Direct Patterning of Zinc Sulfide on a Sub-10 Nanometer Scale via Electron Beam Lithography

Abstract

Nanostructures of metal sulfides are conventionally prepared via chemical techniques and patterned using self-assembly. This poses a considerable amount of challenge when arbitrary shapes and sizes of nanostructures are desired to be placed at precise locations. Here, we describe an alternative approach of nanoscale patterning of zinc sulfide (ZnS) directly using a spin-coatable and electron beam sensitive zinc butylxanthate resist without the lift-off or etching step. Time-resolved electron beam damage studies using micro-Raman and micro-FTIR spectroscopies suggest that exposure to a beam of electrons leads to quick disappearance of xanthate moieties most likely via the Chugaev elimination, and further increase of electron dose results in the appearance of ZnS, thereby making the exposed resist insoluble in organic solvents. Formation of ZnS nanocrystals was confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. This property was exploited for the fabrication of ZnS lines as small as 6 nm and also enabled patterning of 10 nm dots with pitches as close as 22 nm. The ZnS patterns fabricated by this technique showed defect-induced photoluminescence related to sub-band-gap optical transitions. This method offers an easy way to generate an ensemble of functional ZnS nanostructures that can be arbitrarily patterned and placed in a precise way. Such an approach may enable programmable design of functional chalcogenide nanostructures.

Thermoelectric Properties of Substoichiometric Electron Beam Patterned Bismuth Sulfide

“…This value is much lower than the sensitivity values reported for other negative chalcogenide resists such as ZnS and MoS2 resists (~35 mC/cm 2 ). 24,25 In order to understand the effect of electron dose on bismuth(III) 109 ethylxanthate, circular discs of 50 µm were patterned using an electron beam to perform micro-FTIR and micro-Raman spectroscopies [Figures 2(c Analysis of the same using micro-Raman spectroscopy [Figure 2(d)] shows the appearance of characteristic peaks of Bi2S3 at 232, 256, 307, and 428 cm -1 . [30][31][32] In other words, the organic parts in bismuth(III) ethylxanthate, i.e., the xanthate moieties, decompose under an electron beam leaving behind Bi2S3.…”

Active Valley-topological Plasmonic Crystal in Metagate-tuned Graphene

“…Assuming L = 200 nm and r = 50 nm, the reduction in the size of the topological bandgap, ω 2K − ω 1K , is calculated to be only around 3% with d = 10 nm (d/r = 0.2). Thus, our theoretical predictions made with the assumption that the holes are perfectly triangular are still sufficiently precise despite roundy corners of the triangle in real samples, given that a resolution of d = 10 nm (the minimum diameter of a dot is 20 nm) is well within experimental capabilities in electron-beam lithography [65] or focused ion-beams.…”

Zinc Sulfide-Based Hybrid Exosome-Coated Nanoplatform for Targeted Treatment of Glioblastoma in an Orthotopic Mouse Glioblastoma Model

“…Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is an atypical transition-metal sulfid with various morphologies, such as quantum dots (QDs), nanorods/nanowires, nanobelts, nanotubes, nano-ribbon array, nanoporous particles and hollow spheres. [10] The hollow ZnS has received intensive attention recently based on the merits of hollow micro/nano structures. The hollow ZnS nanoparticles have a high surface-to-volume ratio and surface states are useful for drug delivery in terms of drug loading capacity and surface modification.…”

“…Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is an atypical transition-metal sulfide with various morphologies. [10] Among them, hollow ZnS has received considerable attention based on its capacity for higher drug loading. [11] Recently, There is increasing interesting at ZnS in the field of photodynamic therapy due to its strong light-response activity originated from its large energy gap (~3.7 eV).…”