AVS 51st International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session NS-WeM

Paper NS-WeM4
Recent Lithography Results from the Digital E-Beam Array Lithography (DEAL) Concept

Wednesday, November 17, 2004, 9:20 am, Room 213D

Session: Nanoscale Patterning and Lithography
Presenter: W.L. Gardner, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Authors: W.L. Gardner, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
L.R. Baylor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
X. Yang, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
R.J. Kasica, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
D.K. Hensley, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
A.V. Melechko, Univeristy of Tennessee, Knoxville
D.C. Joy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
P.D. Rack, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
B. Blalock, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
S. Islam, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
M.A. Guillorn, Cornell Nanofabrication Facility
M.L. Simpson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
The Digital E-beam Array Lithography (DEAL) concept is currently under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).@footnote 1@ This concept incorporates a digitally addressable field emission array built into a logic and control integrated circuit to function as the write head for a massively parallel e-beam lithography tool. Each field emission device comprises three electrodes separated 1 µm from each other by SiO@sub 2@. The first electrode functions as the cathode and contains a single vertically aligned carbon nanofiber as the field emitter. The second is a 2-µm diameter extraction aperture formed using a self-aligning process. The third is a 4-µm diameter aperture functioning as an electrostatic focusing lens and created using standard photolithographic processing. Field emission and focusing tests on prototype devices demonstrated that the emission follows Fowler-Nordheim characteristics, the beams can be focused as anticipated from numerical simulations, and the extraction and focus apertures in well-aligned devices collect less than 1% of the emitter current. Preliminary lithographic results on PMMA coated substrates demonstrated that variations in linewidth measured as a function of the focus lens voltage are in good agreement with device modeling. Our current research objective is to demonstrate lithography using a full 3x3 array of operating devices. We will discuss our recent results in detail as well as ongoing work to achieve <100-nm linewidths and full array implementation. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.