A variety of nanomachining techniques using scanning probe systems have been proposed [1-3]. We have developed a novel multifunctional tunneling spectroscopy-capable system for surface machining and characterization with conductive diamond tip. Since STS can provide knowledge about the local properties of metallic and semiconducting surfaces, we have applied this method for the estimation of the surface nanomachining results. In order to develop this system, we have improved previously presented STM with diamond tip [4] by adding the option enabling the voltage-current curve measurements across the tunneling gap at fixed tip-sample separation. To test the applicability of this system, we have conducted experiments on processing of gold films on silicon substrate under various mechanically machining parameters. The golf film was removed from substrate with a range of several to tens nanometers to form nano-scale grooves and square recesses, and then those structures has been investigated using STM/STS techniques with the same conductive diamond probe. Our experiments demonstrated the exceptional usefulness of the tunneling spectroscopy option in the diamond probe-assisted nanomachining. STM/STS with conductive diamond tip makes possible to provide the high quality to SPM-based nanofabrication and optimizes the nanomachining parameters for the semiconductive nanostructures formation.
[1]. L.L. Sohn, R.L.Willeff, Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 1552 (1995)
[2]. Kazuya Unno, Yasutaka Kitamoto, Takayuki Shibata and Eiji Makino, Smart Mater. Struct. 10, 730 (2001).
[3]. E. Oesterschulze, A. Malave, U. F. Keyser, R. J. Haug, Diamond and Related Materials 11, 667 (2002)
[4]. O.Lysenko, N. Novikov, A. Gontar, V. Grushko, A.Shcherakov, J.of Physics. Conference Series (2007) Accepted for publication
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