Selective-area atomic layer epitaxy growth of ZnO features on soft lithography-patterned substrates

Templated ZnO thin-film growth from the vapor phase is achieved on docosylt richloro- silane-patterned Si substrates using atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) c ombined with soft lithography. Patterned hydrophobic self-assembled monolay ers (SAMs) are first transferred to single-crystal Si surfaces by hot micro contact printing. Using diethylzinc and water as ALE precursors, crystallin e ZnO layers are then grown selectively on the SAM-free surface regions whe re native hydroxy groups nucleate growth from the vapor phase. High-resolut ion ZnO patterns with 1.0-40 mum feature sizes are readily achieved, demons trating that soft lithography combined with ALE is a simple and promising m ethodology for selective area in situ vapor phase fabrication of patterned oxide thin films. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.