SPM based lithography for nanometer scale electrodes fabrication

Scanning probe assisted nanolithography is a very attractive technique in terms of low-cost, patterning resolution and positioning accuracy. Our approach makes use of a commercial atomic force microscope and silicon probes to build simple nanostructures, such as metal electrode pairs, for application in novel quantum devices. Sub-100 nm patterning was successfully performed using three different techniques: direct material removal, scanning probe assisted mask patterning and local oxidation.