Nano-fabrication on Si oxiderSi surface by using STM: a low energy electron beam stimulated reaction

We report here an experimental study on nano-fabrication of the Si oxiderSi surface with a low energy electron stimulated reaction LEESR.by using STM. By applying ;60 to 150 V bias voltage and exposing ;5 to 200 nA current to the Si oxiderSi surface, while the surface was kept at ;7008C and 100–200 nm away from the STM tip, a surface reaction was stimulated by the low energy e-beam exposing. Clean Si surface with clear atomic steps was observed within the exposed area that indicates a selective etching of Si oxide, by which windows down to 25 nm in diameter can be cut through the Si oxide overlayer. This result demonstrates evidently the possibility of nano-fabricating the Si oxiderSi surface through the low energy electron stimulated surface etching, and presents also another possibility of performing a well controlled nano-fabrication with the STM. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved