High speed patterning of a metal silicide using scanned probe lithography

We describe a simple high-speed process for patterning metal silicides with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The process uses a thin AFM-generated ox ide to block Pt diffusion during the formation of Pt silicide. Because the process requires only similar to 1 nm of oxide, high write speeds and fine lateral resolution are achieved. We find that by maintaining ambient moistu re at the tip-sample interface we can under optimal tip conditions achieve a minimum exposure time of similar to 300 ns for a 30 nm size pixel which c orresponds to a maximum write speed of similar to 10 cm/s. (C) 1999 America n Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)01736-2].