Microlithography uses metastable argon atoms

Abstract

A new microlithography technique that uses atoms instead of light to create patterns on an etchable substrate has the potential to create far tinier and more unusual structures than standard photolithography. The new method—described in last week's Science [ 269 , 1255 (1995)] by scientists at Harvard University and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)—exploits the wavelike nature of atoms to do tasks more commonly thought of as suited for light. Conventional lithography is performed by projecting a pattern onto a lightsensitive surface to selectively remove the surface layer, exposing a substrate beneath that can then be chemically etched. The Harvard/NIST team—led by Harvard chemistry professor George M. Whitesides and Harvard physics professor Mara Prentiss—finds that metastable neutral argon atoms can be used to damage alkanethiolate self-assembled monolayers that cover an etchable base. The new method has several advantages, the researchers say. Diffraction limits conventional phot...