We outline some of the possible applications of nanotechnology to modern molecular biology and discuss several technologies that can be used to make nanoscale confining environments (channels or post arrays) for long polymers such as DNA. A particular emphasis is placed on making large arrays using nonelectron beam lithography methods. We then discuss how focused ion beam (FIB) milling can be u...

Current rapid development in MEMS area has opened up many possibilities in nano-technology such as nano-fabrication. Among them is nanoscale wiring by both AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) tip and laser beam. Being able to make a relatively small deflection, a micro thermal actuator can be used to control the near field optics of the beam minutely and accurately. In this project, we will investiga...

Gas-mediated electron beam induced etching (EBIE) is a nanoscale, direct-write technique analogous to gas-assisted focused ion beam (FIB) milling. The main advantage of EBIE is the elimination of sputtering and ion implantation during processing as well as greater material selectivity [1]. Here we discuss recent developments that expand the scope of EBIE applications in nanofabrication and defe...

Existing techniques for electron- and ion-beam lithography, routinely employed for nanoscale device fabrication and mask/mold prototyping, do not simultaneously achieve efficient (low fluence) exposure and high resolution. We report lithography using neon ions with fluence <1 ion/nm(2), ∼1000× more efficient than using 30 keV electrons, and resolution down to 7 nm half-pitch. This combination o...

We propose a model to show that under off-normal bombardment of an incident ion beam, a solid surface may spontaneously form nanoscale dots lining up into chains perpendicular to the incident beam direction. These dots demonstrate a highly ordered hexagonal pattern. We attribute the self-organization behavior to surface instability under concurrent surface kinetics and to a shadow effect that c...

We investigated novel patterning techniques to produce ultrafine patterns for nanoscale devices. Hydrogen silsesquioxane HSQ was employed as a high-resolution negative tone inorganic electron beam resist. The nanoscale patterns with sub-10 nm linewidth were successfully formed. A trimming process of HSQ by the reactive ion etcher RIE played an important role for the formation of 5 nm nanowire p...

Design of a doubly-clamped beam structure capable of localizing mechanical and optical energy at the nanoscale is presented. The optical design is based upon photonic crystal concepts in which patterning of a nanoscale-cross-section beam can result in strong optical localization to an effective optical mode volume of 0.2 cubic wavelengths ( (lambdac)(3)). By placing two identical nanobeams with...

The damping effect in the nanoscale mechanical beam resonators operated under ambient conditions was studied. Experimental measurement of the viscous air damping in the nanowire cantilever resonators was carried out using the electric-field-induced resonance method; and a theoretical model, which accounts for the effects of dimension and material property of the nanowires and the air viscosity ...

Metasurfaces consisting of ultrathin nanostructures are utilized to control the properties of light including its phase, amplitude and polarization. Hereby, we demonstrate the capability of such structures to perform arbitrary polarization selective beam shaping using dielectric nanoscale metasurfaces implemented in silicon. By illuminating the structure with right handed circular polarization ...

A study of ion sculpting dynamics in SiO2 and SiN using periodically pulsed ion beams reveals material transport that depends strongly on the time structure of the pulsed beams. It is found that significant nanoscale matter transport can occur over second long time scales after the ion beam has been extinguished. A simple phenomenological model described the dynamics of ion beam sculpting in te...