Nanofabrication of Al-coated Oxide Aperture for NSOM Using Isotropic Etching Technique

Abstract

The nanosize metal‐coated silicon oxide aperture on the cantilever array has been successfully fabricated as a nearfield optical probe. The various semiconductor processes such as the anisotropic etching of the Si substrate, stress‐dependent oxidation, and isotropic HF oxide etching were carried out. The 5 micron size dot array patterning followed by fabrication of the pyramidal V‐groove and thermal oxidation at 1000°C was performed. The oxide layer on the Si (111) plane in the pyramidal V‐groove has been utilized as an etch mask for water‐diluted HF etching for nano‐size aperture fabrication. The thin metal deposition, such as Au and Al thin film, was tried independently on the nano‐size oxide aperture. The cantilever arrays with metal‐coated nano‐size apertures were successfully fabricated.