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2005 Nuggets
Electronic Characterization of Structure Created by Molecular Rulers
M.E. Anderson, C. Srinivasan, R. Jayaraman, M.W. Horn, P.S. Weiss, IRG1
Molecular rulers (self-assembled multilayers) have been used as lift-off resists in combination
with two levels of conventional photolithography to define device architectures with precise
proximal structure spacings in the sub-50 nm regime. This architecture is shown in the optical
micrograph (above left) with the initial vertical gold electrode highlighted with an orange box, the
secondary gold electrodes of different widths are horizontally aligned, and their spacing from the
initial structure was tailored by molecular rulers. Initial electronic characterization results show
that the yield is independent of the spacing between electrodes for a variety of dimensions
tailored using multilayers ranging from a single layer up to 15 layers (each layer ~2 nm). The
gap lengths (widths of secondary structures) have the largest effect on the yield shown in that as
the gap length increases, the yield decreases (yield of 90% for lengths ≤ 5 m and 70% for
lengths ≤ 200 m). In order to optimize our process, we are able to assess failure modes, after
electronic characterization, by imaging shorted electrodes in a field emission scanning electron
microscope (above right). We continue to investigate the electronic isolation of electrodes whose
separation is defined by our process as this portion of the quantification process is key for
advancement of the molecular ruler process toward device fabrication.
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