Fully ultrahigh-vacuum-compatible fabrication of submicrometer-spaced electrical contacts

We present an approach by which submicrometer-spaced electrical contacts can be fabricated on virtually any surface under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions. The metallic contacts are formed by subsequent deposition through a macroscopic mask and a nanostructured stencil mask. The stencil mask with a high aspect ratio was obtained by nanopatterning of suspended low-stress Si3+xN4-x membranes with a focused ion-beam system. The fabricated contacts can be electrically connected in situ by simply exchanging the mask carrier by a second, spring-loaded, carrier. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.