HIGH-SPEED LAYER-BY-LAYER PATTERNING OF PHTHALOCYANINE LANGMUIR-BLODGETT-FILMS BY THE ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE

Anisotropic Langmuir-Blodgett films of phthalocyanine derivatives have been patterned using an atomic force microscope to scan the surface o f the film at high scan rate (>100 mu m/s). The depth of the periodic grooved lines, of width down to 50 nm, formed perpendicular to the fas t scan direction can be controlled to the monolayer level through the effect of the load (a few nanonewtons) applied to the tip. It is shown that the patterning results from an oscillation in the feedback loop resulting in a periodic force modulation of a few nanonewtons along ea ch scan line. Using the same principle, we show that the microscope ca n be modified to write patterns of arbitrary form by the superposition of a given voltage waveform onto the Z piezo voltage. (C) 1996 Americ an Vacuum Society.