Abstract
A novel low-cost 2D silicon nano-mold fabrication technique was developed based on Cu inclined-deposition and Ar+ (argon ion) etching. With this technique, sub-100 nm 2D (two dimensional) nano-channels can be etched economically over the whole area of a 4 inch n-type <100> silicon wafer. The fabricating process consists of only 4 steps, UV (Ultraviolet) lithography, inclined Cu deposition, Ar+ sputter etching, and photoresist & Cu removing. During this nano-mold fabrication process, we investigated the influence of the deposition angle on the width of the nano-channels and the effect of Ar+ etching time on their depth. Post-etching measurements showed the accuracy of the nanochannels over the whole area: the variation in width is 10%, in depth it is 11%. However, post-etching measurements also showed the accuracy of the nanochannels between chips: the variation in width is 2%, in depth it is 5%. With this newly developed technology, low-cost and large scale 2D nano-molds can be fabricated, which allows commercial manufacturing of nano-components over large areas.
Highlights
Other procedures that drive up costs may need to be added, such as enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), radio frequency (RF) gold sputtering, interferometric lithography, reactive ion etching (RIE) or deep reactive ion etching (DRIE)
The method proposed in this study has several advantages over previous ones: (a) it follows four simple steps, as shown in Fig. 1 (UV-photolithography, inclined Cu deposition, Ar+ sputter etching, photoresist & Cu removal); (b) it is economical; and (c) high reproducibility fabrication
In this study we present a method of fabricating linear nanochannels over a 4 inch diameter surface by inclined Cu deposition and Ar+ etching
Summary
More economical special methods that are more complicated and require costly equipment: chemical-mechanical polishing[28], sacrificial layer surface-machining[29], interference lithography[30,31], and sidewall transfer techniques[32,33,34]. With these methods, the fabrication process is difficult to control, and the resulting 2D nanochannels over a large area lack uniformity. What needed to be determined in this study were the reliably uniform dimensions of different size nanochannels over the entire large area substrate as well as uniform nanochannels in the fabricated end products, the nanochannel devices
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