Dependence of Transport Rate on Area of Lithography and Pretreatment of Tip in Dip-Pen Nanolithography

摘要

This study examines the lithographic capacity ofntips in dip-pen nanolithography (DPN). The dependence ofnthe transport rate (R) decay on the area of lithography (Alith),nthe dependence of Alith on the lithographic time (t), and theneffect of piranha cleaning on the lithographic capacity arenconsidered herein. The dependencies in the line-drawingnlithography process are studied using 16-mercaptohexadecanoicnacid (MHA) ink. On the basis of the linear decayndependence discovered in the R−Alith dependence, piranhantreatment can increase the lithographic capacity by up to 35.5-nfold, an improvement that may originate from a change in thentip’s surface chemistry. Moreover, a theoretical model isnderived to describe the Alith−t dependence accurately and tonpredict the tips’ lifetime. Furthermore, an experiment involving DPN-based nanostructure fabrication demonstrates thenimportance of monitoring the tips’ transport rate and lifetime. In addition to shedding light on the physical and chemicalnprinciples behind DPN, this study provides a comprehensive model for a quantitative analysis of the tips’ behavior.