Nano fabricaton

Nano and micro technologies are playing an ever more important role in various products. The application is an essential part of the innovation chain from concept to economic activity. In this respect it is almost impossible to design a product without taking fabrication, inspection and characterisation possibilities into account.

9. Nano fabrication

The Nano fabrication theme focuses on developing equipment, processes and technology and how these can contribute to breakthroughs in other NanoNextNL themes.

Nano fabrication is creating and characterising a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional structure with sub-100 nanometre features in a material of choice. Compared to the nano patterning possibilities of today, the challenge is to build smaller, more accurate, faster and more flexible, for instance by patterning directly in the material of choice. For nano-inspection, challenges include enabling live imaging during actual processes, such as catalysis and pulsed laser deposition, as well as correlative microscopies that combine e.g. electron and optical microscopies and thus merge the strengths of such techniques into a single instrument.

Theme coordinator
Prof. dr. W.J. van der Zande (ASML)

This theme contains the following programmes:

9A Nano-inspection and characterisation
9B Nano patterning

Nano and micro technologies are playing an ever more important role in various products. The application thereof is an essential part of the innovation chain from ‘concept’ to ‘economic activity’. In this, it is almost impossible to design a product without taking fabrication, inspection and characterisation possibilities into account. The nanofabrication theme focuses on developing equipment, processes and technology and how these can contribute to breakthroughs in other themes.

9A Nano-inspection and characterisation

This programme is aimed at the development of novel techniques and methodologies to image or otherwise locally characterise (probe) geometrical, electronic, magnetic, optical, mechanical, chemical, etc. properties of structures and materials on the nanometer scale. Explicitly excluded are methods that merely have (sub)-nanometer spatial resolution in a single direction but otherwise integrate over substantially larger distances.

Typical techniques that qualify according to this definition are electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy and advanced photon-based techniques with sufficient spatial resolution. Since this programme serves to generate enabling technology for application in other areas of nanotechnology, special emphasis is given to those developments that involve the specific application areas of NanoNextNL.

In the Netherlands the unique situation exists that apart from several excellent science groups, we have a wide variety of industries (from large, established world-leaders to promising young SMEs) that are strongly contributing to economic growth in the area of High-Tech systems. In this programme we have united all the main Dutch players in this field. The programme has been set up as close collaboration between academia and industry and aims for a very significant level of valorisation.

Programme Director:
Prof. dr. ir. Bram Koster (Leiden University)

9B Nano patterning

The Netherlands has a unique position in high tech systems for nanopatterning: ASML, FEI and MAPPER are world leaders in their respective sections of this extremely competitive and innovative field. This programme is designed to strengthen the knowledge infrastructure behind this industry by bringing together excellent academic groups in applied physics with their colleagues in the industrial research labs. Together they will address the major scientific challenges in nanopatterning for the coming decade: controlling the shape of individual pattern details to nm precision, and developing high tech systems to print trillions of these details per second.

The programme is organised around the three fabrication technologies in which the Netherlands has a leading industrial and academic position: photolithography, electron beam lithography and direct-write prototyping. In each fabrication technology, a new, fundamentally innovative generation of systems is under development, making the coming years crucially important for the global competitiveness of the Dutch high tech systems industry. The coherent, interdependent set of projects in each technology cluster has been defined in close collaboration between the industrial and academic partners, thus maximising the value for the Dutch economy and at the same time safeguarding the high scientific level of the work. The results of this research will support the Dutch economy in its struggle to remain competitive in the world of high tech systems and materials.

Programme Director:
Prof. dr. ir. Pieter Kruit (Delft University of Technology)