Nanofabrication on Si oxide with scanning tunneling microscope: Mechanism of the low-energy electron-stimulated reaction

Abstract

Nanofabrication on Si oxide with a low-energy electron-beam-stimulated reaction has been demonstrated using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and the mechanism of the low-energy electron-induced etching is investigated further. Direct fabrication of a thin Ag film with this low-energy e-beam/STM method was also tested, which shows an additional capability of the nanofabrication technique. Nanometer-scale patterning of rings on a thin Si-oxide layer using this method shows that further progress nanolithography can be expected with the fabricated Si oxide as a mask.