Atom lithography without laser cooling

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method for direct-write atom lithography that uses geometrical collimation instead of laser cooling, enabling high-resolution nanoline fabrication for various elements.

Contribution

It introduces a laser-cooling-free approach to atom lithography, expanding the technique's applicability to different elements and simplifying the process.

Findings

Fe nanolines with 186 nm pitch and 50 nm FWHM achieved

Height of nanolines up to 6 nm demonstrated

Method relies solely on geometrical collimation

Abstract

Using direct-write atom lithography, Fe nanolines are deposited with a pitch of 186 nm, a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 50 nm, and a height of up to 6 nm. These values are achieved by relying on geometrical collimation of the atomic beam, thus without using laser collimation techniques. This opens the way for applying direct-write atom lithography to a wide variety of elements.