Research Highlight: Top-Down Nanomachining of Metals

Micro- and nanomachining technologies are commonly categorized into top-down and bottom-up approaches. Making nanoscale structures using top-down approach has been facing difficulties due to the limitation of optical lithography and the low throughput of electron beam and ion beam techniques. Soft lithography and hot embossing can transfer nanostructures across a large wafer. However, these techniques are limited to a soft substrate such as polymers only. A recent work by researchers from the Purdue University, Harvard University, Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, and the University of California, San Diego demonstrated a new embossing technology to create wafer-scale smooth three-dimensional nanoshapes on hard crystalline metal.