Nanostructure Fabrication Using Selective Growth on Nanosize Patterns Drawn by a Scanning Probe Microscope

Abstract

A novel method of fabricating organic material nanostructures using selective growth on patterned layered material surfaces has been developed. First, an epitaxial monolayer film of layered semiconductor GaSe was grown on a cleaved face of MoS₂. Then, nanosize patterns were drawn by scratching only the grown GaSe film using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Next, C₆₀ molecules were deposited on the surface. It has been found that if a substrate temperature is appropriately chosen, C₆₀ molecules nucleate only on the bare MoS₂ surface and fill up the carved nanostructures. This combination of AFM lithography and selective growth enables the formation of C₆₀ nanostructures as small as 10 nm.