Pattern transfer of ~5 nm periodic arrays nanostructures via selective staining of dendrimer

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for high-resolution pattern fabrication in the field of semiconductor. Particularly, nanopatterning of inorganic materials is crucial as it finds diverse applications such as lithography masks, and conductor. In this study, dendrimer with 4.75 nm feature size is used as template for inorganic nanopattern fabrication. Selective fixation process was done using the template, resulting in the fabrication of high-resolution inorganic RuO$_2$ structure arrays. This was achieved through a simple selective fixation after the large-area arrangement of dendrimer templates, followed by RuO$_4$ staining and reactive ion etching. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed the hexagonal patterns of the inorganic dendrimer-based structure, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed a sequential increase in height difference depending on the etching time. Additionally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the formation of RuO$_2$ and removal of organic material during the fixation process. This research marks the significance of achieving high-resolution inorganic patterns at a 5nm scale for the first time and suggests potential applications in various fields such as photomasks.