Patent Application
20060121641
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for fabricating a nano/micro structure, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for precisely depositing the nano/micro structure on a provided substrate.
Techniques for fabricating nano/micro structures with various materials are highly improved for meeting the increasing demands therefor. The accuracy in a degree of micrometer, nanometer or even an atomic level is applied in the mentioned techniques, such as the micro-contact printing, the scanning probe-based technique, the ink jet printing, the photo-lithography and the laser tweezers, for fabricating the nano/micro structure.
The scanning probe-based technique plays an important role for improving the application of the nano/micro technology. In order to identify the surface property for the sample, scanning by a small probe with a size ranged from 10−9 m to 10−7 m, i.e. a nano-level size, or by a microsensor is performed in an extremely short distance from the sample surface, and the information for the sample surface which includes the surface structure, the surface morphology, the electric property, the magnetic property, the optical property and the surface potential is obtained thereby. In addition, through a well control for the probe, the nano/micro particles are able to be moved and further deposited on a substrate. Such a measure, however, brings a small transmission amount of particles and hence results in a low efficiency for fabricating the nano/micro structure thereby. Accordingly, the mentioned fabrication on the basis of the scanning probe-based technique has a limitation in the actual application.
The ink jet printing technique is now broadly applied in the image output application. The inks are heated in the jetting zone so as to form micro bubbles therewith. Ink drops are driven by those micro bubbles and then jetting out from the nozzle. The bubbles will last for several microseconds, and the ink drops will be drawn back into the nozzle while the bubbles are broken or vanished, which further results in a suction at the surface of the ink drops. Hence a new ink drop is subsequently attacked and supplemented into the jetting zone thereby. The nano/micro particles, which are well dispersed in the inks, are able to be deposited on a provided substrate while the ink is jetted and printed thereto, so as to assemble the nano/micro structure thereon. Nevertheless, only an extremely thin pattern layer is produced through the mentioned process which makes it difficult to assemble a three-dimensional nano/micro structure with a high efficiency.
The photo-lithography technique has been increasingly developed for the semiconductor technology. The basic processing steps involved in the photo-lithography technique includes photoresist coating, exposing and chemically etching which causes the pollution for the environment and results in a limited application in certain materials. Such a technique is not adopted in the organic or the biological structure fabrication accordingly. Furthermore, the thickness of the structure fabricated thereby is ranged in a submicron level, i.e. a range between 0.01 μm, and 1 μm, due to the focal distance. Such a technique is only suitable for fabricating a planar structure but fails to efficiently assemble a three-dimensional nano/micro structure, which has a height larger than 1 μm.
As to the laser tweezers, the principle adopted therein is to control the movement of nano/micro particles via a movable focused laser, so that a nano/micro structure is further formed on the provided substrate thereby. However, since the lens with a large numerical aperture (NA) is necessary for the laser tweezers to focus the laser, hence the operation distance thereof is limited. Therefore, such a technique also fails to assemble a nano/micro structure with an increased scale. In addition, a great amount of energy resulted from the highly focused laser may cause great damage to the material to be assembled, and in particular to the biomaterials to be assembled.
Furthermore, regarding the process for fabricating the nano/micro structure via the laser tweezers, the nano/micro particles are firstly grabbed and transmitted by the laser tweezers and then releases on a certain position of the provided substrate. A two-dimensional or three-dimensional nano/micro structure is assembled on the provided substrate while a repeated process of particle grabbing, transmitting and releasing is performed. However, the amount of the particles transmitted via the laser tweezers is small and the operation distance therefor is short which result in a limited efficiency for the laser tweezers. Therefore, the laser tweezers still fails to be applied for the two-dimensional or three-dimensional nano/micro structure fabrication.
In order to overcome the mentioned drawbacks in this art, a novel apparatus and a method for fabricating a nano/micro structure are provided. In the present invention, a plurality of particles are dispersed in a first subchamber via a dispersion device, and further driven and guided to a substrate provided in a second subchamber via an optical driving device and the dispersion device, so as to form a nano/micro structure on the provided substrate. Compared with the conventional apparatuses and methods for the nano/micro structure fabrication, the present invention provides a much simplified apparatus and method for fabricating a precise nano/micro structure with a high efficiency.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for fabricating a nano/micro structure is provided. The apparatus includes a chamber having a separation device for separating the chamber into a first subchamber and a second subchamber, a dispersion device connected to the first subchamber, an optical driving device disposed next to the first chamber and outside the chamber and an alignment device disposed on the separation device for connecting the first subchamber and the second subchamber.
Preferably, a plurality of particles are dispersed in the first subchamber via the dispersion device, and further driven and guided to a substrate provided in the second subchamber via the optical driving device and the dispersion device, so as to form the nano/micro structure on the substrate.
Preferably, the apparatus further includes a monitoring device configured next to the second chamber and outside the chamber for monitoring a formation of the nano/micro structure.
Preferably, the monitoring device is one of a charge coupled device (CCD) and a microscope.
Preferably, the monitoring device is connected to a computer.
Preferably, the chamber is a separated chamber.
Preferably, the chamber further includes a holder therein.
Preferably, the holder is one of a movable holder and a stationary holder.
Preferably, the substrate is provided on the holder.
Preferably, the optical driving device includes a laser system.
Preferably, the optical driving device further includes a lens.
Preferably, the lens has a relatively reduced numerical aperture (NA).
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for fabricating a nano/micro structure with different particles is provided. The provided apparatus includes a chamber separated into a first subchamber and a second subchamber, a dispersion device connected to the first subchamber, at least two optical driving devices configured next to the first subchamber and outside the chamber and an alignment device connecting the first subchamber and the second subchamber.
Preferably, a plurality of particles are dispersed in the first subchamber via the dispersion device, and further driven and guided to a substrate provided in the second subchamber via the optical driving devices and the dispersion device, so as to form the nano/micro structure on the substrate.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, a method for fabricating a nano/micro structure is provided. The method includes steps of providing a substrate, providing plural particles, dispersing the particles, providing an optical driving device for optically driving the dispersed particles forward and introducing the particles to the substrate to be deposited thereon to form the nano/mirco structure.
Preferably, the method further includes a step of monitoring a formation of the nano/micro structure.
Preferably, the formation of the nano/micro structure is monitored by a monitoring device of a charge coupled device (CCD) and a microscope.
Preferably, the monitoring device is connected to a computer.
Preferably, the chamber further includes a holder therein.
Preferably, the holder is one selected from a movable holder and a stationary holder.
Preferably, the substrate is provided on the holder.
Preferably, the dispersed particles are optically driven by a laser system.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood through the following descriptions with reference to the drawings, wherein:
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
Please refer to
The substrate 102 is disposed on a holder 101 in the second subchamber 10b, wherein the holder 101 is each of a movable holder or a stationary holder. In this case, the holder 101 is reciprocated in a horizontal direction as shown in
In this case, the dispersion device 11 is each of a pump, a piezo-actuator and a sprayer. Besides, a design involved the supersonic oscillation is also preferred. The alignment device 13 includes one of a hollow optical fiber, a capillary or any other fine tubes which makes the dispersed nano/micro particles 15 to be localized in a certain direction toward the position for the deposition.
Moreover, the optical driving device 12 is a laser system 121, which produces a laser 120 for the nano/micro particles 15. The nano/micro particles 15 are guided in a more limited and precise direction and range thereby. The optical driving device 12 further includes a lens 122 with a relatively reduced numerical aperture (NA), so that the laser 120 propagating therethrough would be focused and the nano/micro particles 15 are hence attracted in a limited range due to the gradient force generated from the focused laser. This makes the nano/micro particles 15 unhindered and hence the nano/micro particles 15 may pass through the alignment device 13 without any particle attaching thereto.
Furthermore, the apparatus 1 also has a monitoring device 14 for monitoring the formation and assembling of the nano/micro structure. The monitoring device 14 is configured next to the second chamber 10b and outside the chamber 10, and selected from a charge coupled device (CCD), a microscope or any other types thereof. Besides, the monitoring device 14 is further connected to a computer 17 for taking account of the operation convenience. In other words, depending on the formation and assembling of the nano/micro structure 16, an immediate adjustment, such as controlling the movement of the holder 101, is performed via the computer 17, and this is more advantageous for fabricating the desired nano/micro structure 16.
Please refer to
The difference between the first and the second preferred embodiments is that in this case, the dispersion device 21 is disposed in the first subchamber 20a. The nano/micro particles 25 therein are well dispersed by the dispersion device 21, and then are guided to pass through the alignment device 23 by the laser 220 generated from the optical driving device 22. The nano/micro particles 25 passing through the alignment device 23 are further deposited onto the substrate 202 on the holder 201, which is in a liquid condition. Moreover, the holder 201 is reciprocated in a horizontal direction as shown in
Please refer to
A whole and complete nano/micro planar structure, i.e. the two-dimensional nano/micro structure, is able to be assembled simultaneously by the apparatus and the relevant method of the present invention. Furthermore, through the relative movement between the substrate and the alignment device, an optional three-dimensional nano/micro structure is also assembled in a much quicker and simplified manner. In addition, since the particles are dispersed and transmitted in an isolated chamber, the nano/micro structure on the substrate are prevented from suffering the contamination of self-excited particles and being influenced by any external factors. Hence the efficiency for the nano/micro structure assembling is increasingly improved by the present invention.
According to the present invention, the nano/micro particles are successively guided and transmitted to the provided substrate, so as to assemble a three-dimensional nano/micro structure on the substrate quickly and precisely. Besides, an experimental result shows that a particle transmission rate for the apparatus provided in the present invention is up to 107 Hz, and the fabricated structure has a line width of a nanometer scale. Furthermore, an arrangement including plural optical driving devices of the present invention is also preferred, so that the particles of various materials are able to be simultaneously deposited on a common substrate thereby. The drawback of the material limitation in the conventional apparatus and method is also overcome, and materials including the semiconductor, the metal, the cell, the enzyme and a variety of organic or inorganic materials are able to be applied for the present invention. Since the photo resists and etchants are not necessary for the present invention, the production cost for fabricating the nano/micro structure is efficiently reduced and such a fabrication would not cause damages and pollutions to the environment. Therefore, the present invention not only has a novelty and a progressiveness, but also has an industry utility.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 93137661 | Dec 2004 | TW | national |
