Computer controlled patterning system for scanning probe microscopes

A pattern generator system for lithography based on scanning force microscopes has been developed. Patterns to be miniaturized onto a chip can be scanned or drawn by any common graphical program. The pattern file is used to control a voltage simultaneously with the microscope probe scanning the surface of the substrate. The voltage can be used in numerous different ways to manipulate the substrate, depending on the lithographic method preferred. We have demonstrated the system by adding this voltage to the z-piezo voltage of the scanner, in order to make the probe plow the pattern into a film spinned on the sample. To maintain linearity in zooming in and rotating the scanning direction we have constructed a hardware calibration for our microscope scanner.