University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Field-Directed Sputter Sharpening for Tailored Probe Materials and Atomic-Scale Lithography

Schmucker, Scott W.; Kumar, Navneet; Abelson, John R.; Daly, Scott R.; Girolami, Gregory S.; Bischof, Maia R.; Jaeger, David L.; Reidy, Rick F.; Gorman, Brian P.; Alexander, Justin; Ballard, Josh B.; Randall, John N.; Lyding, Joseph W.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/41285

Description

Title
Field-Directed Sputter Sharpening for Tailored Probe Materials and Atomic-Scale Lithography
Author(s)
  • Schmucker, Scott W.
  • Kumar, Navneet
  • Abelson, John R.
  • Daly, Scott R.
  • Girolami, Gregory S.
  • Bischof, Maia R.
  • Jaeger, David L.
  • Reidy, Rick F.
  • Gorman, Brian P.
  • Alexander, Justin
  • Ballard, Josh B.
  • Randall, John N.
  • Lyding, Joseph W.
Issue Date
2012-07-03
Keyword(s)
  • scanning tunneling microscopy
  • sputtering
  • Sputter Sharpening, Plasma, Field Emitters
  • field-directed sputter sharpening
Abstract
Fabrication of ultra-sharp probes is of interest for many applications, including scanned probe microscopy and electron-stimulated patterning of surfaces. These techniques require reproducible ultra-sharp metallic tips, yet the efficient and reproducible fabrication of these consumable items has remained an elusive goal. We describe a novel biased-probe field-directed sputter sharpening technique, applicable to conductive materials, which produces nanometer and sub-nanometer sharp W, Pt-Ir, and W-HfB2 tips able to perform atomic-scale lithography on Si. Compared with traditional probes fabricated by etching or conventional sputter erosion, field-directed sputter sharpened probes have smaller radii and produce lithographic patterns 18 – 26% sharper with atomic-scale lithographic fidelity.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/41285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1907
Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)
  • Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-06-10120
  • Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and Space and Naval Warfare Center, San Diego contract N66001-08-C-2040
  • National Science Foundation grant CHE 10-38015
  • National Science Foundation grant DMR 10-05715
  • National Science Foundation grant CHE 07-50422

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