The fabrication of diversiform nanostructure forests based on residue nanomaskssynthesized by oxygen plasma removal of photoresist

Abstract

A simple lithography-free approach for fabricating diversiform nanostructure forestsis presented. The key technique of the approach is that randomly distributednanoscale residues can be synthesized on substrates simply by removing photoresistwith oxygen plasma bombardment. These nanoresidues can function as masks inthe subsequent etching process for nanopillars. By further spacer and then deepetching processes, a variety of forests composed of regular, tulip-like or hollow-headnanopillars as well as nanoneedles are successfully achieved in different etchingconditions. The pillars have diameters of 30–200 nm and heights of 400 nm–3 µm. The needles reach several microns in height, with their tips less than 10 nm in diameter.Moreover, microstructures containing these nanostructure forests, such as surfacemicrochannels, have also been fabricated. This approach is compatible with conventionalmicro/nano-electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) fabrication.