TABLE OF CONTENTS In the past four decades microelectronics has advanced at exponential rates. Due to its rich functionality in applications, low energy consumption in operations, and low cost in fabrications, microelectronics has entered into almost all aspects of our lives through the invention of novel small electronic devices. The most important thing is that microelectronics and its fabrication methodology have been extended into many non-electronic areas such as micro-actuators, micro-jet, micro-sensors, and micro DNA probes.
As this technology continues to advance, it has been extended from micrometer to nanometer scale. A brand new technology, nanotechnology or nanofabrication, has emerged in recent years. Using this technology, the horizontal device feature size has been further scaled down from present 0.18 ?m to 35 nm and its vertical dimension has been reduced to less than 1.5 nm or a couple of atoms (Timp, et al., 1999). Fabricating features with both horizontal and vertical dimensions in 1 nm range is just a matter of time. As its predecessor, nanofabrication technology will also have substantial impact on all of our lives.
Nanotechnology can also be used to pattern other nanostructures artificially. Many modern devices, i.e., room temperature quantum effect devices and high efficiency diffraction waveguides, are based on nanostructured materials such as quantum dots and photonic lattices. This application demands the availability of highly sophisticated nanofabrication techniques capable of fabricating reproducible structures in nanometer region. Among these techniques, nanolithography is the most crucial one. This chapter reviews some of the most promising...
