'Dwyer, C., Gay, G., Lesegno, B., Viaris de,Weiner, J., Mutzel, M., Haubrich, D., Meschede, D., udolph, K., Georgiev, G. and Oesterschulze, E. (2005) 'Advancing atomic nanolithography: cold atomic Cs beam exposure of alkanethiol self-Assembled monolayers', Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 19, pp. 109-117. http://stacks.iop.org/1742-6596/19/i=1/a=019