Electron-beam lithography

About: Electron-beam lithography is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8982 publications have been published within this topic receiving 143325 citations. The topic is also known as: e-beam lithography.

Simulation of the spatial distribution and molecular weight of polymethylmethacrylate fragments in electron beam lithography exposures

Abstract: We report a three-dimensional (3D) simulation model based on the kinetic transport theory for calculating the distribution of PMMA fragments after an exposure to electron impact. The conditions employed for the modeling were chosen to resemble a typical electron beam lithography exposure. The model accounts for inelastic collisions of electrons in PMMA and resulting random main-chain scissions. We have considered gratings composed of parallel lines distanced by 10–50nm and exposed to electrons with energies of 10–60keV. By the model simulations, we have generated and analyzed the detailed 3D distributions of small PMMA fragments (one to ten monomers) that are soluble at the development stage and thus are responsible for the clearance in the gratings. In terms of the spatial distributions of soluble fragments, we have formulated the criteria that define the total clearance as well as the local grating development and investigated their dependence on the grating period, electron dose, and energy.

Metrology for electron-beam lithography and resist contrast at the sub-10 nm scale

Abstract: Exploring the resolution limit of electron-beam lithography is of great interest both scientifically and technologically. However, when electron-beam lithography approaches its resolution limit, imaging and metrology of the fabricated structures by using standard scanning electron microscopy become difficult. In this work, the authors adopted transmission-electron and atomic-force microscopies to improve the metrological accuracy and to analyze the resolution limit of electron-beam lithography. With these metrological methods, the authors found that sub-5 nm sparse features could be readily fabricated by electron-beam lithography, but dense 16 nm pitch structures were difficult to yield. Measurements of point- and line-spread functions suggested that the resolution in fabricating sub-10 nm half-pitch structures was primarily limited by the resist-development processes, meaning that the development rates depended on pattern density and/or length scale.

Nanolithographic patterning of transparent, conductive single-walled carbon nanotube films by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching

Abstract: The authors report successful patterning of transparent, conductive single-walled carbon nanotube films down to 100nm lateral dimensions by photolithography or e-beam lithography and subsequent O2 plasma etching using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) system. They systematically study the effect of ICP-RIE etch parameters, such as substrate bias power, chamber pressure, and substrate cooling, on the nanotube film etch rate and etch selectivity. They also characterize the effect of the linewidth etched on the nanotube film etch rate for widths ranging from 50μm down to 100nm. Furthermore, by fabricating standard four point probe structures using the patterning capability developed, the authors investigate the effect of different resist processes on the resistivity of patterned single-walled carbon nanotube films and the effect of ICP reactive ion etching on the resistivity of partially etched nanotube films. In addition, they demonstrate that using an ICP-RIE system provides sign...

Arrays of Ge islands on Si(001) grown by means of electron-beam pre-patterning

Abstract: We show that well-defined arrays of self-assembled Ge dots on Si(001) can be grown after pre-patterning the Si surface by means of an electron beam. The electron beam produces C-containing growth masks. The overgrowth of these masks with Si results in pits at the Si surface, in and around which Ge dots nucleate selectively. A manifold of different arrays can be obtained. Almost perfect arrays of quadruples of dots nucleate in the intersections of the four {11n} facets. This way of producing quantum dot arrays is very promising for producing dot structures suitable for use in the study of, for instance, dot-dot tunnelling and related effects.