Atomic Calligraphy: A MEMS Based Nanomanufacturing Technique

Atomic Calligraphy is a nanomanufacturing technique with the potential to combine resolutions below 10 nm with high throughputs. It works by combining two technologies, stencil lithography which is essentially shadow masking a flux atoms and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Stencil lithography is useable over large areas, inexpensive to implement, useable with fragile materials and on fragile surfaces. However, it has several challenges including: clogging of the stencil, limited resolution due to the dimensions of the evaporation source and the distance to the target, and imprecise alignment between stencil and target. Here, we present on overcoming these challenges using a variety of MEMS technologies including joule heating, precision springs, capacitive sensing and capacitive actuation.