1996→

The 39th International Conference on Electron,
Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication Bizarre/Beautiful Micrograph Contest

“A good Micrograph is worth more than the MegaByte it consumes.”

Results Submitted by John Randall
1995 Electron, Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication
Conference Chairman.

The fields of research covered by this conference have been at the forefront of the drive to develop technology to make smaller and smaller structures. We have ventured into size regimes where we are often dependent on microscopes and the skill of microscopists to see the results of our work (and often what went wrong). To highlight the importance of micrographs to the field, the conference decided to initiate a micrograph contest . The entries were judged both from the technological and artistic standpoint. Six categories were defined:

The rules included the following:

  • Contestants must be registered 1995 conference attendees.
  • Micrographs must be sumbitted in slide format.
  • Entries must be a single image taken with a microscope and may not be significantly altered.
  • There is no restriction with respect to the subject matter.
  • Electron and ion micrographs must be black and white.

Over 70 entries were submitted with the largest number being electron micrographs. There were many outsanding micrographs. Three of the winners demonstrate evidence of “what went wrong”. This is entirely appropriate for research at the frontiers of nanofabriaction. The panel of judges who selected the award winners consisted of:

Harold Craighead
Director of the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell University.
Evelyn Hu
Director of Quest, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Yasuo Iida
Research and Operational Planning Manager, Microelectronics Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation

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1996 Micrograph Contest Winners
1997 Micrograph Contest Winners
EIPBN Micrograph Contest Rules
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Best Electron Micrograph

mg95eb
Title: Nano Thumbtacks

Description: The goal was not to form Nano thumbtacks but was to form nickel pillars to be used for magnetic information storage – each pillar is inteded to store one binary piece of information in a quantum magnetic disk. The pillars were made be depositing a metal plating base on a silicon wafer and then depositing PMMA. Dots were exposed in the PMMA using E-beam lithography. After developing nickel was electroplated into the PMMA template. The nanothumbtacks were formed by accidental overplating of the nickel.

Magnification: 30,000X

Instrument: JEOL 840A Scanning Electron Microscope

Submitted by: Peter Krauss and Stephen Chou, Nanostructure Laboratory, University of Minnesota

 

Best Ion Micrograph

mg95ib
Title: “Focused ion beam (FIB) image of FIB micromachined AFM stylus”

Description: Focused ion beam (FIB) image of FIB micromachined AFM stylus. The pyramid of a previously etched silicon nitride stylus was sharpened by FIB milling a series of concentric circles using the 9100’s variable pattern generator. The total milling time to sharpen this tip was about 5 minutes. After milling, the FIB image above was taken in secondary electron collection mode at a resolution of around 10nm.

Magnification: 5,000X

Instrument: Micrion model 9100 FIB system

Submitted by: Bill Thompson and Randy Lee, Micrion Corporation

 

Best Optical Micrograph

mg95op
Title:”Two Stones on the Water”

Description: Computer generated diffractive optical element fabricated using variably shaped electron beam lithography system. This element is applied to industrial laser welding using high power CO2 laser beam.

Magnification: 12X

Instrument: Optical Microscope Technival (Jenoptik, Germany)

Submitted by: Sergey Babin, Physics and Technology Institute, the Russian Academy of Sciences

 

Best Scanning Probe Micrograph

mg95sp

Title: “The Lost Picasso”

Description: An STM image of 1 um <100> GaSb grown on 50nm nucleation layer of AlSb on GaAs substrate by MBE. There is considerable interest in GaSb/AlSb/InAs semiconductor heterostructures due to the novel bandstructure which they exhibit. This material system shows interesting electrical and optical characteristics and has been utilised in areas such as field effect transistors, semiconductor lasers and detectors. Spiral mounds observed are due to screw dislocations at surface resulting from the 7% lattice mismatch, giving valuable information to the material scientist that grew the semiconductor.

Magnification: 250,000X

Instrument: East Coast Scientific STM insitu in VG MBE System

Submitted by: Stuart Brown, Mike Grimshaw, Geb Jones, University of Cambridge U.K.

 

Most Bizarre Micrograph

mg95bz
Title: The Debutantes’ Ball

“At the debutante’s ball, young nano-women gather in their finery at the edge of the stage to weep because the nano-boys won’t dance with them.”

Description: The micrograph shows an array of 50nm-wide posts with a periodicity of 100nm. The posts consist of PMMA on top of an Anti-Reflection Coating (ARC). The substrate consists of a 250nm-thick layer of silicon nitride on silicon. The PMMA was exposed using Achromatic Interferometric Lithography. After development of the PMMA, an O2 Reactive Ion Etch was used to etch through the ARC. SEM viewing caused some melting and charging which resulted in the large gathering of nano-women. The melting problem was solved by imaging at low voltage.

Magnification: 100,000X

Instrument: Zeiss DSM982 Gemini Scanning Electron Microscope

Submitted by: Tim Savas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

Grand Prize Micrograph

mg95gp
Title: GaAs Grand Canyon

Description: “Mesas” etched in GaAs by chemically assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE). The intention is to etch highly vertical mirror facets in GaAs/AlGaAs as a part of a laser fabrication process. The (bulk) GaAs sample was etched using a modified Varian/Extrion RE580 system with a beam voltage of 500 V. The pattern is due to the inadvertent flow of thermal paste used to mount the sample.

Magnification: 10,000X

Instrument: Cambridge S360 Scanning Electron Microscope

Submitted by: Chris Youtsey, University of Illinois

1996 Micrograph Contest Winners

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