N SCRIPTOR ™ DPN™ System
the product, process, and
Major System Components:
User Command Station
•17” Screen for Viewing the InkCAD Software
•Live Video Screen for Navigation & Alignment
DPN Stage
•E-Chamber
•Nebulizer
•Real-Time Sensors for Temperature & Humidity Control
•Dual Heating & Cooling Fan
DPN Stage Components:
High Resolution Objective Lens
90 µm Closed-Loop Scanner for Both DPN and AFM
Easy Tip-Exchange Assembly
Independent 3 Motor Leveling Critical for Multi-pen Arrays
Multi-Layered Sample Puck on Motorized X-Y Sample Translator
Solid Granite Base
The N
SCRIPTORDPN System is NanoInk’s dedicated lithography system, a fully
integrated hardware and software system optimized for the DPN process.
What is Dip Pen Nanolithography™?
Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) is the process of writing stable nanoscale patterns of molecular “ink”
onto a sample substrate via a coated stylus tip, i.e. AFM probe.
There are 4 key steps for the DPN process:
1. Prepare your environment for the DPN System
2. Design your DPN pattern in InkCAD 3. Deposit your DPN pattern
4. Inspect your DPN pattern
InkCal… for precision and accuracy of feature size
Step 1:
design & draw
Step 2:
image & measure
Step 3:
plot & calculate diffusion coefficient
1. Prepare the DPN System…
Calibration of tip dwell time relative to ink diffusion with InkCal™
E-Chamber™ temperature & humidity control with simple software interface
Dual Feedback Loops for T & % Rh
Humidity Range: 5 – 75% Rh
Set Point Stability: ±0.5 % Rh
Temperature Range: - 2°C above room Temp to + 10°C above
Set Point Stability: ±0.2 °C
1. Prepare the DPN System…
Stabilize humidity and temperature with the E-Chamber
2. Design the DPN Pattern…
Design elements, such as dots and lines, to be patterned using InkCAD™ Software
tree hierarchy for organization of design layers and their elements
total control of design and lithography parameters
InkCAD…for lithography design and control
toolbar provides access to other InkCAD applications
modules via icons
3. Deposit the DPN Pattern…
Click ‘GO’ to deposit the pattern onto the substrate using InkCAD™ Software
design the pattern using InkCAD
the resulting pattern deposited with InkCAD click ‘GO’ on the InkCAD toolbar
to deposit the pattern
4. Inspect the DPN Pattern…
Image what you write and more
AFM Inspection capabilities include:
Closed loop scan linearization
Contact mode and AC mode (i.e., non- contact)
Topography, LFM, phase, error
Tip bias control
Up to 8 channels of image data simultaneously
Imaging of non-standard data input channels
Real-time, on screen image zooming
Real-time, line scan profiles
Data analysis software
AFM Imaging Capability:
inspecting the DPN process
With the N
SCRIPTOR, we can see everything we write, and even more…
AC Mode ( non-contact )
topography image of polymer blend
AC Mode of alkanethiol on gold
AC Mode of stretched polyethylene
N SCRIPTOR Navigation System
getting where you need to go for DPN
•
Multi-layer micro– and nano-scale precision alignment is a crucial step for DPN of multiple patterns in registry, and for functionalization of nanomaterials (wires, tubes).
•
Unique, patent-pending integration of hardware and software serves to align and locate the tip with respect to sample features and/or a pre-existing DPN pattern.
•
Complex alignment procedures are made easy for the user with wizards, yielding a simple series of point-and-click steps.
The following parameters are
integrated for nanoscale alignment:
Sample location
Tip location
Scanner coordinates
Sample stage coordinates
N SCRIPTOR
Navigation System
Video & AFM Database
•One-click saves all data:
AFM images, video captures, alignments, probe configurations.
No need to export after every scan.
•Images are stored and auto- indexed; they are displayed on a sample stage map (at left) for easy user viewing.
•Centralized data management:
provides easy access and efficient, fast retrieval for data analysis
•Images can be retrieved and easily measured with in-frame tools.
•You can remove the sample after patterning, process it, and then return within nanometers to the pattern location
a micro-scale substrate feature — marked for easy return
zoom area around probe
Establishing a relationship between the sample substrate and probe tip
AFM images are easily integrated into the InkCAD design window, thus relating the tip & scanner to sample features for DPN patterning
Microelectrodes
Relating your DPN Pattern to your Sample
pattern design
onto electrodes
using InkCAD
Use InkCAD to deposit your design onto the electrodes
Characterization of DPN Directed Assembly
lateral force image after printing ink onto the microelectrodes
write DPN
patterns onto
the sample
features, then
quickly image
them
Multi-Pen Arrays for N SCRIPTOR System
taking DPN technology beyond the research AFM
Passive Pen Arrays for large- area DPN patterning
Cover micro-scale and macro-scale areas with nanostructures
Active Pen Arrays for multi-ink DPN patterning
Perform nanoplotter experiments for nanochemistry and complex
nanofabrication
NanoInk’s multi-pen arrays used with the advanced InkCAD software for
nanopatterning, make it possible to do more than ever possible, with an AFM:
Passive Multi-Pen Arrays = Scalability
5 x 26 pens (left) for ≈ ½ cm range (above)
26 pen array 10 pen array creates 10 arrays
> 300 µm range
> 800 µm range
70 µm
300 µm
Optical micrographs stitched together
SEM image of 26 DPN patterns
n-pens are n-times faster than a single pen … that’s the Power of
Active Pen Arrays = Flexibility
Active Pen Array
• 6 writing pens
• 2 reader probes
Heating element
Heat spreader
Inkwell
Active Pens use thermal bimorph technology to individually approach and retract pen from the surface via computer control, integrated into the InkCAD software.
Use up to 6 different inks simultaneously.
Avoid changing
individual pens during experiments.
Selectively image with a clean reader probe and then write in the same area with an inked pen all in the same
array!
Key Product Benefits and Features of the N SCRIPTOR DPN System
Nanoscale Registry and Alignment Customized CAD Tool Design
Imaging and DPN Patterning Capability
Automated InkCal™ Calibration
Multi-Pen Patterning Software
Tip-to-Tip Alignment Wizard
Active Pen Arrays
Automated Ink-Dipping into Inkwells
The E-Chamber
GDS II File Import of CAD Files
3-Motor Leveling System
Scanning Tip SPM Design
Closed Loop Linearization
Tip-Bias Control
DPN Probes & Substrates
Oxide-Sharpened DPN Probe Tips
DPN Substrates-Patterned Alignment
DPN Single Tip Cantilevers
Inkwell Arrays for Dipping
MEMS & Micro-fluidic
Engineering for DPN
Nanofabrication Design Phase
Multi-Probe DPN Patterning
300nm
Inspection of Patterns
Rapid Prototyping of Nanomaterials Discovery with the N SCRIPTOR System
Re-Design
