The Fountain Pen Nanolithography (FPN) MultiProbe system is an SPM platform capable of both chemical nanolithography and online imaging with multiple probes. Based on our revolutionary multiprobe technology, this system provides two completely independent SPM probes. Thus one probe can write using two different materials, or one probe “writes” while the other probe "reads" or images the deposition with a high resolution AFM probe without moving the sample or exchanging the probe. The MultiProbe system has a modular design and can be upgraded to up to four SPM probes. Different methods are used for nanometric control of the delivered and deposited material including capillary action, force control and capillary electrophoresis.
FPN systems allows for unique online integrations with a variety of instruments such as optical microscopes, Raman spectroscopy, confocal microscopes, etc. Furthermore, it uses Nanonics NanoToolKitTM probes for variety of SPM functional imaging techniques.
For additional info, please contact us at info@nanonics.co.il or visit our contact us page.
Key Features
Total flexibility for your experiments
A variety of inks including organic liquids, aqueous liquids, gases, proteins, nanotubes, and rods
A variety of surfaces and samples including flat, rough, conducting, and insulating. Also suitable for deposition onto large samples such as wafers, petri dishes and microscope slides
Precise placement of liquid or gas within nanometers of accuracy
Electrophoretic lithography of gases via electrical pulses for accurate and controlled chemical deposition
Pressure controlled deposition of liquids
Full characterization of your deposited/written features
Multiprobe lithography protocols for writing and simultaneous imaging on one platform
Free optical axis allowing full integration with optical microscopes for optical and spectroscopic analysis.
Full operation inside environmental chambers and flexible connection with chromatography systems.
Online SPM characterization of written features including Electrical, Thermal Conductivity, Magnetic , optical near-field (NSOM) and far-field characterizationoperation
FPN Technology
FPN is a technique that uses very fine pipettes with small apertures on the order of ~100nm. These pipettes are attached to an AFM cantilever arm allowing molecules to flow out through teh tip, in a manner very similar to a fountain pen. This process is shown in teh schematic below. This approach of nanolithography offers several distinct advanges including the ability to write any material on any substrate with total control to turn writing on or off.
In addition, FPN can be integrated with any optical methods so that probing or detection or written/etched lines can be done with methods such as fluorescence and Raman.
Powerful applications of FPN with other characterization methods include 1) using Raman microscopy to probe alignment of carbon nanotubes 2) electrical and thermal measurements to probe the conductivity of written contacts and 3) fluorescence imaging of written protein arrays.
Configurations
Capillary Nanopipette Probe
Quartz capillary nanopipette AFM probes for chemical nanolithography. FPM probes have a cantilevered bent probe geometry suitable for multiprobe operation and for integration with online techniques. |
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Ultrasensitive Tuning Fork AFM feedback is used for control of the deposition and AFM imaging of the deposited patterns. Optical beam bounce feedback is also available. |
MultiView 4000TM system with two probes for nanolithographywriting and AFM/SPM imaging, mounted on a Dual Optical microscope with free Z optical axis. |
Two probes close-up shows nanopipette probe (right) for nanolithography and a second probe (left) for AFM/SPM imaging. |
Environmental Chambers
Full integration with environmental chambers allows for use with samples that cannot be viewed/manipulated in an ambient environment.
Applications
Click the pictures for details...
Filling Trenches
Problems with a complicated surface structure, such as circuit edit, can be attacked only by FPN. It has a Z-range of >100 microns, allowing the AFM to see into deeper trenches than any other system.
10 x 10 micron AFM image of a |
Filling a Trench: Before and After Controlled filling of silicon trench with gold particles |
Ink Jet Printing
A: Confocal image of deposited Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) protein deposited with 150nm AFM nanopipette probe with a driving pulsed voltage at the sequence shown in B. The image shows deposition of the protein at the negative provided pulses. Bar is 6 microns.
B: Diagrammatic spatial map of the provided voltage applied on the Nanopipette at a negative pulsed signal as shown in C.
C: Negative pulses voltage provided through two electrodes at the inner of the nanopipette and the metallic coating at the end of the nanopipette’s tip. The image (A) shows clearly that the protein was delivered out to the surface at the blue lines where the voltage is -1V and no writing at the zero voltage areas indicated by green at B.
“The general nanoprinting and nanoinjection of proteins on non-conducting or conducting substrates with a high degree of control both in terms of positional and timing accuracy is an important goal that could impact diverse fields from biotechnology (protein chips) to molecular electronics and from fundamental studies in cell biology to nanophotonics.
Nanonics combines capillary electrophoresis (CE), a separation method with considerable control of protein movement, with the unparalleled positional accuracy of an atomic force microscope(AFM). This combination provides the ability to electrophoretically or electroosmotically correlate the timing of protein migration with AFM control of the protein deposition at a high concentration in defined locations and highly confined volumes estimated to be 2 al.
Electrical control of bovine serum albumin printing on standard protein-spotting glass substrates is demonstrated. For this advance, fountain pen nanolithography (FPN) that uses cantilevered glass-tapered capillaries is amended with the placement of electrodes on the nanopipette itself. This results in imposed voltages that are three orders of magnitude less than what is normally used in capillary electrophoresis.
The development of atomic-forcecontrolled capillary electrophoretic printing (ACCEP) has the potential for electrophoretic separation, with high resolution, both in time and in space. The large voltage drop at the tip of the tapered nanopipettes allows for significant increases in concentration of protein in the small printed volumes.
All of these attributes combine to suggest that this methodology should have a significant impact in science and technology.”
Gold Line using Fountain Pen Nanolithography
Gold NanoParticle Lines Printed on a Microchip
Figure 1: SEM and AFM gold nanoparticles line printed on semiconductor surface. (a) SEM image shows the gold nanoparticles line printed by FPN. Scale bar is 5 microns. (b) AFM image of smaller area than in (a) shows the same printed line as in (a).
Elemental Anaylsis of a Gold Line Written with the NanoFountain Pen
Figure 2: Gold nanoparticles line printed on semiconductor surface by FPN technique in close juxtaposition to a gold line produced by electron beam lithography technique. (a) AFM image shows the lines produced by electron beam lithography and the gold colloid line deposited by FPN on the right side of the image. Scale bar is 1.2 cm, (b) Zoom-in image of the marked area on (a) highlights the deposited line. Scale bar is 360 nm.(c) Height profile line between the marked arrows on (a) shows one of the electron beam lithography lines with width of 250 nm and height of 45 nm and the FPN deposited line 6 with width of 100 nm and height of 15 nm. (d) Electron-induced x-ray fluorescence spectrum of the FPN deposited line shows Au on the right peak.
Comparison of Line Profiles of a Gold Line Written with The NanoFountain PenTMand a Gold Line Produced by Electron Beam Lithography
Elemental and I-V Characteristics of a Gold Line Written with The NanoFountain PenTM
EDS Measurement of the gold line | |
I-V Characterization of the gold line: The line slope shows Ohmic behavior with resistance of ~ 650 ohms. |
I-V Characteristics of a Gold Line Written with The NanoFountain PenTM
FPN Gold colloids line deposited in the interconnection of a 100 nm separation of two conducting wires for current-voltage characterization (a) Optical image shows the inner electrodes pattern for the I-V characterization (x100 magnification). (b) Optical image of the inner electrodes area (x1000 magnification).(c) AFM image shows the inner electrodes pattern with a printed gold nanoparticles wire crossing a space of 100 nm between two electrodes. (Scale bar is 800 nm.) (d) Height line profile of the dashed line on (c) shows the gold nanoparticles 120 nm line on top of one electrode. (e) I-V characterization of the printed line shows an Ohmic behavior with resistance of ~4000 Ohm (y-axis in units of microamps).
Chlorine Gas Nanolithography
Etching of Chrome Film with Free Chlorine Radical
4.5 X 4.5 micron image of Chorine line etched onto chrome film
Protein printing is made possible by the Nanonics Chemical Delivery System and Nanopipette
Only Nanonics can deliver chemicals or gas onto the sample on line, with no need to remove the tip from the sample.
Protein Printing
40 x 40 micron Topgraphy | 3D image |
Only Nanonics can deliver chemicals or gas onto the sample on line, with no need to remove the tip from the sample.
Protein printing is made possible by the Nanonics Chemical Delivery System and Nanopipette
Using any of the Nanonics MultiView systems, chemicals, in liquid or gas form, can be fed into the pipette via a silicon tube. Apart from Protein Printing, applications of this setup include metallic nano-etching and nanolithography: an etchant can be introduced into the sample and scanned across it with nanometer precision using our 3D FlatScanning™ technology. The nanopipette is engaged by the sample using standard contact-mode atomic force microscopy, and our integrated system makes it possible to view the etching simultaneously through any optical microscope.
Protein Writing on Si Surface
BSA protein writing on Si surface using the Fountain Pen Nanolithography technique. On the left is an AFM image presenting two lines of the BSA. The plot on the right shows a height line profile of these lines. A pipette of 100nm aperture has been used with contact mode of 20µm /ms writing speed.
A silicon surface has been selected for writing due to its significance in the semiconductor industry. Using FPN for patterning on silicon could open the door for this technique to be integrated into different fields of semiconductors and materials.
Patterning with biological materials on silicon demonstrates the ability of FPN in biochip technology. FPN allows for patterning with biological materials onto Si surfaces, commonly used in integrated circuits and semiconductor devices.
NanoEtching Using FPN
Nanoeteching of chrome by dispensing liquid through a cantilevered force sensing nanopipette - a NanoFountainpenTM (middle and right frames recorded through the fully integrated optical microscope during the chemical etching process).
Protein Nanoarray
4X4 micron Image of Protein dots printed with a Nanofountain Pen |
Protein printing is made possible by the Nanonics Chemical Delivery System and Nanopipette Only Nanonics can deliver chemicals or gas onto the sample on line, with no need to remove the tip from the sample.
TiO2 Nanolithography
TiO2 Particles on Hydrophobic Surface
All the structures below were formed by online delivery of the chemical to the surface using the Nanonics Chemical Delivery System and Nanopipette. The Images were produced using the using the MultiView 4000™.
Only Nanonics can deliver chemicals or gas onto the sample on line, with no need to remove the tip from the sample.
4.5 X 4.5 micron AFM image of TiO2 line | |
AFM topography of TiO2 ring | |
AFM topography of TiO2 ring |
Two-Probe Lithography
A: Optical microscope picture (50x objective) shows two-probe lithography with a nanopipette probe for writing and an AFM probe for imaging. BSA protein deposition on an aldehyde modified surface is demonstrated.
B: Imaging of the deposited features with an AFM probe.
C: AFM topographic image shows the printed features as in B.
Nanonics' two-probe systems are unique for nanolithography manipulation and imaging. A nanopipette is used as a first probe to perform the lithography under capillary forces or voltage controlled deposition. The second probe is used for accurate SPM imaging.
- The advantages of online writing and reading are:
- It is not necessary to change the tips to perform lithography and subsequent AFM imaging – both tips can be mounted on one system. This allows for higher AFM resolution and for easier location of the deposited features.
- Immediate scanning following the deposition procedure can be achieved.
- Multiprobe systems are operated by tip and sample scanning modes which allow for flexible positioning and manipulation.
- All probes, nanopipettes and AFM probes are completely exposed to the Z optical axis of upright and inverted microscopes.
- Nanonics’ Fountain Pen Nanolithography permits the integration of a variety of inks and samples.
Specifications
SPM Platfrom |
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MultiView SPM Series |
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Scanning Stages |
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Probes |
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FPN Nanolithography |
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Samples and Stages |
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Optical Integrations |
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Environmental Chambers |
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Controller and Software |
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MultiView SPM Series |
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MultiView 4000TM |
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MultiView 2000TM |
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MultiView 1000TM |
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FPN Nanolithography |
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FPN Nanolithography |
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Inks (Wet/Dry): Lithography through liquids & gases |
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Samples |
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Electrophoretic FPN Lithography |
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Reservoir |
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Software-Controlled Lithography |
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Scanning stages (MV4000) |
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Scanning Stages |
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Range |
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Resolution |
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Z Imaging Noise |
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Sample Size |
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Sample Weight |
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Sample Positioning |
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Tip Positioning |
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Manual or Motorized XY Stage |
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Probes |
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Cantilevered Glass Probes |
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All Forms of Standard Si Probes |
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FPN Probes |
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Tuning Fork Feedback |
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Tuning Fork Feedback |
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Optical Integrations |
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Integration with Optical Microscope |
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Objectives |
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Online Integration |
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Environmental Control |
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Environmental Control |
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Liquid cell |
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Sample Cooling/Heating |
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Vibration & Acoustic Isolation |
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Vibration Isolation |
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Acoustic Isolation |
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Hardware/Software Control |
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SPM Controller |
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Software |
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Signal Access Module |
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ScanControl Module |
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Integrations
Optical Microscopy Integration
- Full integration with upright, inverted or dual (4 Pi) optical microscopes
- Full integration with non-linear and multi-photon microscopes (e.g second harmonic generation microscopes)
- Completely free optical axis from above and below the sample
- Complete freedom of optical microscope nose piece rotation from above or below
- Open system architecture providing Transmission, Reflection and Collection modes
Integration with Complementary Techniques
- Online Raman
- Online Scanning Electron Microscopy - SEM
- Online Focused Ion Beam - FIB
- Online Dual Focused Ion Beam with scanning electron microscope - SEM
Environmental Chambers
- MultiProbe Operation inside environmental chamber
- Vacuum control
- Gas inlets/outlets
- Temperature control- Heating & Cooling
- Free optical Axis from top and bottom- Complete integration with Dual optical microscope