Growth behavior of oxide nanostructures by electrical and thermal conductivities of substrate in atomic force microscope nano-oxidation

We report the growth behavior of oxide nanostructures according to physical properties such as work function, electrical and thermal conductivities, and roughness for high resolution nanostructure fabrication. Among these factors, threshold voltages, in particular, which induced the formation of a water meniscus and driving voltage, which drive oxyanions for oxidation, decreased as the mobility of electrons increased by the increasing electrical conductivity. Oxide growth increased as the diffusion of OH radical increased by the increasing conductivity of thermal energy. The high electrical and thermal conductivities imply that the reaction of the OH radical and surface was more easily activated over a wide reaction region (in the parallel direction of substrate) by the conductivity of the generated thermal energy at a low driving voltage. On the basis of these conductivity effects, the Cr film, which is the most sensitive to electron transport and conductivities, had hill-shaped nanostructures and could be applied as a candidate for high-speed atomic force microscope lithography at the lowest driving voltage. In addition, Ta and Ti, which are less sensitive, can be used to fabricate nanostructures with a high aspect ratio (spike shape). (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.