Title: Local deposition using an electrostatic inkjet technique with a nanopipette for photomask repair

Authors: Futoshi Iwata; Hiroyuki Ui

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1, Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 432-8561, Japan ' Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1, Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 432-8561, Japan

Abstract: We have developed local deposition techniques using a nanopipette for photomask repair. The nanopipette is a tapered glass capillary with an aperture size of sub-micrometer in diameter. The nanopipette was filled with a nanoink containing Au nano-particles with a diameter of around 3 nm. As a driving force of the ink deposition, electrostatic ink-jet method was employed. By applying a pulse voltage on an electrode inserted into the nanopipette, a Taylor cone is formed and discharged at the edge of the pipette. As a result, the droplet is deposited on the substrate. By controlling parameters of the pipette-surface distance, pulse width and applied voltage, it is possible to control the amount of deposition. The smallest size of dot with sub-micrometer in diameter is achieved with the optimised parameters. The simple deposition processing using the nanopipette can be a strong candidate of photomask repairing method for repairing size of micro to sub-micrometer scale.

Keywords: Taylor cone; photomask repair; nanopipette; electrostatic inkjet; nanofabrication; nanodeposition; nanoparticles; microelectromechanical systems; MEMS; nanoink; nanotechnology; local deposition; ink deposition; pipette-surface distance; pulse width; applied voltage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2015.071898

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2015 Vol.11 No.3/4, pp.111 - 121

Received: 19 Feb 2014
Accepted: 20 Feb 2015
Published online: 23 Sep 2015 *

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