Submicron Wire Fabrication on Silicon Substrate Based on Atomic Force Microscopy Technique

Abstract

This article presents on a simple sub-micron wire fabrication by means of local anodic oxidation atomic force microscopy technique. The silicon-based structure consists of two adjacent terminals serve as probing pads and connected with a wire width less than 200 nm. The pad dimension and wire length are 49 μm2 and 11 μm each, respectively. The fabrication process is conducted at room temperature 24–27 °C with 50–60% relative humidity and operated by commercial atomic force microscopy without any modification done. Furthermore, the local oxidation is performed using gold coated AFM probe tip and assisted by the used of special language supported by the equipment software. In addition, 9.0 V applied voltage with 2 μm / sec writing speed is used to realize the oxidation process. I-V characteristic of bare device shows there is a current flow through the device when a range of voltage is applied. By using this local anodic oxidation technique, the silicon wire-based structure is fabricated and used as gas sensor sensing part. The silicon device demonstrates an increase in resistance as introduced to gas environment. The silicon wire device shows relative sensitivity of 35% to the oxygen gas.