Nanostenciling for fabrication and interconnection of nanopatterns and microelectrodes

Stencil lithography is used for patterning and connecting nanostructures with metallic microelectrodes in ultrahigh vacuum. Microelectrodes are fabricated by static stencil deposition through a thin silicon nitride membrane. Arbitrary nanoscale patterns are then deposited at a predefined position relative to the microelectrodes, using as a movable stencil mask an atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever in which apertures have been drilled by focused ion beam. Large scale AFM imaging, combined with the use of a high precision positioning table, allows inspecting the microelectrodes and positioning the nanoscale pattern with accuracy better than 100 nm.