Solid-state nanopore array membranes patterned by electron beam lithography, nanosphere lithography and aluminum anodization

We present the fabrication of thin membranes with dense arrays of nanometer and submicrometer pore arrays by the integration of standard micromachining with three pore patterning techniques: electron beam lithography (EBL), nanosphere lithography (NSL) and aluminum anodization. Using a serial top-down EBL technique we exploit a fine size, positioning and flexibility of this tool. NSL and aluminum anodization, as self-organized bottom-up processes, guaranties cost efficiency and throughput. In our work, we have fabricated silicon nitride (SiN) and alumina (Al2O3) membranes with a thickness down to 100 nm, side length ranging from 200 μm up to 2.4 mm and pore size ranging from 20 nm to 500 nm.