PATTERN GENERATION BELOW 0.1 MICRON BY LOCALIZED CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION WITH THE SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

Nowadays there are many techniques for nanofabrication, some of which are well established. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is the n ewest tool for making nanostructures, even down to the atomic scale, b ut it is not yet clear which applications will benefit from it. We hav e developed a technique that combines STM and chemical vapor depositio n (CVD): the idea is to break CVD precursor gases with the electrons f rom the STM. This has the attractive feature of obtaining the highest resolution possible together with minimal damage to the substrate or e xisting structures. The gases that have been used with this technique include trimethylaluminum, dimethylcadmium, tungsten hexafluoride, nic kel tetracarbonyl, and iron pentacarbonyl. Thus far this technique has produced metallic lines that are only 35 nm wide and dots that are 8 nm in diameter.