Nano-lithography by electron exposure using an Atomic Force Microscope

We have used a conductive Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) tip to expose a very thin resist film. An exposing current of low energy electrons was induced from the tip to the substrate by applying a small bias voltage. Uniform resist films as thin as 10 nm were fabricated using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. To orient the defined pattern and to make electrical connections a special larger scale alignment structure was first defined by conventional electron beam lithography, either directly in the Langmuir–Blodgett resist film or in a separate first lift-off process with a thicker resist. The results from the one resist process gave conducting 50 nm lines with a 60 Å thick vacuum deposited aluminium film after the pattern transfer. The two step process, which is aiming towards definition of ultra small tunnel junctions, has produced similar conductive lines.