2003/08/19 by S. J. H. Petra, L. Feenstra, W. Hogervorst +1
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00340-003-1371-8
published as Appl. Phys. B 78 (2), 133-136 (2004) · 5 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2003/08/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We have created periodic nanoscale structures in a gold substrate with a lithography process using metastable triplet helium atoms that damage a hydrofobic resist layer on top of the substrate. A beam of metastable helium atoms is transversely cooled and guided through an intense standing-wave light field. Compared to commonly used low-power optical masks, a high-power light field (saturation parameter of 10E7) increases the confinement of the atoms in the standing-wave considerably, and makes the alignment of the experimental setup less critical. Due to the high internal energy of the metastable helium atoms (20 eV), a dose of only one atom per resist molecule is required. With an exposure time of only eight minutes, parallel lines with a separation of 542 nm and a width of 100 nm (1/11th of the wavelength used for the optical mask) are created.