Preparation and mechanics of nanotextures on adapting a low adhesive surface using local oxidation nanolithography.

ABSTRACT

This paper describes an application for atomic force microscopy to the fabrication of nanotextures with various features on a GaAs surface by local oxidation nanolithography (LON). By controlling the geometrical shapes and surface coverage of the nanotexture, the surface adhesion can be adjusted to a low adhesive surface. The influence of environmental conditions, such as relative humidity and temperature on adhesion behavior, was studied. An optic heater was employed to minimize thermal effect on an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever and PbZrTiO3 scanner. In our study, AFM is used for both fabrication and characterization. LON allows the fabricated nanotextures to be altered in situ without the need to change masks or repeat the entire fabrication process. Furthermore, the nanoadhesion characterization of nanotextures on a GaAs surface was investigated with a colloidal probe method.