Printhead with nanotips for nanoscale printing and manufacturing
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsPeter J. Nystrom, Andrew W. Hays, Bijoyraj Sahu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nanoprinthead including an array of nanotip cantilevers, where each nanotip cantilever includes a nanotip at an end of a cantilever, and a method for forming the nanoprinthead. Each nanotip may be individually addressable through use of an array of piezoelectric actuators. Embodiments for forming a nanoprinthead including an array of nanotip cantilevers can include an etching process from a material such as a silicon wafer, or the formation of a metal or dielectric nanotip cantilever over a substrate. The nanoprinthead may operate to provide uses for technologies such as dip-pen nanolithography, nanomachining, and nanoscratching, among others.
Claims6
A method for forming a nanoprinthead comprising a nanotip cantilever array including a plurality of nanotip cantilevers, the method comprising:
- forming a patterned first mask having a first pattern over a first side of a substrate and a patterned second mask having a second pattern over a second side of the substrate, wherein the second side is opposite to the first side;
- etching the first side of the substrate using the first mask as a pattern to form a plurality of nanotips;
- etching the second side of the substrate using the second mask as a pattern, wherein the etching of the first side and the second side forms a plurality of bridges wherein each bridge comprises substrate material adjacent to each nanotip;
- forming a sacrificial layer over the first side of the substrate, over the plurality of nanotips, and over the plurality of bridges;
- etching the second side of the substrate to remove the plurality of bridges, to separate the substrate into a plurality of discrete structures held together by the sacrificial layer, and to form the nanotip cantilever array with each nanotip cantilever comprising a cantilever connected to the nanotip;
- and
- attaching the nanotip cantilever array to an array of actuation devices, wherein the array of actuation devices is configured to move each nanotip in a direction toward a surface to be contacted by the nanotip, and each nanotip cantilever of the nanotip cantilever array is individually addressable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.