Claims
- 1. A method for controlling a gap in an electrically conducting solid state structure, comprising the steps of:
providing an electrically conducting solid state structure including a gap in the structure; exposing the structure to a fabrication process environment conditions of which are selected to alter an extent of the gap in the structure; applying a voltage bias across the gap in the structure during process environment exposure of the structure; measuring electron tunneling current across the gap during process environment exposure of the structure; and controlling the process environment during process environment exposure of the structure based on tunneling current measurement.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling the process environment comprises halting process environment exposure of the structure based on tunneling current measurement.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling the process environment comprises comparing tunneling current measurement with a threshold tunneling current corresponding to a prespecified gap extent and controlling the process environment based on the comparison.
- 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the conditions of the fabrication process environment are selected to increase an extent of the gap in the structure.
- 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the conditions of the fabrication process environment are selected to decrease an extent of the gap in the structure.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the fabrication process environment comprises ion beam exposure of the structure.
- 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the ion beam exposure comprises blanket ion beam exposure of the structure.
- 8. The method of claim 6 wherein the ion beam exposure comprises rastering of the structure by a focused ion beam.
- 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the structure comprises two electrically conducting electrodes having a gap between the electrodes.
- 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the electrically conducting electrodes are disposed on an electrically insulating membrane including an aperture aligned with the gap between the electrodes.
- 11. The method of claim 9 wherein the electrically conducting electrodes are disposed on an electrically insulating surface of a substrate.
- 12. A method for controlling a gap between electrically conducting electrodes, comprising the steps of:
providing at least two electrodes on a support structure, each electrode having an electrode tip that is separated from other electrode tips by a gap; and exposing the electrodes to a flux of ions causing transport of material of the electrodes to corresponding electrode tips, locally adding material of the electrodes to electrode tips in the gap.
- 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the support structure comprises a substrate
- 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the substrate comprises an electrically insulating surface on which the electrodes are disposed.
- 15. The method of claim 12 wherein the support structure comprises a membrane including an aperture aligned with the electrode gap.
- 16. The method of claim 12 wherein the support structure comprises a substrate including a trench aligned with the electrode gap.
- 17. The method of claim 12 wherein the electrodes comprise metal electrodes.
- 18. The method of claim 12 wherein the ion flux exposure of the electrodes comprises blanket ion beam exposure of the electrodes.
- 19. The method of claim 12 wherein the ion beam exposure of the electrodes comprises rastering of the electrodes by a focused ion beam.
- 20. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
applying a voltage bias across the gap between electrodes during ion flux exposure of the electrodes; measuring an electron tunneling current across the gap, between electrodes, during ion flux exposure of the electrodes; and controlling the ion flux exposure of the electrodes during ion flux exposure of the electrodes based on tunneling current measurement.
- 21. The method of claim 20 wherein control of the ion flux exposure of the electrodes comprises halting of the ion flux exposure.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/444, 471, filed Feb. 3, 2003, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 10/367,075, filed Feb. 14, 2003, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/357,281, filed Feb. 15, 2002, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 10/367,075 is in turn a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 10/186,105, filed Jun. 27, 2002, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference, and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/301,400, filed Jun. 27, 2001, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 10/186,105 is in turn a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 09/599,137, filed Jun. 22, 2000, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,842, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/140,021, filed Jun. 22, 1999, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
[0002] This application is related to co-pending U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 09/602,650, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,067, entitled “Molecular and Atomic Scale Evaluation of Biopolymers,” filed Jun. 22, 2000, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
[0003] This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. F49620-01-1-0467, awarded by DARPA. under Contract No. DMR-0073590, awarded by NSF, and under Contract No. DE-FG02-01ER45922, awarded by DOE. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
Provisional Applications (4)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60357281 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
|
60301400 |
Jun 2001 |
US |
|
60140201 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
|
60444471 |
Feb 2003 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10367075 |
Feb 2003 |
US |
Child |
10767102 |
Jan 2004 |
US |
Parent |
10186105 |
Jun 2002 |
US |
Child |
10767102 |
Jan 2004 |
US |
Parent |
09599137 |
Jun 2000 |
US |
Child |
10767102 |
Jan 2004 |
US |