Fabrication of Large-Area Nanostructure Arrays Using Aperture Array Lithography

We have developed a technique for the rapid prototyping and fabrication of nanostructure arrays over large areas and with precisely controlled geometries. Our approach, aperture array lithography, uses energetic particles (typically He
⁺
, 5-30 keV) to expose resist through a stencil mask that contains a large array (10
⁸
-10
⁹
openings/cm
²
) of circular apertures. The mask is placed in close proximity to the substrate and can be scanned over the surface with nanometer-scale displacement to change the shape, density, and size of the printed patterns. This flexibility is well-suited for rapid prototyping of a variety of structures, including bit- patterned medium, solid-liquid separation filters, infrared bandpass filters, and ion lens arrays.