Deposition rate and movement effect of paraffin-based EBID

Electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) is a simple and versatile technique to process materials for three-dimensional nanoscale structure. A variety of precursor molecules can be used to build a localized solid deposition by the exposure of electron beam onto a substrate. This paper reports on the nano carbon deposition by using solid n-tetracosane as a precursor because this paraffin-based EBID can be introduced in the existing scanning electron microscope (SEM) systems without difficulty. The paraffin is prepared on an aluminum film and operated by manipulator in SEM. The effects of accelerating voltage, beam current, magnification, distance from paraffin to exposure point, amount of paraffin, and working distance are measured and discussed. It is found that the electron-beam-induced etching and beam diameter sometimes work dominantly for deposition rate and the thickness of paraffin also affects the deposition distribution. The electron-beam bending, which is a critical issue causing degradation of nanofabrication, is treated carefully in order to understand the declination of carbon pillars. Obtained configurations of carbon pillars suggest that electrically charged paraffin due to the preliminary irradiation of electron beam causes Coulomb force and results in the movement effect of deposition.