Sub-10-nm wide trench, line, and hole fabrication using pressed self-perfection.

We report a new approach to adjust and improve nanostructures after their initial fabrication, which can reduce the trench width and hole diameter to sub-10 nm, while smoothing edge roughness and perfecting pattern shapes. In this method, termed pressed self-perfection by liquefaction (P-SPEL), a flat guiding plate is pressed on top of the structures (which are soften or molten transiently) on a substrate to reduce their height and guide the flow of the materials into the desired geometry before hardening. P-SPEL results in smaller spacing between two structures or smaller holes in a thin film.