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Chinese Journal of Lasers

Study on Metastable Neon Beam Source Used for Atom Lithography

Yuzhu Wang

Published Jan 1, 2002• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

A neon metastable beam source was built up, from which Neon metastable beam of the intensity of 3.3×10 14 atoms/s·Sr. was generated. The characteristics of the metastable Neon beam were studied, and the corresponding mechanisms are discussed.

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We have used a commercial RF ion-source to extract a beam of metastable neon atoms. The source was easily incorporated into our existing system and was operative within a day of installation. The metastable velocity distribution, flux, flow, and efficiency were investigated for different RF powers and pressures, and an optimum was found at a flux density of 2 × 10 12 atoms/s/sr. To obtain an accurate measurement of the amount of metastable atoms leaving the source, we insert a Faraday cup in the beam line and quench some of them using a weak 633 nm laser beam. In order to determine how much of the beam was quenched before reaching our detector, we devised a simple model for the quenching transition and investigated it for different laser powers. This detection method can be easily adapted to other noble gas atoms.
A high flux metastable Neon atomic beam was designed and characterised. Atom optical enhancement of the beam using a two-dimensional optical collimator, novel two beam Zeeman slower and hexapole magnetic guide was performed to produce a UV-free metastable flux of (4.35 x 109 ± 4 x 107) atoms s−1. Investigations of several resists for neutral atom lithography were undertaken. A quantitative investigation of the wetting properties of ethanethiol (ET) and dodecanethiol (DDT) self-assembled monolayers (SAM's) exposed to various metastable dosages was carried out. A mechanism for the poor lithographic patterning using ET was proposed and the negative contrast patterning observed for this SAM was similar to those observed for bare gold substrates and were attributed to mechanical pump oil (MPO) contamination resists. Negative patterned resists were used to produce 7.5 μm iron dots on a silicon substrate via neutral atom lithography. This scheme was found to be very robust and free from the laser cooling issues of alternative direct depositional schemes. Numerical simulations have shown that two dimensional arrays of magnetic nanodots may be produced this way, paving the way for a magnetic storage option with a density of " 0.1 Gbit mm−2.
Intense, highly collimated sources of atoms have many potential applications. Bright beams will be important for competitive high flux and high resolution direct-write techniques in lithography, with the added advantage of parallel writing through laser manipulation. Intense sources will also be useful in other atom optic devices e.g. for loading atoms into hollow fiber waveguides. In atomic physics, many collision processes can only be measured with the sensitivity offered by such high flux sources. We report progress on the development of an intense, collimated beam of metastable helium atoms which improves the brightness generated by conventional nozzle discharge sources by several orders of magnitude. The system uses diode lasers to transversely collimate and then to longitudinally slow the atoms, using Zeeman tuning to compensate for the changing Doppler shift. The slowed, collimated beam is then compressed in a 2D magneto-optic trap before a final collimation stage, to achieve the required increase in intensity. Initial experiments using the helium source for some of the applications above are described.
Intense, highly collimated sources of atoms have many potential applications. Bright beams will be important for competitive high flux and high resolution direct-write techniques in lithography, with the added advantage of parallel writing through laser manipulation. Intense sources will also be useful in other atom optic devices e.g. for loading atoms into hollow fiber waveguides. In atomic physics, many collision processes can only be measured with the sensitivity offered by such high flux sources. We report progress on the development of an intense, collimated beam of metastable helium atoms which improves the brightness generated by conventional nozzle discharge sources by several orders of magnitude. The system uses diode lasers to transversely collimate and then to longitudinally slow the atoms, using Zeeman tuning to compensate for the changing Doppler shift. The slowed, collimated beam is then compressed in a 2D magneto-optic trap before a final collimation stage, to achieve the required increase in intensity. Initial experiments using the helium source for some of the applications above are described.