Nanofabrication and Demonstration of a Direct‐Write Microevaporator

TL;DR

A new microevaporator enables direct-write vapor deposition for maskless 3D nanofabrication on various substrates.

Contribution

A silicon chip-based microevaporator with 2000–300 nm nozzles for localized, maskless nanofabrication is developed and demonstrated.

Findings

Localized depositions of materials were successfully created using the microevaporator.

1 μm diameter dots and 2 μm wide lines were demonstrated using the scanning stage.

The source-to-substrate distance was approximated using Knudsen's cosine law and simulations.

Abstract

Direct‐write vapor deposition is a new technique that would enable one‐step 3D maskless nanofabrication on a variety of substrates. A novel silicon chip‐based microevaporator is developed that allows evaporant to exit through 2000–300 nm nozzles while held at distances comparable to the nozzle diameter from the substrate by a three‐axis nanopositioning stage in vacuum. This results in a localized deposition on the substrate, which may be scanned relative to the substrate to produce direct‐write patterns. The performance of the microevaporator is tested by creating localized depositions of various materials and the line‐writing potential is demonstrated. The relationship between linewidth and source‐to‐substrate distance is investigated by the application of Knudsen's cosine law and Monte‐Carlo simulations, and then utilized to approximate the source‐to‐substrate distance from performed depositions.

A silicon‐based microevaporator is developed for maskless patterning of thin films by direct‐write vapor deposition. It allows material to exit via 2 to 0.3 μm diameter nozzles to deposit on a substrate. Used with a scanning stage, writing of 1 μm diameter dots and 2 μm wide lines is demonstrated. (The table of contents figure is an artistic rendition using stitched microscopy images and graphics).© 2023 WILEY‐VCH GmbH

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