Fabrication of Micro- and Nanostructures

摘要

The fabrication of structures with dimensions down to the submicron range is already well known in standard microelectronics. There is however an additional exponentially increasing interest in the realisation of such nanostructures not only for basic research but also for industrial application in form of so called micro electromechanically machined systems (MEMS) and biological and medical use. But due to the 3D-structures in these MEMS as well as the application of material not compatible to CMOS-technology more sophisticated technology is necessary than e.g. for standard microelectronics. The corresponding lithographic, wet and plasma etching problems are discussed. Especially for basic research and thin film characterisation there exsists an interesting novel microsystem, the scanning probe microscope (spm). A sensor, e.g. cantilever with tip of nanometer apex, is scanned over the substrate and the substrate tip interaction is recorded. This system allows to measure the mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic and optical properties of the substrate with highest possible lateral resolution, often down to the atomic level. But the reproducable fabrication of the corresponding sensors with acceptable performances is a high technological challenge and needs new applications of thin films. This will be demonstrated for passive and active spm-sensors.