Tip- and Laser-based 3D Nanofabrication in Extended Macroscopic Working Areas

Abstract

The field of optical lithography is subject to intense research and has gained enormous improvement. However, the effort necessary for creating structures at the size of 20 nm and below is considerable using conventional technologies. This effort and the resulting financial requirements can only be tackled by few global companies and thus a paradigm change for the semiconductor industry is conceivable: custom design and solutions for specific applications will dominate future development (Fritze in: Panning EM, Liddle JA (eds) Novel patterning technologies. International society for optics and photonics. SPIE, Bellingham, 2021. 10.1117/12.2593229). For this reason, new aspects arise for future lithography, which is why enormous effort has been directed to the development of alternative fabrication technologies. Yet, the technologies emerging from this process, which are promising for coping with the current resolution and accuracy challenges, are only demonstrated as a proof-of-concept on a lab scale of several square micrometers. Such scale is not adequate for the requirements of modern lithography; therefore, there is the need for new and alternative cross-scale solutions to further advance the possibilities of unconventional nanotechnologies. Similar challenges arise because of the technical progress in various other fields, realizing new and unique functionalities based on nanoscale effects, e.g., in nanophotonics, quantum computing, energy harvesting, and life sciences. Experimental platforms for basic research in the field of scale-spanning nanomeasuring and nanofabrication are necessary for these tasks, which are available at the Technische Universität Ilmenau in the form of nanopositioning and nanomeasuring (NPM) machines. With this equipment, the limits of technical structurability are explored for high-performance tip-based and laser-based processes for enabling real 3D nanofabrication with the highest precision in an adequate working range of several thousand cubic millimeters.

High-precision nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machines for alternative nanofabrication

“…To maintain the excellent metrological properties of the NMM-1, the additional rotational axes had to be integrated in the overall measuring concept. Therefore, to allow traceable measurements with lowest uncertainty, additional reference and measuring systems were included in the rotational sub-system 36 where the inherent motion errors of the rotational axes are determined by a measurement against a calibrated artifact, the reference hemisphere (No. 9 in fig.…”

“…The machine table is moved by linear actuators while the position is tracked by laser interferometers. 37 In contrast to NMM-1 and NPMM-200, the machine table of the NFM-100 is positioned in the horizontal x-y-plane only and the z-axis is omitted. This is realized by a guiding system consisting of 3 air bearings running on a flat granite base, allowing a stable z-position with low position noise.…”

“…Research on this new application is conducted in the scope of the project NanoFab, where these machines serve as the metrological base for investigating new and promising alternative micro-and nanopatterning technologies. 37 So far, the NPMMs of the Technische Universität Ilmenau have been equipped with laser-based as well as tip-based patterning tools, including one photon and two photon polymerization, nanoimprint, scanning probe lithography and combinations of these technologies in a mix-andmatch manner. 37 The goal is basic research on these technologies, to tackle the evident challenges and explore the concealed limits to finally estimate the potential for later use in an industrial scale.…”

Particle Network Self‐Assembly of Similar Size Sub‐Micron Calcium Alginate and Polystyrene Particles Atop Glass

“…Elucidating the physical forces acting on particles during selfassembly gives a measure for controlling and predicting particulate morphology. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] In particular, recent advances in nanofabrication technology have enabled the fabrication of well-defined patterns on flat surfaces; [28,29] the properties of the particulate patterns are related to the size and number of colloidal particles alongside colloidal surface forces. [30][31][32] There are several paths towards engineering particulate assemblies.…”

Absolute distance measurements for in-situ interferometer characterisation using range-resolved interferometry

“…High-performance interferometric displacement measurements are a key enabling technique for many areas of nanotechnology and precision engineering [1][2][3][4][5]. This is because interferometers offer remote displacement measurements at sub-nanometre resolution that are, through knowledge of the laser vacuum wavelength and the index of refraction (for measurements in air), a fundamental representation of the metre definition [6][7][8].…”