21st Asia Pacific Nanotechnology Congress

Nano Fabrication

Nanofabrication refers to the design procedure of nanomaterial and devices that are measured in nanometers. One nanometer is one millionth (10-9) of a meter. It helps in parallel processing of material over a large scale. It is a cost-effective method whereby large-scale economy is manufactured using the same machinery and design and small amount of material. To meet the continuing challenge of shrinking component size in microelectronics, new tools and techniques are continuously being developed. Component sizes that were in tens of micrometers became single-digit micrometers, and then hundreds of nanometers, and then went down to a few tens of nanometers where they stand today. As a result, what used to be called micro fabrication was rebranded as nanofabrication, although the governing principles have remained essentially the same. The main driver of this technology has been the manufacture of integrated circuits, but there have been tremendous fallout benefits to other areas, including photonics. Nanofabrication can be loosely divided into three major areas: thin films, lithography, and etching. Each of these are vast subject areas in and of themselves, but in this chapter we attempt to cover their essential concepts in a concise fashion for someone new to these areas. The goal is not to provide a working experience that allows one to walk into a laboratory and perform these tasks, but to provide an overall understanding of what these areas are as well as the pros and cons of the most commonly used techniques. Hopefully it will build a foundation for more specific training for anyone who wants to venture further into these areas.