Bottom-up nanofabrication through catalyzed vapor phase HF etching of SiO₂

We show that a wide range of inorganic and organic molecules or nanostructures can enhance the vapor phase HF etching of SiO₂ resulting in a negative tone pattern transfer to a SiO₂ substrate. The templates used in this study include micron- and nanometer-sized NaCl crystals, graphene oxide flakes, and albumin molecules. In all cases, a negative-tone pattern transfer to the underlying SiO₂ substrate was obtained. The results suggest that vapor phase HF etching could be a general purpose pattern transfer technique for nanoscale and supramolecular templates. (paper)