Abstract
Automated Nanofabrication using Thermal Scanning Probe Lithography
I will report on the latest developments on nanofabrication using thermal Scanning Probe Lithography (tSPL). Next to briefly describing the newest scientific achievements, the main focus of the presentation will be on the automation of the method. We use the nanometer-scale resolution of rapid AFM metrology to detect underlying devices, determine the local resist thickness, and perform nanometer-accurate overlay patterning. Together with laser patterning, the tool is used to autonomously fabricate fin-type field effect transistors with sub-50 nm dimensions at chip scale.
The achievement of fabricating complete devices solely relying on tSPL is the next important step to establish tSPL technology as a low-cost, low-damage, and highresolution patterning method.
Biography
Armin Knoll received his Master's degree in Physics from the University of Würzburg, Germany, in 1998, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Bayreuth in 2004. He completed a 15-month postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Basel between 2003 and 2004.
In 2005, he joined the Advanced Media Concepts group of the Millipede project at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory as a Visiting Scientist. In April 2006, he became a Research Staff Member in the Science & Technology department at IBM Research – Zurich.
Since 2010, Armin has led IBM-Zurich’s nanofabrication effort, where he pioneered the development of thermal Scanning Probe Lithography, advancing it to technical market readiness. In recognition of his innovative work, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Commission in 2012 for research on controlling objects in nanofluidic confinement.