Parallel Writing by Local Oxidation Nanolithography with sub-Micrometer Resolution

We demonstrate that the process of local oxidation of surfaces by atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be upscaled in a straightforward way by using a solid support with multiple protrusions as the cathode electrode. A metallized digital video disk polymeric support has been used as a stamp to generate an array of features of variable length and 100 nm in width on a silicon surface covering a 5x6 mm2 region. The parallel patterning involves the formation of as many liquid bridges as protrusions are in the stamp. The growth rate of the parallel local oxides is slightly smaller than the one obtained by atomic force microscopy experiments. Nonetheless results from AFM local oxidation experiments can be readily extended to parallel oxidation which in turns opens the possibility of patterning cm2 regions with 10 nm motives.