Localization of Metastable Atom Beams with Optical Standing Waves: Nanolithography at the Heisenberg Limit
K. S. Johnson,
*
J. H. Thywissen,
N. H. Dekker,
K. K. Berggren,
A. P. Chu,
R. Younkin,
M. Prentiss
The spatially dependent de-excitation of a beam of metastable argon
atoms, traveling through an optical standing wave, produced a periodic
array of localized metastable atoms with position and momentum spreads
approaching the limit stated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
Silicon and silicon dioxide substrates placed in the path of the atom
beam were patterned by the metastable atoms. The de-excitation of
metastable atoms upon collision with the surface promoted the
deposition of a carbonaceous film from a vapor-phase hydrocarbon
precursor. The resulting patterns were imaged both directly and after
chemical etching. Thus, quantum-mechanical steady-state atom
distributions can be used for sub-0.1-micrometer lithography.
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
*
Present address: IGEN International Inc., 16020 Industrial Drive,
Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA.
Present address: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Analog Device
Technology Group, Lexington, MA 02173, USA.
Present address: Lehman Brothers, 3 World Financial Center,
New York, NY 10285, USA.
