Robust Auto-Alignment Technique for Orientation-Dependent Etching of Nanostructures

Published

May 29, 2012

Author(s)

Craig D. McGray, Richard J. Kasica, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson, Michael W. Cresswell, Richard A. Allen, Jon C. Geist

Abstract

A robust technique is presented for auto-aligning nanostructures to slow-etching crystallographic planes in materials with diamond cubic structure. Lithographic mask patterns are modified from the intended dimensions of the nanostructures to compensate for uncertainty in crystal axis orientation. The technique was employed in fabricating 600-nm-long silicon nanolines having widths less than 5 nm, subjected to intentional misalignment of up to ±1°. After anisotropic etching, the auto-aligned structures exhibited as little as 1 nm of width variation, as measured by a critical dimension atomic force microscope, across 2° of variation in orientation. By contrast, the widths of control structures fabricated without auto-alignment showed 8 nm of variation. Use of the auto- alignment technique can eliminate the need for fiducial-based alignment methods in a variety of applications.

Citation

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS

Volume

11

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Auto-alignment, line width, nanoline, anisotropic etching, silicon etching, potassium hydroxide, KOH, TMAH, crystallographic etching, orientation-dependent etching, CD-AFM

Citation

McGray, C. , Kasica, R. , Orji, N. , Dixson, R. , Cresswell, M. , Allen, R. and Geist, J. (2012), Robust Auto-Alignment Technique for Orientation-Dependent Etching of Nanostructures, Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=908076 (Accessed October 2, 2025)