NER: Nanoscale Electron Beam Stimulated Processing

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This project was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 01-157, category NER. The project will explore electron stimulated deposition and etching as a alternative technique to selectively deposit and etch nanoscopic features. The mechanisms and reaction kinetics for the electron beam stimulated growth and etch processes will be elucidated using standard precursor materials. Beam energy and current density measurements will be performed and the energy flow will be modeled at the near surface region to determine the contribution of thermal Joule heating versus electron dissociation of the precursor molecules. The effect of gas phase electron scattering, specimen charging, and secondary electron emission will be investigated to understand the minimum pixel size that can be realized for this nanoscale process.This project is a collaborative effort between scientists at the University of Tennessee (Philip D. Rack and David C. Joy) and North Carolina State University (Phillip Russell) and will investigate nanoscale materials manipulation with focused electron beams. The ability to manipulate materials at the nanoscale is critical for the nanotechnology revolution that is occurring. To intelligently design and or repair nanoscale devices requires techniques to selectively and nanoscopically deposit and remove material in a controllable fashion. Current techniques to selectively deposit or etch microscopic features utilize ion beam deposition and etching, laser ablative etching using far field and near field optics, and mechanical abrasion using a fine microtip. Of these techniques, focused ion beam techniques are probably the most mature technology that has been extended into the nanoscale. When using an ion beam to stimulate a deposition or etch process, the gallium ions get implanted into the substrate, which can significantly change the optical, electrical, or mechanical properties of the substrate. Charging inherent to the ion-solid interaction also causes proximity effects and can also lead to so-called "riverbed effects" which erodes nearby features when the heavy ion beam is scattered and induces sputtering. Electron beam stimulated deposition and etching is conceptually similar to the existing focused ion beam approach and has been shown to be a viable technique for depositing nanoscopic materials. The main advantages of using an electron beams versus ion beams are reduced contamination and smaller spot sizes.