Nanolithography of Organic Polysilane Films Using Carbon Nanotube Tips

Abstract

The patterning of polysilane films is performed by means of the contact-mode-Scanning Probe Microscope(SPM) lithography technique. Both a carbon nanotube tip and a gold-coated Si tip are used. The polysilane film is directly patterned or grooved when the tip is negatively biased. It is considered that the grooves are fabricated by the scission of Si-Si bonds and volatilization of the species due to the emanating of electrons from the scanning tip. Compared with gold-coated Si tips, carbon nanotube tips produce narrower grooves with a higher scan speed and have a longer lifetime. The maximum ratio of groove depth to width can be obtained at a speed as high as 20 µm/s when using the carbon nanotube tip.

The chemistry and application of carbon nanotubes

“…Nanoscale lithography experiments with polysilane films using an STM equipped with an NT probe tip showed that the NT tip provides higher resolution, larger groove depth-to-width ratio at higher scanning speeds and extended tip lifetime than the probe tips made of other materials. 424 Impressive experiments were carried out on the manipulation and deposition of individual atoms on a surface using the STM probe tip 425,426 and the possibility of atomic-level modification of nanostructures was shown. 415 This gave an impetus to the study by Kra ' l and Toma ' nek 427 who tried to eliminate the major drawback of modern STM, that is, manipulation of a single atom.…”

Field induced electron emission from graphene nanostructures

“…In addition, the thermal emission also has been widely studied due to their importance in both vacuum and solid-state devices [3,4]. Accordingly, FE is widely applicable to modern technologies; such as displays [5][6][7][8], lithography [9,10], x-ray tubes [11][12][13], and electron microscopes [14,15]. In FE, electrons of the cathode material pass through the material surface into vacuum by overcoming the electrostatic barrier, under an external electric field on the order of 10∼100 MV/cm.…”

Triplet state spectroscopy of σ-conjugated poly[methyl(phenyl)silylene]

“…Compatibility of polysilanes with both silicon-based technologies and organic materials deposition methods suggest their potential use in nanolithography [14]. Well known is their use for the fabrication of electroluminescent devices [15][16][17][18], in electrophotographic media [19], photorefractive devices [20] and as binding layers in photovoltaic cells [21].…”