Applications of Electron Beam Induced Deposition in nanofabrication

This paper presents applications in which electron beam induced deposition (EBID) is used to characterize, analyze, and fabricate, nanostructures and devices. High aspect ratio cylindrical ultra sharp (CUS) atomic force microscope (AFM) probe tips are grown on discarded AFM tips using EBID. AFM is done using these CUS probe tips and compared to standard commercially available AFM probes as a baseline. The use of EBID to deposit platinum nanodots on thin foils for use as a hard mask in the fabrication of quantum cellular automata cell structures is also reported. Successful EDS analysis was performed on these nanodots in a conventional scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a high spatial resolution normally found only in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). These EDS results demonstrate the ability to capture pertinent material properties of nanostructures in a more manageable SEM, and therefore, forgo the necessary complexities associated with a standard STEM.