| Description |
ABSTRACT:
When the size of a material is reduced to a length scale typical of the interactions within, quantum confinement of electrons sets in leading to unusual properties that depend on the size of the system itself. This explains the growing interest in both academic and industrial circles to synthesize new nanomaterials with tailor made properties and have them patterned on substrates for relevant applications. Patterning using conventional polymeric resists can be process intensive and often totally impractical, if the material desired to be cast in patterns, is a chemically intricate system. In this context, direct write recipes have come to rescue. The resist in a direct-write recipe is a metal-organic precursor, which is not only amenable to the lithography processes but also plays an active role in tailoring the end product, while reducing the number of process steps and enabling large area patterning. Direct writing essentially provides a good control on the composition and morphology of the nanomaterial in pattern, be it a nonstoichiometric inorganic compound, an organic material or biomolecules. Thus in recent years, direct write nanolithography has created enough excitement among the practitioners.
The presentation will introduce the topic pointing to important issues in conventional patterning techniques and how these issues have been addressed in the recent literature. Specific examples will include recipes related to e-beam lithography, soft and nanoimprint lithography, laser based lithography as well as dip-pen lithography, and prototype devices derived from them.
|