Government of the United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Commerce

Robert J Celotta

Jabez J McClelland

Harold Craighead

Rajeev Gupta

A metastable depassivation lithography process for fabricating microstructures on a surface which utilizes the energy contained in neutral metastable rare gas atoms to remove passivating atoms from selected areas of a surface. Removal of the passivating atoms in a pattern allows further chemical processing to add or remove material to the exposed areas. The neutral metastable rare gas atoms can be directed to the surface using atom optical techniques to effect a desired pattern of exposure by the atoms. Alternatively, a mask can be used to effect a desired pattern of exposure.

Method of fabricating of structures by metastable atom impact desorption

A method of depositing atoms on a substrate in which a beam of atoms is optically focused utilizing a laser beam. The laser beam is used to form a standing wave above the surface of a substrate. As the beam of atoms is passed through the standing wave, the atoms are focused by dipole force interactions. The deposition of atoms is focused into parallel lines which coincide with the minima of the standing wave. The use of two standing waves allows for focusing the atoms into discrete dots or spots. Relative movement between the substrate and the standing wave(s) allows for depositing atoms in a scanning manner. Various nanostructures can be made by the disclosed method.

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Darnestown, MD, United States of America

Robert J Celotta