| Feb 27, 2024 |
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(Nanowerk News) Grayscale structured surfaces with nanometer-scale features are used in a growing number of applications in optics and fluidics. Thermal scanning probe lithography achieves a lateral resolution below 10 nm and a vertical resolution below 1 nm, but its maximum depth in polymers is limited.
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Now, researchers in the LMIS1, led by Jürgen Brugger, have developed an innovative combination of nanowriting in thermal resist and plasma dry etching with substrate cooling.
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Their method, recently published in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering (“Combining thermal scanning probe lithography and dry etching for grayscale nanopattern amplification”), achieves up to 10-fold amplification of polymer nanopatterns into silicon dioxide (SiO2) without proportionally increasing surface roughness.
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| Researchers have published an innovative grayscale nanolithography technique that has potential applications in photonic and nanoelectronic device fabrication. (Image: Microsystems Laboratory in the School of Engineering, EPFL)
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Sinusoidal nanopatterns in SiO2 with 400 nm pitch and 150 nm depth are fabricated free of shape distortion after dry etching.
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To exemplify the possible applications of the proposed method, grayscale dielectric nanostructures are used for scalable manufacturing through nanoimprint lithography and for strain nanoengineering of 2D materials.
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Such a method for aspect ratio amplification and smooth grayscale nanopatterning has the potential to find application in the fabrication of photonic and nanoelectronic devices.
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