DIP PEN NANOLITHOGRAPHY

Dip pen nanolithography is a direct writing technique which is used to create nanostructure on
the substrate of interest by delivering collection of molecules via a capillary from an AFM tip.

In DPN molecules are deposited on the surface from an atomic force microscope tip The tip is
inked with a solution of the molecule of interest and brought into contact with the sample
surface. Under normal ambient conditions, a capillary forms between an AFM tip and the
surface that it contacts. In DPN this capillary functions as a liquid bridge to facilitate transfer of
fluid from the tip to the surface. Control of the ambient humidity therefore has an influence on
the sizes of the features formed.

Thus DPN uses an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip as a “nib,” a solid-state substrate (in this
case, Au) as “paper,” and molecules with a chemical affinity for the solid-state substrate as
“ink.”.The first demonstrations of DPN were based on the deposition of alkanethiols onto gold
surfaces.

It allows binding structures to be placed at will on the surface so that other units can be bound
on the surface,thus dpn could be used as glue pen that puts glue at point where we wants to fix
things

ATTRIBUTES:

The one of the most important attribute of dpn is that the same device is used to image and
write the pattern

Creating nanostructures using DPN is a single step process which does not require the use of
resists

By writing simultaneously with an array of cantilevers, DPN also offers the possibility of
generating multiple structures in parallel.

Using a conventional atomic force microscope (AFM) it is possible to achieve ultra-high

resolution features with linewidths as small as 10-15 nm with ~ 5 nm spatial resolution .

Material Flexibility: Wide range of inks can be deposited onto a variety of different surfaces

Multiplexing: Multiple ink deposition onto the same substrate

Operate in Ambient Conditions: No UHV necessary—no clean room needed

DRAWBACK
DPN is a serial method – features are created one after the other. Serial writing

is time-consuming,

EPITAXY
Epitaxy refers to the method of depositing a monocrystalline film on a monocrystalline substrate. The
deposited film is denoted as epitaxial film or epitaxial layer. The term epitaxy comes from the Greek
roots epi, meaning "above", and taxis, meaning "in ordered manner". It can be translated "to arrange
upon".

Homoepitaxy is a kind of epitaxy performed with only one material. In homoepitaxy, a crystalline film is
grown on a substrate or film of the same material. This technology is used to grow a film which is more
pure than the substrate and to fabricate layers having different doping levels.

Heteroepitaxy is a kind of epitaxy performed with materials that are different from each other. In
heteroepitaxy, a crystalline film grows on a crystalline substrate or film of a different material. This
technology is often used to grow crystalline films of materials for which single crystals cannot otherwise
be obtained and to fabricate integrated crystalline layers of different materials

Another distinction is made by phase from which film has been deposited

 Vapor phase epitaxy

 Liquid phase epitaxi
  Molecular beam epitaxy

VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY:

Epitaxial silicon is usually grown using vapor-phase epitaxy (VPE), a modification of chemical vapor
deposition.

In this technique the required elements are transported as components of gaseous compounds such as
metal alkyls and non-metal hydrides to a suitable chamber where they flow over the surface of a heated
substrate. These compounds break down and react so as to deposit the relevant semiconductor, with
the remaining waste gases being removed from the chamber.

Silicon is most commonly deposited from silicon tetrachloride in hydrogen at approximately 1200 °C:

SiCl4(g) + 2H2(g) ↔ Si(s) + 4HCl(g)

This reaction is reversible, and the growth rate depends strongly upon the proportion of the two source
gases. Growth rates above 2 micrometres per minute produce polycrystalline silicon, and negative
growth rates (etching) may occur if too much hydrogen chloride byproduct is present. (In fact, hydrogen
chloride may be added intentionally to etch the wafer.) An additional etching reaction competes with
the deposition reaction:

SiCl4(g) + Si(s) ↔ 2SiCl2(g)

Silicon VPE may also use silane, dichlorosilane, and trichlorosilane source gases. For instance, the silane
reaction occurs at 650 °C in this way:

SiH4 → Si + 2H2

LIQUID PHASE EPITAXY:

Liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) is a method to grow semiconductor crystal layers from the melt on solid
substrates. This happens at temperatures well below the melting point of the deposited semiconductor.
The semiconductor is dissolved in the melt of another material. At conditions that are close to the
equilibrium between dissolution and deposition the deposition of the semiconductor crystal on the
substrate is slow and uniform.

Typical deposition rates for monocrystalline films range from 0.1 to 1 μm/minute. The equilibrium
conditions depend very much on the temperature and on the concentration of the dissolved
semiconductor in the melt. The growth of the layer from the liquid phase can be controlled by a forced
cooling of the melt. Impurity introduction can be strongly reduced. Doping can be achieved by the
addition of dopants.

The method is mainly used for the growth of compound semiconductors. Very thin, uniform and high
quality layers can be produced. A typical example for the liquid phase epitaxy method is the growth of
ternary and quarternery III-V compounds on gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. As a solvent quite often
gallium is used in this case. Another frequently used substrate is indium phosphide (InP)

MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY:

MBE is a growth technique in which epitaxial, single atomic layers(approx. 0.2 -0.3nm) are grown on a
heated substrate under UHV conditions, using either atomic or molecular beams evaporated from
effusion sources with openings directed towards a heated substrate usually consisting of a thin
(aapprox.0.5mm) wafer cut from a bulk single crystal. The sources can be either solid or gaseous and an
MBE machine will typically have an array of multiple sources, which can be shuttered to allow layered,
alternating hetero-structures to be produced. Semiconductor quantum wells, superlattices and
quantumwires and metallic or magnetic multilayers for spin valve structures are deposited using this
technique.

Standard MBE uses elements in a very pure form as solid sources contained within a number of Knudsen
cells. In operation the cells are heated to the temperature at which the elements evaporate, producing
beams of atoms which leave the cells. The beams intersect at the substrate and deposit the appropriate
semiconductor, atomic layer by atomic layer.The substrate is rotated to ensure even growth over its
surface. By operating mechanical shutters in front of the cells, it is possible to control which
semiconductor or metal is deposited. For example, opening the Ga and As cell shutters results in the
growth of GaAs. Shutting the Ga cell and opening the Al cell switches the growth to AlAs.