AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session NS-ThP

Paper NS-ThP20
Controlled Growth of Nanostructured Complex Oxides by Pulsed Laser Deposition Nanostenciling

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5:30 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Nanoscale Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: C.V. Cojocaru, Universite du Quebec, Canada
Authors: C.V. Cojocaru, Universite du Quebec, Canada
O. Gautreau, Universite du Quebec, Canada
C. Harnagea, Universite du Quebec, Canada
F. Rosei, Universite du Quebec, Canada
A. Pignolet, Universite du Quebec, Canada
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have investigated an alternative approach to conventional patterning, namely nanostenciling. Along with its suitability for direct patterning of complex materials, we demonstrated its unique flexibility in combining different functional material films on various substrates. Among functional materials, the complex oxides family displays a range of interesting properties and useful response to various stimuli such as electric, magnetic, and stress fields. These properties, including piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity or high-temperature superconductivity have been shown to be directly related to the structural quality and thus to the details of the fabrication processes of the grown thin films. We will report how various features drawn in miniature microfabricated masks (nanostencils) can be successfully transferred directly to the surface in the form of nanostructures of functional complex oxides (e.g. SrRuO@sub 3@, BaTiO@sub 3@, BiFeO@sub 3@) by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD), and will discuss in detail the advantages of the technique. The process is rapid, resist-less and does not interfere with the structures natural growth dynamics. On one hand, this approach allows organizing the structures in the desired architectures; on the other it conserves their individual functionality (e.g. ferroelectricity at the nanoscale proven by piezoresponse force microscopy). We will also discuss the application of a nanoscale multi-level-stenciling approach that gives the opportunity for rapid prototyping of functional heterostructures composed of stacks of different materials (e.g. metal-oxide-metal and multiferroic structures grown by sequential depositions through nanostencils). This new patterning technique is extremely attractive for research (e.g. investigation of size effects on the functional properties of small structures of various materials) but also shows a great potential for the parallel fabrication and patterning of a large variety of materials.