Microelectromechanical Parallel Scanning Nanoprobes for Nanolithography

This paper presents a new approach and preliminary results for MEMS-enabled low-cost and high throughput parallel scanning probe nanolithography. The proposed approach is based on integrated microelectromechanical systems capable of simultaneous generation of a large number of identical nanoprecision patterns on a substrate. Integration of two-degree-of-freedom MEMS actuators with two-dimensional nanoprobe arrays as well as preliminary results for simultaneous generation of multiple submicrometer patterns using such devices is reported. Electrical cross talk between the fully silicon fabricated actuators along X- and Y-axes has been eliminated by optimizing the design. Scratch marks as narrow as 250 nm and as long as 42 μm have been generated on a thin photoresist layer, which was spin-coated on a silicon substrate using the electrothermal MEMS structure carrying up to 25 nanotips. Furthermore, the submicrometer patterns have been successfully transferred to the underlying silicon substrate via reactive ion etching. Patterns as narrow as 250 nm (~60 nm in depth) were obtained on the underlying silicon substrate.