Determination of Position Jitter and Dot-Size Fluctuations in Patterned Arrays Fabricated by the Directed Self-Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles

The promise of magnetic bit-patterned media (BPM) in the hard disk drive industry hinges on its capability to extend the data storage density beyond that achievable by conventional continuous media. Its success, however, depends strongly on meeting the jitter and throughput requirements of BPM with a suitable fabrication process. In this paper, we report on the directed self-assembly of gold nanoparticles using a topographical template as an approach to fulfill the BPM fabrication requirements. The effects of position jitter and dot-size fluctuations are examined by performing image analysis on scanning electron microscopies of samples fabricated with areal densities of 4.4 Tdot/in². For comparison, we considered three different cases: electron-beam lithography-defined templates, monolayer films of self-assembled nanoparticles on an unpatterned substrate, and nanoparticles directed to assemble within a template. Our analysis provides evidence for the improvements in position jitter of the directed assembly of nanoparticles over those that were left to assemble without a template.