On dot and out of dot electrical characteristics of silicon oxide nanodots patterned by scanning probe lithography

Silicon oxide nanodot arrays were grown on pre-cleaned silicon (100) substrate by scanning probe nanolithography. In this study, a conductive AFM was used to fabricate nanoscale oxide dots in humidity controlled environment. The AFM is equipped with a nanotechnology software package providing the control of tip-sample voltage and tip motion according to pre-designed patterns. The surface topography and size of obtained patterns (diameter and height) were investigated by a noncontact AFM mode. A series of five silicon oxide nanodot array with diameter in the range of 146.05-247.65 nm and height 2.14-4.87 nm had been successfully fabricated. Meanwhile, a contact AFM mode was used to investigate the localized I-V characteristics on the dots and out of dot position. It was found, the on dot characteristics are highly nonohmic due to potential barrier interface between silicon oxide and silicon substrate. However, the out of dot characteristic is linear indicates an ohmic contact between AFM tip and sample. [GRAPHICS] (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim