Metastable Atom Lithography
View/ Open
Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Sang, Robert
Other Supervisors
MacGillivray, Bill
Year published
2008
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This thesis describes the development of a rare gas metastable atomic beam apparatus, and its application to atom lithography. The principal component of the apparatus is the supersonic DC discharge source. The source parameters, such as operating pressure, skimmer distance, discharge current and nozzle shape were optimised to generate a bright beam of excited state metastable neon and argon, with typical flux of 5×10¹? atoms sr?¹ and 3×10¹? atoms sr?¹ respectively. This apparatus was used to investigate the pattern formation of self assembled monolayer (SAM) resists prepared on Au/Si samples exposed to metastable beams of ...
View more >This thesis describes the development of a rare gas metastable atomic beam apparatus, and its application to atom lithography. The principal component of the apparatus is the supersonic DC discharge source. The source parameters, such as operating pressure, skimmer distance, discharge current and nozzle shape were optimised to generate a bright beam of excited state metastable neon and argon, with typical flux of 5×10¹? atoms sr?¹ and 3×10¹? atoms sr?¹ respectively. This apparatus was used to investigate the pattern formation of self assembled monolayer (SAM) resists prepared on Au/Si samples exposed to metastable beams of Ar* and Ne*, through microfabricated contact masks. Positive and negative tone patterning was observed, with supporting XPS analysis attributing the negative tone resists to contamination from pump oil vapour. The formation of negative tone contamination resists by the metastable neon beam was applied to the generation of micrometer sized Fe structures using contact masks. A 3-step etch process was developed and refined, resulting in 7.5µm Fe microdot structures on a Si substrate. A bright transverse and longitudinally cooled and collimated metastable neon beam source for atom lithography was developed. The transverse atomic beam collimation stage produced a collimated beam flux of of 1.4×10¹? s?¹, with a divergence of 22.8 mrad. Axial slowing of the atomic beam was demonstrated with the development of a Zeeman slower. Numerical simulations were undertaken to calculate the motion of metastable neon atoms in a one-dimensional standing wave light field mask. The simulations show the dynamics and atom distributions for the focusing regime (low power) and channeling regime (high power). Future refinements of the apparatus should allow the realisation of nanofabricated structures utilising optical masking techniques.
View less >
View more >This thesis describes the development of a rare gas metastable atomic beam apparatus, and its application to atom lithography. The principal component of the apparatus is the supersonic DC discharge source. The source parameters, such as operating pressure, skimmer distance, discharge current and nozzle shape were optimised to generate a bright beam of excited state metastable neon and argon, with typical flux of 5×10¹? atoms sr?¹ and 3×10¹? atoms sr?¹ respectively. This apparatus was used to investigate the pattern formation of self assembled monolayer (SAM) resists prepared on Au/Si samples exposed to metastable beams of Ar* and Ne*, through microfabricated contact masks. Positive and negative tone patterning was observed, with supporting XPS analysis attributing the negative tone resists to contamination from pump oil vapour. The formation of negative tone contamination resists by the metastable neon beam was applied to the generation of micrometer sized Fe structures using contact masks. A 3-step etch process was developed and refined, resulting in 7.5µm Fe microdot structures on a Si substrate. A bright transverse and longitudinally cooled and collimated metastable neon beam source for atom lithography was developed. The transverse atomic beam collimation stage produced a collimated beam flux of of 1.4×10¹? s?¹, with a divergence of 22.8 mrad. Axial slowing of the atomic beam was demonstrated with the development of a Zeeman slower. Numerical simulations were undertaken to calculate the motion of metastable neon atoms in a one-dimensional standing wave light field mask. The simulations show the dynamics and atom distributions for the focusing regime (low power) and channeling regime (high power). Future refinements of the apparatus should allow the realisation of nanofabricated structures utilising optical masking techniques.
View less >
Thesis Type
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
School of Biomolecular and Physical Sciences
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Item Access Status
Public
Subject
atom lithography
metastable neon atoms
atomic nanofabrication
atomic beam
standing wave