Nanolithography and nanoindentation of tantalum-oxide nanowires and nanodots using scanning probe microscopy

Nanolithography and nanoindentation of tantalum-oxide nanowires and nanodots in tantalum films formed on silicon substrate were studied using atomic force microscopy and scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM). Several experiments were conducted to investigate the influence that the different experimental parameters had on the height and width of the nanowires and nanodots These included applied voltage, humidity, scanning oxidization time and scanning orientation. The results indicated that as the oxidation time and the applied voltage were increased the nanostructure's height and width also increased. Additionally, the nanodots were measured by SCM and the hardness of the nanowires was obtained using nanoindentation