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11-06/07 :: June/July 2011
nanotimes Research
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understand what really happens to the extrinsic and intrinsic responses of the materials at these small scales.”
Ultimately, arrays of AFM tips under computer con- trol could produce complete devices, providing an alternative to current fabrication techniques.
Georgia Tech researchers Yaser Bastani, Nazanin Bassiri- Gharb and Suenne Kim examine microscope images of ferroelectric nanostructures produced by thermochemical nanolithography on various substrates, including polyimi- de, silicon and glass.
© Gary Meek/Gatech
The heated AFM tips were provided by William King, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urba- na-Champaign.
As a next step, the researchers plan to use arrays of AFM tips to produce larger patterned areas, and improve the heated AFM tips to operate for longer periods of time. The researchers also hope to under- stand the basic science behind ferroelectric materials, including properties at the nanoscale.
“We need to look at the growth thermodynamics of these ferroelectric materials,” said Bassiri-Gharb. “We also need to see how the properties change when you move from the bulk to the micron sca- le and then to the nanometer scale. We need to
“Thermochemical nanolithography is a very po- werful nanofabrication technique that, through heating, is like a nanoscale pen that can create nanostructures useful in a variety of applications, including protein arrays, DNA arrays, and gra- phene-like nanowires,” Riedo explained. “We are really addressing the problem caused by the existing limitations of photolithography at these size scales. We can envision creating a full device based on the same fabrication technique without the requirements of costly clean rooms and vacuum-based equipment. We are moving toward a process in which multiple steps are done using the same tool to pattern at the small scale.”
Suenne Kim, Yaser Bastani, Haidong Lu, William P. King, Seth Marder, Kenneth H. Sandhage, Alexei Gruverman, Eli- sa Riedo and Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb: Direct Fabrication of Arbitrary-Shaped Ferroelectric Nanostructures on Plastic, Glass, and Silicon Substrates, In: Advanced Materials Early View, July 15, 2011, DOI:10.1002/adma.201101991: http:/dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201101991