Nanofabrication by field-emission scanning probe lithography and cryogenic plasma etching

Building low-power and high-density circuits requires new devices, which can be based for example on single electron effects. Single electron transistors (SET), which can operate at room temperature (RT), are candidates with high potential for the post-CMOS era. However, their fabrication relies typically on a statistical fabrication of quantum dots or positioning of nanoparticles or molecules between predefined electrodes. These methods hamper a scaled-up fabrication of RT-SETs. Here, we present a route for reproducible fabrication of RT-SETs on the basis of field-emission scanning probe lithography (FE-SPL) and cryogenic reactive ion etching. Due to the unique capabilities of our FE-SPL tool, enabling pre- and post-inspection of features, highly reliable patterning and precise feature alignment are obtained. The fabricated devices exhibit single electron effects at RT. A combination of this method with nanoimprint lithography would enable a high throughput and reproducible way of RT-SET fabrication.