Work

Patterning of silicon surfaces with noncontact atomic force microscopy: Field-induced formation of nanometer-size water bridges

Year: 1999

Type: article

Abstract: Nanometer-size water bridges have been used to confine the oxidation of silicon surfaces with a noncontact atomic force microscope. The formation of a water bridge between two surfaces separated by a gap of a few nanometers is driven by the application of an electrical field. Once a liquid bridge is formed, its length and neck diameter can be modified by changing the tip-sample separation. The liquid bridge provides the ionic species and the spatial confinement to pattern Si(100) surfaces in noncontact force microscopy. The method is applied to write arrays of several thousands dots with a periodicity of 40 nm and an average width of 10 nm.

Source: Journal of Applied Physics

DOI: 10.1063/1.370985

Authors: Ricardo Garcı́a, Montserrat Calleja, Heinrich Rohrer

Institutions: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Institute of Micro and Nanotechnology

Language: English

Topic: Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2084742543

FWCI: 5.713

Cites: 31

Cited by: 215

Related to: 10