Patterning of poly(3‐octylthiophene) conducting polymer films by electron beam exposure

Accurate patterning of a conducting polymer using electron beam lithography has been demonstrated for poly(3‐octylthiophene) for line widths down to 50 nm. It also proved possible to attach very closely spaced gold electrodes, with separations down to tens of nanometers, enabling the measurement of the electron transport properties of small strips consisting of a limited number of conducting polymer chains. Information gained from these experiments will be useful in molecular electronics and possibly for single electron devices.