MRI Instrumentation Development: Nanolithography Using Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) and Local Electrostatic Discharge

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This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award provides funds to develop an instrument to create structures on semiconductor, metallic and oxide surfaces at the nanometer length scales. A research grade electrostatic discharge machine will be purchased and will be modified to enable substantially improved resolution. A new vacuum nanolithography tool will be constructed, which utilizes the principle of proximal probe technique wherein the highly controlled electrostatic discharge between surface and tip can dissociate atoms on the target surface with a high degree of specificity. The equipment will be used to create semiconductor and magnetic devices with nanometer dimensions in order to exploit quantum mechanical behavior such as quantization of resistance and nano-contact ballistic magnetoresistance. This project will improve upon current manufacturing capability down to1 nm feature size and will allow relatively inexpensive fabrication of quantum devices. It will be designed as a bolt-on addition to existing charged particle lithography tools such as focused ion beam milling machines as well as standard electron microscopes; and can be used by university researchers in various departments including chemical engineering, materials science, as well as chemistry and biochemistry. It will further strengthen the University of Maryland, College Park, in the field of nanostructures and can promote advances in nanomachining. The technique is straightforward and can be transferred readily to various universities and research laboratories. The instrumentation can be converted for use to either add or remove material by a straightforward replacement of the fluid layer, and being vacuum-based, it is compatible with semiconductor manufacturing processes. Nanostructures could thus be made relatively inexpensively and could stimulate vigorous research and development of artificial nanostructures.