New Ways to Look through Nanopores

In this thesis, we have introduced palladium zero-mode waveguides (Pd ZMWs) as a valuable tool for biophysics research and have showcased several applications thereof. We started by using them as single-molecule sensors for free translocations of fluorophores, proteins, and voltage-driven translocations of DNA. By studying salt-gradient driven...

Patterning of fine-features in nanoporous films synthesized by spark ablation

Advances in semiconductor device manufacturing technologies are enabled by the development and application of novel materials. Especially one class of materials, nanoporous films, became building blocks for a broad range of applications, such as gas sensors and interconnects. Therefore, a versatile fabrication technology is needed to...

An Edgy Journey with Transition Metal Dichalcogenides: From Flakes to Nanopillars

The family of transitionmetal dichalcogenides offer a unique platformfor electronic and optical tunability due to the sensitivity to their dimensional configuration, edge terminations, and varying crystal phases. In this thesis we focus on structures based on the transition metal dichalcogenides MoS2 and WS2. We study how different crystal...

Building Blocks for Wavelength Converters: A Study of Monolithic Devices in Piezoelectric Materials

In cavity optomechanics, optical fields are coupled to the displacement of mechanical resonators. While it is interesting to study fundamental aspects of this interaction, it is the ability to link this mechanical displacement to various other degrees of freedom that inspires many applications in the field. In these applications, the mechanical...

‘Cleanroom’ in SEM

To allow researchers to fabricate micro- and nano-devices on a small scale, without having to use complex cleanroom facilities, a single tool is proposed in which a variety of typical cleanroom techniques and processes is combined. This ‘cleanroom’ in SEM tool, based on a scanning electron microscope (SEM), integrates several add-on tools,...

Chemistry for electron-induced nanofabrication

High resolution resist-free lithography in the SEM

Focussed Electron Beam Induced Processing is a high resolution direct-write nanopatterning technique. Its ability to fabricate sub-10 nm structures together with its versatility and ease of use, in that it is resist-free and implementable inside a Scanning Electron Microscope, make it attractive for a variety of applications in nanofabrication....

Challenges for scanning electron microscopy and inspection on the nanometer scale for non-IC application: And how to tackle them using computational techniques

In this paper key challenges posed on metrology by feature dimensions of 20nm and below are discussed. In detail, the need for software-based tools for SEM image acquisition and image analysis in environments where CD-SEMs are not available and/or not flexible enough to cover all inspection tasks is outlined. These environments include...