The adsorption of nickelocene - Part 2: Decomposition and selective area deposition

We have studied the photofragmentation of nickelocene by photoemission and laser-induced photodesorption. The ultraviolet photolytic decomposition lea ds to relatively clean metal-to-ligand cleavage and photoinduced desorption of the cyclopentadienyl ligand fragments. This photolytic decomposition pr ocess is mechanistically different from the pyrolytic decomposition process , which results in the formation of C3H3 and C2H2 that desorbs both as free ligands and bound to nickel. The laser- and electron-induced fragmentation of nickelocene leads to the deposition of nickel containing features with considerable spatial resolution. Lines as fine as 10 nm across have been fa bricated with electron beams. The photolytic decomposition of nickelocene c an be used to fabricate micron-scale ferromagnetic nickel features in a wid e variety of shapes and sizes. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.