Investigation of the morphological and fractal behavior at nanoscale of patterning lines by scratching in an atomic force microscope

Abstract

In this work, the topographical effect of the scratching trajectory and the feed direction on the formation of lithographed lines on the (001) InP surface was investigated using an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip-based nanomachining approach.Nanoscratching tests were carried out using the sharp face of a diamond AFM tip in contact mode. From the topographic maps obtained by AFM, several morphological and fractal parameters were obtained and analyzed. Surface morphology presented a surface smoothing for surfaces with scratches produced in [011] and [001] directions.The height parameters confirmed this behavior because scratches in [001] direction exhibited lower roughness. Moreover, this scratch direction promoted the height distribution most symmetrical and platykurtic. The other morphological parameters revealed that this direction provided a more irregular surface (smaller S mc and S xp ), peak distribution, denser and pointed, smaller portion of material in the core, less deep furrows, higher spatial frequency components, and high isotropy. Fractal parameters revealed that FRE90 has the highest spatial complexity, it is dominated by higher spatial frequencies, and has the lowest surface percolation. Furthermore, all samples exhibited high topographic uniformity.

Associating Physical and Photocatalytic Properties of Recyclable and Reusable Blast Furnace Dust Waste

“…The peak at 389 nm (3.19 eV) is assigned to the near-band-edge (NBE) UV emission or due to the recombination of holes (h + ) generated by photons with a specific defect charge state. The emissions at 405 nm (3.06 eV) and 420 nm (2.95 eV) are associated with deep-level emissions, which originate from oxygen interstitial (O i ) and oxygen vacancies (V O ) for both ZnO and α-Fe 2 O 3 crystals [91][92][93]. The blue emission at 468 nm (2.65 eV) is assigned to V O defects in ZnO crystals [94] or due to the 6 The distinctive structural and morphological characteristics of BFDW undoubtedly underlie its optical properties, as depicted in Figure 4.…”

Evaluating the Topological Surface Properties of Cu/Cr Thin Films Using 3D Atomic Force Microscopy Topographical Maps

“…In other words, this means that these samples have the distribution of topographical heights evenly distributed along the surface, which is a remarkable characteristic of these samples. Some previous reports have associated the topographical uniformity of the rough profile with some physical properties, e.g., friction, wear, and adhesion [51][52][53]. A higher topographical entropy value suggests that the possibility of material failure is minimized.…”

A New Method of AFM‐Based Nanolithography Using Frequency Enhanced Electrochemical Pressure Solution Etching

“…Second, when performing nanolithography on crystalline materials, depending on the geometry of the tip, fractures can occur resulting in the formation of irregular cracks on the edges of the features. [14][15] These defects even if they are subsurface, can have important undesired effects in the resulting lithograph. It has been demonstrated that subsurface defects could alter the performances of GaAs-based devices.…”

“…[16] Additionally, because nanoscratching results in material displacement rather than material removal, it gives rise to hillock formations surrounding the features as well as debris within features. [14,17] The consequence is a much-increased surface roughness and a lack of control over the shape and edge-sharpness of the desired features.…”