MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science EECS Event

Electrical Microcontact Printing to Pattern Electrons and Holes with 150 nm Resolution"

Professor Heiko Jacobs
Harvard University

Thursday, February 15, 2001
4:00 PM (refreshments 3:45)
Edgerton Hall, Room 34-101
EECS Special Seminar

Abstract

We present a method that uses a flexible, electrically conducting stamp to pattern electrets in parallel by injecting and trapping charges over areas of ~ 1 cm2; we call this method electrical microcontact printing (e-mCP). Because the stamp is elastomeric, it can be brought into intimate contact with a solid surface. After contact, application of an external voltage (for < 10 s) generates patterns of trapped charge. The resulting pattern can be imaged using Kelvin probe force microscopy. We have used e-mCP to pattern surfaces with features ranging from 110 nm - 100 mm in size; this combination of feature size, area, and writing time corresponds to an increase of > 10^3 in writing speed compared to that obtained by a single tip in serial scanning probe methods. e-mCP suggests routes to high-density (> 5 Gbits/cm2) data storage, to materials with patterned dipoles, indices of refraction, and color centers, and to micron-scale electrostatic printing techniques resembling xerography.