Nanofabrication by atomic force microscopy, electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching

Abstract

This thesis describes a selection of methods tested and developed for fabrication of nanodevices in the Department of Physics at the University of Jyväskylä during the period 1996-1999. Atomic force microscopy, electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching were the primary methods under investigation, but also bulk micro machined silicon nitride membranes were used as substrates for vertical tunnel junctions and as a basis of a micro calorimeter for investigating thin superconducting disks. These are the main devices fabricated, but the work has also included some aspects of nanofabrication using an atomic force microscope. Suppressing conductance of a thin metallic wire by anodic oxidation and efforts to fabricate planar tunnel junctions by atomic force microscopy will be described.