Issue 11, 2011
From the journal:

Nanoscale

Oxidenanocrystal based nanocomposites for fabricating photoplastic AFM probes†

Chiara Ingrosso,‡§ab   Cristina Martin-Olmos,§cd   Andreu Llobera,c   Claudia Innocenti,e   Claudio Sangregorio,ef   Marinella Striccoli,a   Angela Agostiano,ab   Anja Voigt,g   Gabi Gruetzner,g   Jürgen Brugger,d   Francesc Perez-Muranoc  and  Maria Lucia Curri*a  

* Corresponding authors

a CNR-IPCF Sez. Bari c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, via Orabona 4, Bari, Italy
E-mail: lucia.curri@ba.ipcf.cnr.it

b Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, via Orabona 4, Bari, Italy

c Institut de Microelectrònica Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC), Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Spain

d Microsystems Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

e Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Firenze, via della Lastruccia 3, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

f CNR-ISTM, via C. Golgi 19, Milano, Italy

g Micro Resist Technology GmbH, Koepenicker Str. 235, Berlin, Germany

Abstract

We report on the synthesis, characterization and application of a novel nanocomposite made of a negative tone epoxy based photoresist modified with organic-capped Fe2O3 nanocrystals (NCs). The mechanical properties of the nanocomposite drastically improve upon incorporation of a suitable concentration of NCs in the polymer, without deteriorating its photolithography performance. High aspect ratio 3D microstructures made of the nanocomposite have been fabricated with a uniform surface morphology and with a resolution down to few micrometres. The embedded organic-capped Fe2O3 NCs drastically increase the stiffness and hardness of the epoxy based photoresist matrix, making the final material extremely interesting for manufacturing miniaturized polymer based mechanical devices and systems. In particular, the nanocomposite has been used as structural material for fabricating photoplastic Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) probes with integrated tips showing outstanding mechanical response and high resolution imaging performance. The fabricated probes consist of straight cantilevers with low stress-gradient and high quality factors, incorporating sharp polymeric tips. They present considerably improved performance compared to pure epoxy based photoresist AFM probes, and to commercial silicon AFM probes.

Graphical abstract: Oxide nanocrystal based nanocomposites for fabricating photoplastic AFM probes

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1NR10487J
Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 May 2011
Accepted
15 Jul 2011
First published
22 Aug 2011

Nanoscale, 2011,3, 4632-4639

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Oxide nanocrystal based nanocomposites for fabricating photoplastic AFM probes

C. Ingrosso, C. Martin-Olmos, A. Llobera, C. Innocenti, C. Sangregorio, M. Striccoli, A. Agostiano, A. Voigt, G. Gruetzner, J. Brugger, F. Perez-Murano and M. L. Curri, Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 4632 DOI: 10.1039/C1NR10487J

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