Proton beam writing of submicrometer structures at LIPSION

We report on the current status of proton beam writing (PBW) at LIPSION. At present, minimal feature sizes of 130 nm were obtained in SU-8. For this purpose 10 μm thick SU-8 was irradiated with 2.25 MeV protons under STIM conditions (∼1 fA) using a dedicated scan program. These structures have an aspect ratio of 77. However, artefacts from beam spot fluctuations and instabilities due to their large height are noticeable. Furthermore, Ni grids of different sizes and pitches were produced by electroplating. The corresponding templates were written in a negative resist called ma-N 440, which can be removed much more easily compared to SU-8 after the plating step and therefore offers the advantage of a large area Ni grow and a better control of the plating current density. This results in a higher quality concerning the homogeneity of the Ni-layer. In addition, an experimental setup for the electrochemical etching of silicon was constructed and Si structures were created by proton beam writing of Si, reaching minimal lateral dimensions of 1.2 μm.