Conductive polycrystalline diamond probes for local anodic oxidation lithography

Nanotechnology. 2015 Nov 20;26(46):465201. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/26/46/465201. Epub 2015 Oct 26.

Abstract

This is the first report characterizing local anodic oxidation (LAO) lithography performed using conductive monolithic polycrystalline diamond (MD) and conductive polycrystalline diamond-coated (DC) tips and comparing it to the diamond-like carbon-coated and metal-coated silicon tips. The range and the rate of increase in the lithographic linewidth and height with tip bias (dw/dV and dh/dV) differed based on the tip material. The DC tips resulted in wider and taller lines and a higher dw/dV and dh/dV compared to metal-coated tips with a similar force constant (k(Avg)). The metal-coated and the DC tips with comparable k(Avg) showed comparable threshold voltages, whereas the MD tips with similar k(Avg) showed a higher threshold voltage. The MD tips exhibited less than half the height and nearly half the dw/dV and dh/dV obtained with the metal-coated tips with similar k Avg, thus also resulting in a smaller width at -10 V. The linewidths were found to be proportional to the inverse of the log of write speed(v) for all the tips; however, the proportionality constant varied with tip material; the DC tips had larger values, and the MD and the metal-coated tips had comparable values. When varying the speed, the height was found to be a sigmoidal function of width, with the MD probes achieving lower height compared to the metal-coated and the DC tips with comparable k(Avg). This study expands the application of monolithic conductive polycrystalline diamond (PCD) probes with outstanding wear resistance to fine LAO lithography.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't