Multilayer resist films applicable to nanopatterning of insulating substrates based on current-injecting scanning probe lithography

Scanning probe lithography based on localized current injection using the p robe tip of atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been applied to nanoprocessin g of an insulating substrate. An electrically conductive resist film compos ed of triple layers was developed for this current-injecting AFM lithograph y. The bottom layer of the resist, which served as a current pass during pa tterning, consisted of amorphous silicon (a-Si) with 20 nm in thickness pre pared by ion-beam sputtering. An organosilane monolayer, that is, octadecyl silyl self-assembled monolayer (ODS-SAM) of 2 nm in thickness, was used as the top layer of the resist, therefore, as the imaging layer in which nanos cale patterns were drawn by AFM. In order to bind the a-Si and the ODS-SAM together, the intermediate layer of the resist, that is, Si oxide of 2 nm i n thickness, was prepared by photooxidation of the a-Si layer. Through an A FM-lithographic process using this multilayered resist, nanofabrication of fine grooves on a Si oxide substrate was demonstrated. The minimum feature size about 50 nm was successfully fabricated. (C) 1999 American Vacuum Soci ety. [S0734-211X(99)02004-1].