Improvement of drawing stability and throughput in scanning probe lithography based on anti-wear probes

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate the improvement in drawing stability and throughput of scanning probe lithography (SPL) based on anti-wear probes. In order to improve the stability of SPL, we conceive of a novel anti-wear probe to improve the wear resistance of the probe. The tip of the proposed anti-wear probe has a uniform-cuboid shape, which consists of a microscale mechanical contact and two nanoscale electrical contacts (sidewall electrodes) formed on the sidewall of the mechanical contact. The microscale mechanical contacts reduce the tip wear by dispersing the force applied to the tip, and the nanoscale electrical contacts enable the drawing of nanoscale features. The uniform shape of the probe tip enables the probe to maintain its stable performance, even when it is mechanically worn. This probe is found to be able to maintain stable performance for a total drawing length of 2 m, which is an improvement of several thousand times over a conventional probe. Then, we improve the probe design by introducing an eave portion to the tip to ensure mass-production compatibility for enabling of multi-probes while maintaining the high wear resistance. The improved probes are found to be effective in simplifying the fabrication process and reduce fabrication cost. Eight linearly arrayed anti-wear probes are fabricated, and improvement in throughput of SPL is demonstrated.