Lithographical method by oxidation through a conductive template in contact with a silicon substrate mediated by a thin water layer

The oxidization imprinting process is a non thermal, non optical, and non irradiation technique that utilizes a conductive and patterned template in contact with a silicon substrate. The process is mediated by a thin water layer and a low bias voltage. When oxidization occurs on the imprinted silicon substrate surface, a highly oxidized structure appears in the region in contact with the patterned template; a trace amount of the oxidized structure is also thought to be formed in the concave area of the patterned template. These two regions are afterward resistant to an etching solution in different degrees, in comparison with the result in the non imprinted region. In this study, corresponding to the dimensions of the patterned template, the width of the imprinted line pattern and the depth of the etched profile are very distinguishable. By this oxidization imprinting process, it is possible to prepare etching-resistant patterns with different depth gradients for various applications.