Nanofabrication of solid surface using probe oxidation

Surface-nanofabrication using probe oxidation is presented. Electrochemically generated oxide nano ridge structures can be fabricated using probes for atomic force microscopy. Moreover, removing the oxide ridge by hydrofluoric acid etching can also produce nanogroove structures. The relationship between the nanostructure shapes and fabrication conditions such as applied voltage and radius of curvature of the probe was investigated. The height of the oxide ridge can be controlled with sub-nanometer accuracy by the applied voltage and the width can be controlled by the tip radius. The depth and width of the groove can be controlled by adjusting the height and width of the ridge. Nanostructures with a very small height or depth (about 50 nm wide and < 1 nm high or deep) can be fabricated by our method. This is very useful for clarifying the nanotribology of micro- or nanomechanical devices.