AFM tip hammering nanolithography.

Nanolithography at low cost and high speed is made possible by using a vibrating AFM tip in tapping-mode as a nanohammer to forge polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene/butylenes)-block-polystyrene triblock copolymer monolayer thin films after annealing to transform their microstructures from as-cast poorly ordered cylinders into well-ordered hexagonal spheres. Annealing is accomplished in cyclohexane vapor, a selective solvent for the majority poly(ethylene/butylenes) block. Experimental results demonstrate that such structure-tailored thin films enable macroscopic AFM tip writing to be performed in their surface; imprinted and embossed patterns can be generated with a sub-20-nm line-width resolution. In addition, it is found that the lithographic patterns generated can be erased within 5 min by thermal annealing at 70 degrees C, and if necessary the erasion process can be expedited by increasing the annealing temperature.