Nanopatterning on silicon surface using atomic force microscopy with diamond-like carbon (DLC)-coated Si probe.

Atomic force microscope (AFM) equipped with diamond-like carbon (DLC)-coated Si probe has been used for scratch nanolithography on Si surfaces. The effect of scratch direction, applied tip force, scratch speed, and number of scratches on the size of the scratched geometry has been investigated. The size of the groove differs with scratch direction, which increases with the applied tip force and number of scratches but decreases slightly with scratch speed. Complex nanostructures of arrays of parallel lines and square arrays are further fabricated uniformly and precisely on Si substrates at relatively high scratch speed. DLC-coated Si probe has the potential to be an alternative in AFM-based scratch nanofabrication on hard surfaces.