Materials Science

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Lithography for New Materials

  • Description

  • Working with materials at the nano- and micro-scale requires attention to the impact of pattern and device dimensions on material properties.
    Direct-Write Lithography offers a flexible method for modifying and shaping materials at these scales, enabling control of a range of physical properties. Heidelberg Instruments’ DWL and MLA series use Direct-Write Laser Lithography to create micro-scale patterns, structures, and textures, as well as contacts for electronic devices and measurements.

    Additionally, Thermal Scanning Probe Lithography (t-SPL) can be used to initiate material modifications on the nanoscale, with the added ability to apply local heating. The NanoFrazor provides a highly precise and versatile tool for lithography, allowing ultra-fast heating, cooling, and high local pressure to be applied to materials at the nanoscale, opening up access to states of matter that may not be accessible macroscopically.

    These Direct Write Lithography techniques can be used to study and control the physical properties of materials, with potential applications in fields such as high-performance electronics, energy storage, and water purification. As pattern and device dimensions continue to shrink, Direct Write Lithography offers a promising path towards continued advancement in nanotechnology.

    Listed below are some images related to Materials Science and the systems suited for this application.

  • Requirements

  • Patterning on arbitrary materials

    Non-invasive lithography

    Localized heating

    Precise temperature control

  • Solutions

  • Thermal conversion

    Used to generate modifications and new materials locally on the nanoscale (NanoFrazor)

    Accurate overlay

    Used to align electrodes onto nanoscale materials without alignment marks (NanoFrazor)

    No clean room required

    High-resolution lithography using novel materials

    Non-invasive lithography

    Used to preserve physical properties of sensitive materials that would otherwise be damaged or destroyed by irradiation with charged particles or contact with air (glovebox solutions)

Working with materials at the nano- and micro-scale requires attention to the impact of pattern and device dimensions on material properties.
Direct-Write Lithography offers a flexible method for modifying and shaping materials at these scales, enabling control of a range of physical properties. Heidelberg Instruments’ DWL and MLA series use Direct-Write Laser Lithography to create micro-scale patterns, structures, and textures, as well as contacts for electronic devices and measurements.

Additionally, Thermal Scanning Probe Lithography (t-SPL) can be used to initiate material modifications on the nanoscale, with the added ability to apply local heating. The NanoFrazor provides a highly precise and versatile tool for lithography, allowing ultra-fast heating, cooling, and high local pressure to be applied to materials at the nanoscale, opening up access to states of matter that may not be accessible macroscopically.

These Direct Write Lithography techniques can be used to study and control the physical properties of materials, with potential applications in fields such as high-performance electronics, energy storage, and water purification. As pattern and device dimensions continue to shrink, Direct Write Lithography offers a promising path towards continued advancement in nanotechnology.

Listed below are some images related to Materials Science and the systems suited for this application.

Patterning on arbitrary materials

Non-invasive lithography

Localized heating

Precise temperature control

Thermal conversion

Used to generate modifications and new materials locally on the nanoscale (NanoFrazor)

Accurate overlay

Used to align electrodes onto nanoscale materials without alignment marks (NanoFrazor)

No clean room required

High-resolution lithography using novel materials

Non-invasive lithography

Used to preserve physical properties of sensitive materials that would otherwise be damaged or destroyed by irradiation with charged particles or contact with air (glovebox solutions)

Application images

Materials science: Microscale columns can be patterned with flat tops
Microscale columns with flat tops (the tops are 2x2 um) patterned using a MLA 150 Maskless Aligner. (Courtesy of EPFL Center for Micronanotechnology)
Materials Science: Directed self-assembly of PS-b-PMMA lamellae
Directed self-assembly of PS-b-PMMA lamellae on top of a 25 nm HP NanoFrazor pattern (right) and without a guiding pattern (left). (Courtesy of CNM-IMB Barcelona, Spain)
Materials science: NanoFrazor fabricates excellent electrical contacts to MoS2
Metal contacts with vanishingly small Schottky barriers fabricated using the NanoFrazor. On single-layer CVD-grown MoS2. (Courtesy of Prof. Elisa Riedo, NYU, see Nat.Electr.2019)
Materials Sciences.: Ferroelectric PZT nanostructures are created with the NanoFrazor tip.
Heated NanoFrazor tip creates ferroelectric PZT nanostructures by local crystallization of an amorphous sol-gel precursor material. (Courtesy of Riedo group, NYU, published by Kim et al. in Adv. Mat. 2011)
SEM image of squares ion milled into a rough iron oxide film, used in materials science
SEM image of 100-nm-wide squares patterned by NanoFrazor and subsequently ion milled into a rough iron oxide film.
Single Ni nanowires used to investigate Co-Ni alloy magneto-thermopower and magneto-resistance, used in materials science.
Single Ni nanowires used to investigate Co-Ni alloy magneto-thermopower and magneto-resistance. (Courtesy of Tim Boehnert, University of Hamburg)
Materials Science: NanoFrazor can be used for high-resolution direct removal of certain materials; here a perovskite.
NanoFrazor can be used for high-resolution direct removal of certain materials; here a perovskite crystal (inset) was patterned. (Courtesy of Hemayyet Uddin (MCN, Melbourne), in cooperation with Heidelberg Instruments Nano)
Materials Science: A thermochromic supramolecular polymer is used to obtain flourescence contrast.
Thermal quenching of a thermochromic supramolecular polymer to obtain fluorescence contrast via disaggregation of excimer-forming moieties. (Courtesy of LMIS1 at EPFL, published by Zimmermann et al. in ACS Appl. Mat. & Int. 9, 2017)

suitable Systems

µMLA – the perfect entry-level research and development (R&D) tool for virtually any application requiring microstructures

µMLA

  • Maskless Aligner

Configurable and compact tabletop maskless aligner with raster scan and vector exposure modules.

DWL 66

DWL 66+

  • Direct Write Laser Lithography System

Our most versatile system for research and prototyping with variable resolution and wide selection of options.

MLA 150 – a maskless lithography tool for nanofabrication of quantum devices, MEMS, micro-optics and other applications

MLA 150

  • Maskless Aligner

The fastest maskless tool for rapid prototyping, the alternative to the mask aligners. Perfect for standard binary lithography.

NanoFrazor tabletop

NanoFrazor

  • Thermal Scanning Probe Lithography System

Versatile & modular tool combining Thermal Scanning Probe Lithography, Direct Laser Sublimation, and advanced automation for cutting-edge R&D. 

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