Tool for Direct Deposition and Characterization of Nano-optoelectronic Devices

Summary A new tool for direct deposition of material onto devices, and in situ optical and electrical characterization of the optoelectronic devices within a scanning electron microscope (SEM) environment is proposed. The novel material deposition tool is powered with a laser beam and produces a focused beam of neutral precursor atoms and molecules. Its operation can be selected to be similar to the molecular beam epitaxy (i.e. thermal based) or pulsed laser deposition (i.e. ablation based). We anticipate the method to be capable of deposition of a wide range of material, including semiconductors, metals, and dielectrics. This method has excellent spatial resolution that is limited by surface diffusion in the order of ~100 nm for dielectrics, ~1 m for metals, and several m for semiconductors. The proposed in situ nano-characterization is capable of positioning nano-objects, such as our nanosphere optical antenna, 2D material, and 1D nanowires with 1.5 nm resolution across ~2 centimeter field of operation. It is also capable of simultaneous electrical and optical probing of nano-devices with a similar resolution and with four degrees of freedom (x, y, z, and rotation). Since the entire deposition and probing setups are within a dedicated SEM system, we can visually see the whole operation in real time and with 3 nm resolution. The proposed tool can work with a wide range of existing tools at the PI’s lab to achieve ultra-low noise and high-speed measurements on novel nano-opto-electro-mechanical devices right away. Also, the system is capable of significant enhancements, with future funding, for example to include energy dispersive spectroscopy EDS for direct material composition mapping.