Micro and Nano Scale Organic Molecular Patterning by Laser Implantation Technique.

Abstract

Functional organic molecules can be space-selectively implanted into polymer films by pulsed laser irradiation. This method has been developed for fabricating nano- and micro-scale fluorescent patterns on polymer surfaces. Two approaches employing scanning probe microscopy and conventional optical microscopy have been demonstrated. The former used a glass pipette having aperture of 100 nm, doped with fluorescent organic molecules at the tip. The distance between the tip and a polymer surface was controlled by a piezo driver to within a few tens of nanometer. Then nanosecond pulsed laser light was guided into the pipette with a glass fiber producing a nano-jet of organic molecules that is ejected towards the polymer surface, resulting in disklike implantation with a diameter of a few hundred nanometers. It was also demonstrated that a conventional microscope is useful to manufacture micro-scale patterns with functional organic molecules. This mechanism of the microscopic implantation is discussed based on experimental parameters affecting implantation size.