Maskless nanofabrication using the electrostatic attachment of gold particles to electrically patterned surfaces

We present a method for maskless fabrication of metal structures in the nanometre range by depositing 20-nm-gold-colloid nanoparticles from a non-aqueous suspension onto electrically patterned surfaces. Patterning is performed by locally injecting electric charges into an insulating, thin fluorocarbon film using a conductive atomic force microscope (AFM) tip to which voltage pulses are applied. These trapped charges generate an electric field above the electret surface attracting oppositely charged particles. The lateral charge pattern resolution is about 100 nm as determined by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KFM) and the width of lines formed by deposited gold particles is about 500 nm. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.