Cleaning of nanostructures
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorPio Peter Niraj Nirmalraj
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for removing a polymeric material from a surface of a nanostructure. The method includes applying, by a scanning probe microscope, an electrical field between a probe tip of the scanning probe microscope and the nanostructure, and simultaneously scanning over the surface of the nanostructure. Thereby, bonds connecting the polymeric material to the surface of the nanostructure are broken. A further step includes cleaning the surface of the nanostructure. A scanning probe microscope for performing such a method and a computer program product for controlling the scanning probe microscope are also disclosed.
Claims17
A scanning probe microscope comprising:
- a metal coated probe tip;
- a voltage source to apply a bias voltage between the probe tip and a sample, the bias voltage being between 0.5 V and 2 V;
- a sample positioner to position the sample in relation to the probe tip;
- and
- a system controller to control the scanning probe microscope.
A scanning probe microscope comprising:
- a probe tip having an apex tip area of more than 300 nm2 and less than 10000 nm2;
- a voltage source to apply a bias voltage between the probe tip and a sample;
- a sample positioner to position the sample in relation to the probe tip;
- and
- a system controller to control the scanning probe microscope, the system controller to control a strength of an electrical field between the probe tip and the sample between 102 V/m and 106 V/m and to apply a loading force between the probe tip and the sample between 0.5 nN and 10 nN.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.