Top-down process of Germanium nanowires using EBL exposure of Hydrogen Silsesquioxane resist

An initial top-down process of Germanium nanowires is developed in this work. The Silicon Nitride (Si
₃
N
₄
) is used as a hard mask to obtain a stable surface for lithography and a resistive mask for etch. The electron-beam lithography (EBL) is utilized for patterning the nanowires with Hydrogen Silsesquixane (HSQ) as a negative photoresist. Several different etch conditions are examined to transfer the patterns into the substrate.