Maskless and low-destructive nanofabrication on quartz by friction-induced selective etching

Abstract

A low-destructive friction-induced nanofabrication method is proposed to produce three-dimensional nanostructures on a quartz surface. Without any template, nanofabrication can be achieved by low-destructive scanning on a target area and post-etching in a KOH solution. Various nanostructures, such as slopes, hierarchical stages and chessboard-like patterns, can be fabricated on the quartz surface. Although the rise of etching temperature can improve fabrication efficiency, fabrication depth is dependent only upon contact pressure and scanning cycles. With the increase of contact pressure during scanning, selective etching thickness of the scanned area increases from 0 to 2.9 nm before the yield of the quartz surface and then tends to stabilise after the appearance of a wear. Refabrication on existing nanostructures can be realised to produce deeper structures on the quartz surface. Based on Arrhenius fitting of the etching rate and transmission electron microscopy characterization of the nanostructure, fabrication mechanism could be attributed to the selective etching of the friction-induced amorphous layer on the quartz surface. As a maskless and low-destructive technique, the proposed friction-induced method will open up new possibilities for further nanofabrication.

Effects of contact pressure, counter-surface and humidity on wear of soda-lime-silica glass at nanoscale

“…More details of these systems could be found in a previous publication [19]. Two kinds of AFM tips were used: Previous investigations reported that the hillock-like protrusion could be formed at silicon and quartz surfaces under nanoscale friction and wear testing [20]. For the hillock formation on silicon, the main reason was speculated to be mechanical deformation of the subsurface into an amorphous structure [21].…”

Silicon Nanofabrication by Atomic Force Microscopy-Based Mechanical Processing

“…In recent years, maskless and friction-induced processing techniques have been utilized for nanofabrication [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. The elevated internal stress and plastic deformation of masks formed at high load resulted in highly damaged mask surfaces and oxidation layers [17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…In recent years, maskless and friction-induced processing techniques have been utilized for nanofabrication [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. The elevated internal stress and plastic deformation of masks formed at high load resulted in highly damaged mask surfaces and oxidation layers [17][18][19][20][21]. Mechanically processed mask patterns obtained from plastically deformed 2 Journal of Nanotechnology damaged layers withstood the selective wet etching processes conducted for pattern transfer called maskless patterning or friction-induced fabrication [17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…The elevated internal stress and plastic deformation of masks formed at high load resulted in highly damaged mask surfaces and oxidation layers [17][18][19][20][21]. Mechanically processed mask patterns obtained from plastically deformed 2 Journal of Nanotechnology damaged layers withstood the selective wet etching processes conducted for pattern transfer called maskless patterning or friction-induced fabrication [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. The mechanistic evaluation of these processes showed that plastic deformation and oxidation layers may block the reactive KOH solution layer.…”

“…The mechanistic evaluation of these processes showed that plastic deformation and oxidation layers may block the reactive KOH solution layer. Therefore, the damage remained superficial [18][19][20][21]. In contrast, the direct patterning of etching mask was proposed to reduce damage [8][9][10][11].…”