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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

The widespread use of nanotechnology in different application fields, resulting in the integration of nanostructures in a plethora of devices, has addressed the research toward novel and easy-to-setup nanofabrication techniques to realize nanostructures with high spatial resolution and reproducibility. Owing to countless applications in molecular electronics, data storage, nanoelectromechanical, and systems for the Internet of Things, in recent decades, the scientific community has focused on developing methods suitable for nanopattern polymers. To this purpose, Atomic Force Microscopy-based nanolithographic techniques are effective methods that are relatively less complex and inexpensive than equally resolute and accurate techniques, such as Electron Beam lithography and Focused Ion Beam lithography. In this work, we propose an evolution of nanoindentation, named Pulse-Atomic Force Microscopy, to obtain continuous structures with a controlled depth profile, either constant or variable, on a polymer layer. Due to the modulation of the characteristics of voltage pulses fed to the AFM piezo-scanner and distance between nanoindentations, it was possible to indent sample surface with high spatial control and fabricate highly resolved 2.5D nanogrooves. That is the real strength of the proposed technique, as no other technique can achieve similar results in tailor-made graded nanogrooves without the need for additional manufacturing steps.

Details

Title
Pulse-Atomic Force Lithography: A Powerful Nanofabrication Technique to Fabricate Constant and Varying-Depth Nanostructures
Author
Pellegrino, Paolo 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bramanti, Alessandro Paolo 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Farella, Isabella 3 ; Cascione, Mariafrancesca 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; De Matteis, Valeria 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Antonio Della Torre 3 ; Quaranta, Fabio 3 ; Rinaldi, Rosaria 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; [email protected] (M.C.); [email protected] (V.D.M.); [email protected] (R.R.) 
 Lecce Labs, STMicroelectronics S.r.l., System Research and Applications (SRA) Silicon Biotech, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy 
 Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM), CNR, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; [email protected] (I.F.); [email protected] (A.D.T.); [email protected] (F.Q.) 
 Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; [email protected] (M.C.); [email protected] (V.D.M.); [email protected] (R.R.); Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM), CNR, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy; [email protected] (I.F.); [email protected] (A.D.T.); [email protected] (F.Q.) 
First page
991
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20794991
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2642585566
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.