Patent Application
20060158708
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 fabricating a three-dimensional nano/micro structure.
Techniques for fabricating nano/micro structures with various materials are highly improved for meeting the increasing demands therefore. 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 therefore 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 three-dimensional nano/micro structure are provided. In the present invention, plural nano/micro particles are formed to a two-dimensional structure corresponding to an interference pattern formed by plural laser beams and further deposited in a provided substrate, so that a three-dimensional nano/micro structure is deposited in layers thereby. 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 three-dimensional nano/micro structure with a high efficiency.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for fabricating a three-dimensional nano/micro structure is provided. The apparatus includes a laser source for providing a laser beam, a light-splitting system for generating at least a first light beam and a second light beam from the laser beam, a lens for focusing the first light beam and the second light beam on a focus so as to form an interference pattern thereon and a holder for carrying a substrate having plural first and second nano/micro particles therein.
Preferably, the plural nano/micro particles are formed to a two-dimensional structure corresponding to the interference pattern to be further deposited on the substrate, so that the three-dimensional nano/micro structure is formed thereby.
Preferably, the light-splitting system is one selected from a group consisting of an interferometer, a spectroscope and a reflecting prism.
Preferably, the holder is one of a movable holder and a stationary holder.
Preferably, the further includes a monitoring device for monitoring the formation of the three-dimensional 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.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, the provided apparatus for fabricating a three-dimensional nano/micro structure includes plural laser sources for providing plural laser beams respectively, a lens for focusing the laser beams on a focus so as to form an interference pattern thereon, and a holder for carrying a substrate having plural first and second nano/micro particles therein, wherein the first and second nano/micro particles are formed as a two-dimensional structure corresponding to the interference pattern to be further deposited on the substrate, so that the three-dimensional nano/micro structure is formed thereby.
Preferably, the holder is one of a movable holder and a stationary holder.
Preferably, the apparatus further includes a monitoring device for monitoring a formation of the three-dimensional 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.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, a method for fabricating a three-dimensional nano/micro structure is provided. The provided method includes steps of providing a substrate having plural first and second nano/micro particles therein, providing plural laser beams, focusing the laser beams to form an interference pattern, so as to form a two-dimensional structure corresponding to the interference pattern and having the first and second nano/micro particles, and depositing the two-dimensional structure in the substrate so as to successively form the three-dimensional nano/micro structure therein.
Preferably, the method further includes a step of adjusting a position of the substrate relative to the interference pattern for controlling a deposition position of the two-dimensional structure.
Preferably, the method further includes a step of monitoring a formation of the three-dimensional nano/micro structure.
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
A first laser beam 101 and a second laser beam 102 from the laser source propagating to the lens 20 is focused thereby on a focus and an interference pattern A is further produced thereon due to the optical path difference between the first laser beam 101 and the second laser beam 102. The interference pattern A is shown in
As shown in
The refraction of a light beam or of a laser beam will be generated while the light beam or the laser beam propagates from a first medium to a second one. That is to say, the light beam or the laser beam may be deviated from its original path. When the light beam or the laser beam is deviated, the photon momentum is changed accordingly which may result in a force for grabbing and holding the dispersed nano/micro particles.
Referring to the interference pattern A shown in
According to the present invention, a multiplicity of nano/micro particles, e.g. the first nano/micro particles 311 and the second nano/micro particles 312, are formed as a two-dimensional structure, i.e. a planar structure, corresponding to the interference pattern A. Through the controlling for the interference pattern A, the planar structure having the first nano/micro particles 311 and the second nano/micro particles 312 is also controllable for further being deposited in the substrate 31, so that the three-dimensional nano/micro structure 60 is formed thereby.
Please refer to
A laser beam 100 provided by the laser source 10 is reflected by a reflecting element 701, so as to adjust the propagation direction therefore. Consequently, the laser beam 100 reflected from the reflecting element 701 passes through the lens 203 and is gathered thereby, so that the energy of the laser beam 100 is able to be further collected. Then, the laser beam 100 passes through the light-splitting system 15, and is split into the first laser beam 101 and the second laser beam 102 via the NPBS 801 and the NPBS 802 with the aid of the reflecting elements 702 and 703.
The first laser beam 101 and the second laser beam 102 from the light-splitting system 15 are reflected first by the reflecting element 704 and then by the reflecting element 705, so that the propagation direction therefore is changed. Then, the first laser beam 101 and the second laser beam 102 pass through the lens group 20, and both are gathered thereby for further collecting the energy of the laser beams. Afterward, the first and second laser beams 101 and 102 are reflected again by the reflecting element 706 and pass through an objective 25, by which the interference pattern is produced from the interference of the first and the second laser beams 101 and 102. Accordingly, a two-dimensional nano/micro structure having a multiplicity of nano/micro particles arranged thereon is able to be further grabbed for successively assembling a three-dimensional nano/micro structure on the holder 30.
One point worthy to be mentioned is that, according to the present invention, the reflecting elements 701 to 706 are configured in the apparatus 1 for adjusting the propagation direction for the laser beams. Therefore, the amount and the position thereof are selectable and depend on an actual application, and should not be limited in the configuration as
In addition to the mentioned configuration as above, the light-spitting system is also provided with one of an interferometer, a spectroscope, a reflecting prism and other elements, which may result in the light-splitting effect. Of course, it is also preferred to use plural laser sources for providing plural laser beams, so as to further form an interference pattern therefrom.
Furthermore, various two-dimensional nano/micro structures having a multiplicity of nano/micro particles are able to be grabbed by modifying the amount of the laser beams and the interference thereof. Hence the various two-dimensional nano/micro structures are further applied for successively assembling a multiplicity of three-dimensional structures with various configurations.
Please refer to
According to the present invention, the two dimensional structure having different nano/micro particles is simultaneously grabbed via an interference pattern formed from the laser beams, so as to assemble a three-dimensional nano/micro structure in the substrate in the holder quickly and precisely. The fabricated structure has a line width of a nanometer scale. Besides, the drawback of the material limitation in the conventional apparatus and method is also overcome. Since the photo resists and etching agencies 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 094101351 | Jan 2005 | TW | national |
