Systems and methods for rapidly fabricating nanopatterns in a parallel fashion over large areas
AssigneeUniversity of Houston System
InventorsVincent M. Donnelly, Demetre J. Economou, Siyuan Tian
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Abstract
Nanopantography is a method for patterning nanofeatures over large areas. Transfer of patterns defined by nanopantography using highly selective plasma etching, with an oxide layer of silicon serving as a hard mask, can improve patterning speed and etch profile. With this method, high aspect ratio features can be fabricated in a substrate with no mask undercut. The ability to fabricate complex patterns using nanopantography, followed by highly selective plasma etching, provides improved patterning speed, feature aspect ratio, and etching profile.
Claims23
A method for creating an array of substantially uniform features in a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
- processing a substrate to provide a plurality of electrostatic lenses,
- wherein the substrate comprises a bottom layer of semiconductive material, a lens layer above the bottom layer, and an electrode layer above the lens layer, and
- each of the plurality of electrostatic lenses comprises an opening in the electrode layer and the lens layer;
- performing nanopantography on the substrate for a first predetermined amount of time to generating a masking layer with a pattern on the bottom layer, wherein the nanopantography generates the masking layer by utilizing the electrostatic lenses to generate the pattern with an ion beam;
- and
- performing a second etching on the substrate to transfer the pattern in the masking layer produced by the nanopantography step to the bottom layer to form an array of nanofeatures.
A substrate with an array of nanofeatures, the substrate comprising:
- a bottom layer of semiconductive material;
- a masking layer on top of the bottom layer;
- a lens layer on top of the masking layer;
- an electrode layer above the lens layer;
- a plurality of lens openings in the electrode layer and the lens layer, wherein each of the plurality of lens openings is a nanoscale sized opening, and each of the plurality of lens openings allow an ion beam to be focused when a voltage is applied across the electrode layer and the bottom layer;
- and
- an array of nanofeatures in the masking layer and the bottom layer, wherein each of the array of nanofeatures comprises
- an opening in a first region in the masking layer patterned using nanopantography, wherein the nanopantography writes a pattern in the masking layer by utilizing the electrostatic lenses to focus and write the pattern with an ion beam, and
- a second region in the bottom layer formed by a second etching that transfers a pattern of the masking layer produced by the nanopantography step into the bottom layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.