E-Beam Lithography Produces 3 nm Wires
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 3/1/1998
Kelvin Nanotechnology, a company formed by the Department of
Electronics and Electrical Engineering of the University of Glasgow (Glasgow, Scotland),
claims to have made the world's thinnest wires. Features were fabricated using
direct-write electron-beam lithography into a layer of polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) on a
silicon substrate. The PMMA was developed and a layer of nickel was evaporated onto the
whole sample. The remaining PMMA and the metal were removed by lift-off, leaving the 3 nm
diameter wires.
According to Simon Hicks, "Recent work at Glasgow has demonstrated that it is possible to make 3 nm nickel or nickel-chromium wires that are self-aligned to larger contact leads." Both mask plate production and direct writing onto samples is performed by Kelvin Nanotechnology.
