Scanning-electron-beam lithography (SEBL) is the primary technology to generate arbitrary features at the nano-scale. However, pattern placement accuracy still remains poor compared to its resolution due to the open-loop nature of SEBL systems. Vibration, stray electromagnetic fields, deflection distortion and hysteresis, substrate charging, and other factors prevent the electron-beam from reaching its target position and one has no way to determine the actual beam position during patterning with conventional systems. To improve the pattern placement accuracy, spatial-phase-locked electron-beam lithography (SPLEBL) provides feedback control of electron-beam position by monitoring the secondary electron signal from electron-transparent fiducial grids on the substrate. While scanning the electron beam over the fiducial grids, the phase of the grid signal is analyzed to estimate the electron-beam position error; then the estimates are sent back to beam deflection system to correct the position error. In this way, closed-loop control is provided to ensure pattern placement accuracy. The implementation of spatial-phase-locking on high speed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) provides a low-cost method to create a nano-manufacturing platform with 1 nm precision and significantly improved throughput. Shot-to-shot, or pixel-to-pixel, dose variation during EBL is a significant practical and fundamental problem. Dose variations associated with charging, electron source instability, optical system drift, and ultimately shot noise in the beam itself conspire to increase critical dimension variability and line width roughness and to limit the throughput. It would be an important improvement to e-beam patterning technology if real-time feedback control of electron-dose were provided to improve pattern quality and throughput even beyond the shot noise limit. A novel approach is proposed in this document to achieve the real-time dose control based on the measurement of electron arrival at the sample to be patterned, rather than from the source or another point in the electron-optical system. A dose control algorithm, implementation on FPGA, and initial experiment results for the real-time feedback dose control on the e-beam patterning tool is also presented.

Nanoscale lithography is the key component of the semiconductor device fabrication process. For the sub-10 nm node device, the conventional deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography approach is limited by the diffraction nature of light even with the help of double or multiple patterning. The upcoming extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography can overcome this resolution limit by using very short wavelength (13.5nm) light. Because of the prohibitive cost of the tool and the photomask, the EUV lithography is only suitable for high volume manufacturing of high value. Several alternative lithography technologies are proposed to address the cost issue of EUV such as directed self-assembly (DSA), nanoimprint lithography (NIL), scanning probe lithography, maskless plasmonic photolithography, optical maskless lithography, multiple electron-beam lithography, etc.<div><br></div><div>Electron-beam lithography (EBL) utilizes a focused electron beam to write patterns dot by dot on the silicon wafer. The beam size can be sub-nanometers and the resolution is limited by the resist not the beam size. However, the major drawback of EBL is its low throughput. The throughput can be increased by using large current but at the cost of large beam size. This is because the interaction between electrons in the pathway of the electron beam. To address the trade-off between resolution and throughput of EBL, the multiple electron-beam lithography was proposed to use an array of electron-beams. Each beam has a not very large beam current to maintain good resolution but the total current can be very high to improve the throughput. One of the major challenges is how to create a uniform array of electron beamlets with large brightness.<br></div><div><br></div><div>This dissertation shows a novel low-cost high-throughput multiple electron-beam lithography approach that uses plasmonic enhanced photoemission beamlets as the electron beam source. This technology uses a novel device to excite and focus surface electromagnetic and electron waves to generate millions of parallel electron beamlets from photoemission. The device consists of an array of plasmonic lenses which generate electrons and electrostatic micro-lenses which guide the electrons and focus them into beams. Each of the electron beamlets can be independently controlled. During lithography, a fast spatial optical modulator will dynamically project light onto the plasmonic lenses individually to control the switching and brightness of electron beamlets without the need of a complicated beamlet-blanking array and addressable circuits. The incident photons are first converted into surface electromagnetic and electron waves by plasmonic lens and then concentrated into a diffraction-unlimited spot to excite the local electrons above their vacuum levels. Meanwhile, the electrostatic micro-lens will extract the excited electrons to form a finely focused beamlet, which can be rastered across a wafer to perform lithography. The scalable plasmonic enhanced photoemission electron-beam sources are designed and fabricated. An array of micro-scale electrostatic electron lenses are designed and fabricated using typical micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) fabrication method. The working distance (WD) defined as the gap from the electron lens to the underneath silicon wafer is regulated using a gap control system. A vacuum system is designed and constructed to host the multiple electron-beam system. Using this demo system, the resolution of the electron beams is confirmed to be better than 30 nm from the lithography results done on poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) and hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resists. According to simulation results, the electron beam spot size can be further optimized to be better than 10 nm.<br></div><div><br></div><div>This scheme of high-throughput electron-beam lithography with multiple plasmonic enhanced photoemission beamlets has the potential to be an alternative approach for the sub-10 nm node lithography. Because of its maskless nature, it is cost effective and especially suitable for low volume manufacturing and prototype demonstration.<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

The development of new materials with novel properties plays an important role in improving our lives and welfare. Research in Nanotechnology can provide e.g. cheaper and smarter materials in applications such as energy storage and sensors. In order for this development to proceed, we need to be able to characterize the material properties at the nano-, and even the atomic scale. The ultimate goal is to be able to tailor them according to our needs. One of the great challenges concerning the characterization of nano-sized objects is how to achieve the physical contact to them. This thesis is focused on the contacting of nanoobjects with the aim of electrically characterizing them and subsequently understanding their electrical properties. The analyzed nanoobjects are carbon nanosheets, nanotetrapods, nanoparticles and molecular systems. Two contacting strategies were employed in this thesis. The first strategy involved the development of a focused ion beam (FIB) based nanocontact platform. The platform consists of gold nanoelectrodes, having nanogaps of 10-30 nm, on top of an insulating substrate. Gold nanoparticles, double-stranded DNA and cadmium telluride nanotetrapods have been trapped in the gaps by using dielectrophoresis. In certain studies, the gold electrodes have also been coated with conducting or non-conducting molecules, prior to the trapping of gold nanoparticles, in order to form molecular junctions. These junctions were subsequently electrically characterized to evaluate the conduction properties of these molecular systems. For the purpose of better controlling the attachment of molecules to the nanoelectrodes, a novel route to synthesize alkanedithiol coated gold nanoparticles was developed. The second contacting strategy was based on the versatility of the FIB instrument as a platform for in-situ manipulation and electrical characterization of non-functionalized and functionalized carbon nanosheets, where it was found that the functionalized samples had an increased conductivity by more than one order of magnitude. Both contacting strategies proved to be valuable for building knowledge around contacting and electrical characterization of nanoobjects

Diffractive zone-plate lenses are widely used as optics in high-resolution x-ray microscopes. The achievable resolution in such microscopes is presently not limited by the x-ray wavelength but by limitations in zone-plate nanofabrication. Thus, for the advance of high-resolution x-ray microscopy, progress in zone-plate nanofabrication methods are needed.   This Thesis describes the development of new nanofabrication processes for improved x-ray zone-plate optics. Cold development of the electron-beam resist ZEP7000 is applied to improve the resolution of soft x-ray Ni zone plates. The influence of developer temperature on resist contrast, resolution, and pattern quality is investigated. With an optimized process, Ni zone plates with outermost zone widths down to 13 nm are demonstrated. To enhance the diffraction efficiency of Ni zone plates, the concept of Ni-Ge zone plates is introduced. The applicability of Ni-Ge zone plates is first demonstrated in a proof-of-principle experiment, and then extended to cold-developed Ni zone plates with outermost zone widths down to 13 nm. For 15-nm Ni-Ge zone plates a diffraction efficiency of 4.3% at a wavelength of 2.88 nm is achieved, which is about twice the efficiency of state-of-the-art 15-nm Ni zone plates. To further increase both resolution and diffraction efficiency of soft x-ray zone plates, a novel fabrication process for W zone plates is developed. High resolution is provided by salty development of the inorganic electron-beam resist HSQ, and cryogenic RIE in a SF6 plasma is investigated for high-aspect-ratio W structuring. We demonstrate W zone plates with 12-nm outermost zone width and a W height of 90 nm, resulting in a 30% increase in theoretical diffraction efficiency compared to 13-nm efficiency-enhanced Ni-Ge zone plates. In addition to soft x-ray zone plates, some lenses for hard x-ray free-electron-laser applications were also fabricated during this Thesis work. Fabrication processes for the materials W, diamond, and Pt were developed. We demonstrate Pt and W-diamond zone plates with 100-nm outermost zone width and respective diffraction efficiencies of 8.2% and 14.5% at a photon energy of 8 keV. / QC 20111114

Tato dizertční práce se zabývá výrbou a charakterizací plasmonických nanostruktur. Její první část začíná krátkým úvodem do plasmoniky s navazujícím přehledem metod, které jsou v dnešní době nejčastěji používány k výrobě a charakterizaci plasmonických nanostruktur. Druhá část se pak zaměřuje na samotný výzkum, který byl v rámci PhD studia realizován. Cílem prvních experimentů bylo prozkouat možnosti použití elektronové litografie za variabilního tlaku v procesní komoře pro výrobu plasmonických nanostruktur na nevodivých substrátech jako je např. sklo. Jelikož se jedná o materiály, které jsou velice často používány k přípravě plasmonických struktur pacujících v oblasti viditelného světla. Druhá sekce pak diskutuje některé specifické aspekty přípravy plasmonických mikrostruktur elektronovou litografií pro THz oblast. Poslední část se pak zaměřuje na funkční vlastnosti plasmonických nanostruktur, převážně pak na kvantitativní charakterizaci fáze dalekého pole indukovaného plasmonickými nanostrukturami a jejich aplikacemi v oblasti optických metapovrchů - uměle připravených povrchů, které mohou být použity jako planární optické komponenty. Práce demonstruje a diskutuje různé experimentální přístupy použití mimoosové holografické mikroskopie pro jejich charakterizaci.

This master’s thesis is focused on the subject of graphene modified with atomic hydrogen and its electronic transport properties. Structural and electronic properties of graphene and hydrogenated graphene are compared in the theoretical part of the thesis. The Raman spectroscopy technique is described, including characterization of typical Raman spectra of both unmodified and modified graphene. Samples used during experimental part of the thesis are prepared via laser and electron lithography, and are set to be measured in a vacuum chamber. Subsequently, electronic transport properties are measured before and after hydrogen modification of graphene. Finally, hydrogenated graphene is irradiated using electron beam and changes in its structure are analyzed with Raman spectroscopy techniques.

No description available.

Ce travail de thèse concerne la réalisation et l'analyse des propriétés optiques de nanocristaux de silicium. Ces objets de taille nanométrique possèdent des propriétés optiques remarquables, en particulier de photoluminescence. Les propriétés de confinement quantique qui les caractérisent permettent d'obtenir un signal de luminescence intense dans le domaine du visible. Des composants optoélectroniques et photoniques ont été envisagés à base de nanocristaux de silicium. Les raisons physiques du fort signal de luminescence en revanche sont encore mal comprises. Les nanocristaux de silicium sont élaborés par évaporation. L'élaboration et le recuit thermique de multicouches SiO/SiO2 permet d'obtenir des nanocristaux de silicium de diamètre moyen bien contrôlé. Ceux-ci sont issus de la démixtion de la couche de SiO selon la réaction SiOx --> Si + SiO2. Le contrôle du diamètre des nanocristaux de silicium permet de maîtriser la région spectrale de luminescence dans la région du visible.La première partie de ce travail de thèse vise à isoler un ou quelques nanocristaux de silicium. L'objectif est de remonter à la largeur homogène de ces nano-objets. Dans un premier temps, une étude centrée sur le matériau SiOx est réalisée afin de réduire la densité surfacique de nanocristaux de silicium. Dans un deuxième temps, des moyens de lithographie ultime sont mis en oeuvre afin de réaliser des masques percés de trous de diamètres de l'ordre de la centaine de nanomètre. Des expériences de spectroscopie optique sont réalisées sur ces systèmes.La deuxième partie de ce travail vise à contrôler l'émission spontanée de lumière issue des nanocristaux de silicium. Ceci se fait en couplant les modes électroniques aux modes optiques confinés d'une microcavité optique. Le manuscrit détaille les moyens développés afin d'obtenir une microcavité optique dont les modes optiques puissent se coupler efficacement aux nanocristaux de silicium. Les propriétés optiques de ces systèmes sont finalement analysées. / This work concerns the implementation and analysis of optical properties of silicon nanocrystals. These nanoscaled objects have remarkable optical properties, especially in photoluminescence. The properties of quantum confinement that characterize them allow obtaining an intense luminescence signal in the visible range. Optoelectronic and photonic devices have been proposed based on silicon nanocrystals. The physical reasons of the strong luminescence signal, however, are still poorly understood. The silicon nanocrystals are prepared by evaporation. The preparation and thermal annealing of multilayers SiO/SiO2 leads to silicon nanocrystals with a well controlled average diameter. They are created during the demixing of the SiO layer by the reaction SiO ? Si + SiO2. The control the diameter of the silicon nanocrystals influences directly the spectral region of luminescence in the visible region.The aim of first part of this work is to isolate one or a few silicon nanocrystals. The intent is to trace the homogeneous width of these nano-objects. Initially, a study focusing on the SiOx material is conducted to reduce the surface density of silicon nanocrystals. In a second step, lithography is implemented to make masks with holes with diameters of about one hundred nanometers. Optical spectroscopy experiments were performed on these systems.The second part of this work aims controlling the spontaneous emission of light from silicon nanocrystals. This is done by coupling the electronic transmission to optical modes confined in an optical microcavity. The manuscript describes the methods developed to obtain an optical microcavity whose optical modes can be coupled effectively to the silicon nanocrystals. The optical properties of these systems are finally analyzed

Este trabalho trata do estudo das condições para a produção de padrões em escala nano e micrométricas, utilizando o processo de litografia eletrônica. A parte inicial refere-se ao estudo do elétron-resiste de PMMA incluindo a preparação da solução, o recobrimento do substrato e a secagem. Em seguida, são apresentados estudos sobre o funcionamento do sistema de litografia por feixe de elétrons em detalhe. São tratados problemas com o resiste, o substrato e a interação com a amostra. São apresentados os aspectos mais importantes dos substratos utilizados, sendo dado um enfoque a heteroestruturas semicondutoras com gás de elétrons bidimensionais. As condições para revelação do resiste e das etapas de processamento para que seja feita a replicação para o substrato do padrão gerado no resiste são também abordadas. Diversos estudos foram realizados para mostrar a influência de alguns efeitos comuns na litografia como a influência da espessura do filme de resiste e os efeitos de proximidade. Também trata da produção de padrões sobre substratos diversos como GaAs, VIDRO, ALUMINA e PRATA. A última etapa estuda a utilização de um resiste híbrido PMMA-Sílica como um método de conformação cerâmica. Finalmente é apresentado um estudo relativo a produção de diversos padrões diferentes sobre heteroestruturas semicondutoras de AlGaAs/GaAs. / The work describe the conditions for pattern production at nano and micrometric scale using the electronic lithographic process. In the first part many types of lithographic technics are compared and the aim why the electron beam lithographic nanostructured production was chosen. Detailed results about operation with the lithographic system and some problems related to electron resist, substrate and interaction between electron beam and sample are presented. The most important substrate aspects are shown. The two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) semiconductors heterostrutures and the M B E process to grow samples are discussed too. The conditions to develop electron resist and steps for pattern transfer over the substrate are discussed. Many experimental studies were realized to show the influence and some effects, common to the lithographic process, such as electron resist thickness and the proximity effect. A production of pattern on some kind of substrate like GaAs, Glass, Aluminum, Silver can also be observed. In the last part of this work some discussion about utilisation of hybrid electron resist composite PMMA-Silica was done, as well as very important technics for ceramic conformation. Finally, the main goal of this work is presented: the production of different nanostructure samples using AlGaAs/GaAs substrates.

Ces travaux de thèse portent sur les phénomènes d’amplification du signal de diffusion Raman par effet de surface et par effet de pointe. Des réseaux de motifs métalliques de taille nanométrique arrangés spatialement ont été fabriqués par la méthode de transfert Langmuir-Blodgett et par lithographie à faisceau d’électrons. De telles structures de géométries contrôlées déposées à la surface de lamelles de microscope ont été développées afin d’amplifier le signal Raman de molécules adsorbées par effet SERS (Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy). Ces nanostructures triangulaires en or de taille proche de la longueur d’onde ont des bandes de résonance plasmon dans le domaine spectral visible. En utilisant une source de laser appropriée dans ce domaine spectral, les facteurs d’amplification Raman d’une couche mono-moléculaire d’un dérivé azobenzène sont de plusieurs ordres de grandeur, et ce pour les deux techniques de nano-lithographie employées. Afin de compléter ces premiers résultats, des réseaux de fils d’or avec de grands facteurs de forme ont été fabriqués. Ces derniers montrent des résonances plasmons multipolaires et des facteurs d’amplification de l’ordre de 105. Les techniques de microscopie en champ proche ont également été développées afin de localiser précisément l’exaltation Raman et d’accroitre la résolution spatiale de mesures Raman. Des pointes métalliques en or de taille nanométrique ont ainsi permis d’amplifier localement le signal de diffusion de molécules placées à leur proximité par effet TERS (Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy). Les développements logiciels et mécaniques entre un microscope confocal Raman et un microscope à force atomique ont été implémentés afin de contrôler simultanément les deux instruments. Ce montage expérimental a été appliqué à l’étude de nanofils semi-conducteurs de nitrure de gallium permettant de suivre leur signal vibrationnel avec une résolution spatiale inférieure à 200 nm. / This thesis work focuses on Raman scattering enhancements by metallic nanostructures. In the first part of this work, arrays of metallic patterns with nanometer dimensions were fabricated by the Langmuir-Blodgett deposition technique and electron-beam lithography. Such structures made of gold were fabricated onto microscope slides with the goal to enhance the Raman signal through SERS effect (Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy). These patterns formed by an assembly of triangular nanostructures with sizes of hundreds of nanometers, exhibit plasmon resonance bands in the visible spectral region. By using an appropriate excitation laser source with respect to the plasmon frequency, Raman enhancement factors of a monolayer were found to be of several order of magnitude for both Langmuir-Blodgett and electron-beam lithography platforms. To further complement these results, gold wires arrays with large aspect ratio made by electron-beam lithography showed multipolar plasmon resonances with enhancement factors up to 105. In the second part of this thesis, near-field Raman microscopy has been developed with the aim to localize precisely the Raman enhancement and improve spatial resolution of Raman measurements. Atomic force microscopy gold tips have been used to locally enhance scattering signal of molecules in close proximity to the tip opening new opportunities. This approach known as TERS (Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy) is of significant interest to probe nanomaterials, nanostructures or monolayers. Software and mechanical developments have been made between a confocal Raman microscope and an atomic force microscope to control simultaneously both instruments. This experimental setup was used to characterize gallium nitride semi-conductors nanowires with spatial resolution better than 200 nm.