Nanopatterning of atomic layer deposited Al:ZnO films using electron beam lithography for waveguide applications in the NIR region

We have demonstrated the nanopatterning of atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al:ZnO (AZO) films using electron beam lithography (EBL) for plasmonic waveguide applications. The influence of grains on repeatable planar nanostructures by nanolithography process was studied for annealed films in order to avoid effects of granularity. Our results demonstrate that the nanopatterning of AZO by the EBL technique is limited due to granularity of ALD grown AZO films. This finding suggests the limitations of ALD grown samples for optical applications where nanopatterns are fabricated by the EBL technique. Furthermore, the ALD grown films lose conductivity orders of magnitude on annealing. (C)2012 Optical Society of America