NANOLITHOGRAPHY WITH AN ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE FOR INTEGRATED FABRICATION OF QUANTUM ELECTRONIC DEVICES

We describe a novel technique using an atomic force microscope (AFM) f or integrated nanometer-scale lithography on various mask materials su ch as photoresist or gold covering a mesa-etched GaAs-AlGaAs heterostr ucture at ambient conditions. The generated patterns can be transferre d to the two-dimensional electron gas by wet chemical etching or by io n beam irradiation. We succeed in fabricating hole arrays with a perio dicity down to 35 nm and a hole diameter of only a few nanometers. In magnetoresistance studies on so-called antidot devices with 95 nm peri od at T = 4.2 K we can clearly observe commensurability oscillations, demonstrating the successful pattern transfer to the electron system. With the AFM we can also pattern lines of varying width and depth into prefabricated devices. (C) 1994 American Institute of Physics.