Nanolithography on hydrogen terminateed silicon by scanning probe microscopy

Scanning-probe microscopes (SPM), i.e. the scanning-tunneling and force microscopes, can be used to locally oxidize hydrogen-terminated silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Because of its reliability and potential for pattern transfer, this lithography process has found great attention and has become a prototype process for SPM nanolithography. The local oxidization can be performed in ambient or ultra-high vacuum (UHV), and it is initiated by strong electric fields, electron impact, or by short-wavelength light. In this article, the progress of this subfield of nanolithography is reviewed. Emphasis will be on the process conducted in humid environments were a fairly solid understanding is emerging. For completeness, important experiments performed in UHV will be discussed briefly. Finally, recent applications of this process technique to the fabrication of electronic devices will be presented.