CENTIMETER SCALE ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPE IMAGING AND LITHOGRAPHY

We present a 4 mm(2) image taken with a parallel array of 10 cantileve rs, an image spanning 6.4 mm taken with 32 cantilevers, and lithograph y over a 100 mm(2) area using an array of 50 cantilevers. All of these results represent scan areas that are orders of magnitude larger than that of a typical atomic force microscope (0.01 mm(2)). Previously, t he serial nature and limited scan size of the atomic force microscope prevented large scale imaging. Our design addresses these issues by us ing a modular micromachined parallel atomic force microscope array in conjunction with large displacement scanners. High-resolution microsco py and lithography over large areas are important for many application s, but especially in microelectronics, where integrated circuit chips typically have nanometer scale features distributed over square centim eter areas. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.