AFM Tip Hammering Nanolithography

Abstract Nanolithography at low cost and high speed is made possible by using a vibrating AFM tip in tapping‐mode as a nanohammer to forge polystyrene‐block‐poly(ethylene/butylenes)‐block‐polystyrene triblock copolymer monolayer thin films after annealing to transform their microstructures from as‐cast poorly ordered cylinders into well‐ordered hexagonal spheres. Annealing is accomplished in cyclohexane vapor, a selective solvent for the majority poly(ethylene/butylenes) block. Experimental results demonstrate that such structure‐tailored thin films enable macroscopic AFM tip writing to be performed in their surface; imprinted and embossed patterns can be generated with a sub‐20‐nm line‐width resolution. In addition, it is found that the lithographic patterns generated can be erased within 5 min by thermal annealing at 70 °C, and if necessary the erasion process can be expedited by increasing the annealing temperature.