NANOFABRICATION OF A QUANTUM-DOT ARRAY - ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY OF ELECTROPOLISHED ALUMINUM

One step required for the fabrication of a quantum dot array on an alu minum substrate is the preparation of a flat aluminum surface. To enab le the optimization of the electropolishing procedure, atomic force mi croscopy was used to examine the morphology of electropolished polycry stalline aluminum surfaces that were prepared under different electrop olishing conditions. The electropolishing voltage, time, and temperatu re were varied. Two distinctly different surface morphologies were obs erved for different electropolishing conditions and transitional struc tures were observed for intermediate conditions. It was found that the type of surface morphology and the surface roughness could be control led primarily with the electropolishing voltage while temperature and time had relatively little effect over the range examined in this stud y.