| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session NS-TuM |
| Session: | Nanomanufacturing and Nanomachines |
| Presenter: | W.-K. Lee, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Authors: | W.-K. Lee, Naval Research Laboratory J.A. Robinson, Naval Research Laboratory A.R. Laracuente, Naval Research Laboratory Z. Dai, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign W.P. King, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign P.E. Sheehan, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
In thermal Dip Pen Nanolithography (tDPN), a heatable AFM cantilever regulates the deposition of an ink through controlled melting, much like a nanoscale soldering iron. Control over writing is exceptional—deposition may be turned on or off and the deposition rate easily changed without breaking surface contact. tDPN has been successful at depositing polymers ranging from semiconductors to insulators at speeds up to 200 µm/s. Recently, we developed the technique depositing polymer-nanoparticle composites. Nanoparticles and nanoparticles–polymer composites may offer many new capabilities that could greatly advance nanoelectronics, data storage, biosensors, and optical imaging applications. With tDPN, we could deposit with nanoscale precision a wide range of polymers (PMMA, P(VDF-TrFE), polyethylene) that contain nanoparticles or small molecules. An oxygen plasma can remove the polymer to reveal evenly dispersed nanoparticles or, for some combinations, precisely-placed 10 nm wide rows of nanoparticles.
Another substrate, a single layer of graphene on a SiO2, was also used to deposit polymers by tDPN. We used the deposited polymer on graphene as an etch mask to pattern graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Background graphene was then either etched by oxygen plasma to expose SiO2 or modified by graphene fluoride to form an insulating substrate. The electrical measurements of nanopatterned graphene structures will also be presented.