The effect of scratching direction in AFM nanolithography

In this paper, we investigated the effect of scratching direction in AFM scratching. The understanding of this effect is one of the key factors in the patterning process. In our experiment, several testing grooves were engraved in all four basic directions (forward, backward, right and left) on polycarbonate substrate using Si probe. Both the fabrication and subsequent characterization were performed using the identical atomic force microscope. Our results were compared to previous reports. It was found that scratching in the backward direction is the most suitable for the common usage.