Friction-induced nanofabrication on monocrystalline silicon

Abstract

Fabrication of nanostructures has become a major concern as the scaling of devicedimensions continues. In this paper, a friction-induced nanofabrication method is proposedto fabricate protrusive nanostructures on silicon. Without applying any voltage, thenanofabrication is completed by sliding an AFM diamond tip on a sample surface under agiven normal load. Nanostructured patterns, such as linear nanostructures, nanodots ornanowords, can be fabricated on the target surface. The height of these nanostructuresincreases rapidly at first and then levels off with the increasing normal load or number ofscratching cycles. TEM analyses suggest that the friction-induced hillock is composed ofsilicon oxide, amorphous silicon and deformed silicon structures. Compared to thetribochemical reaction, the amorphization and crystal defects induced by the mechanicalinteraction may have played a dominating role in the formation of the hillocks. Similarto other proximal probe methods, the proposed method enables fabrication atspecified locations and facilitates measuring the dimensions of nanostructureswith high precision. It is highlighted that the fabrication can also be realized onelectrical insulators or oxide surfaces, such as quartz and glass. Therefore, thefriction-induced method points out a new route in fabricating nanostructures on demand.