Replication and subdivision of chromium nano-grating in atom lithography

Abstract

Atom lithography is a novel technique for nanofabrication which can be used to grow periodic arrays of highly uniform nanometer-scale structures. The pitch standard of Cr nano-grating is 212.8±0.1 nm, which coincides with λ/2 of the standing wave, in correspondence with the 52Cr atomic resonance transition: 7S3 → 7P40, λ= 425.55 nm. With the utilization of the material removal ability by AFM scratching, the Cr nanostructures have been transferred to an InP substrate for replication and subdivision. The uncertainty analysed based on gravity centre (GC) method is better than 0.5% for both replicated and subdivided nano-gratings. AFM lithography method expands the application of atom lithography in metrology to a smaller scale with high precision.