Method of fabricating oxide film

Abstract

Provided is a method of fabricating an oxide film on a substrate. The method includes: (a) placing an electrode adjacent to a first region of the substrate on which the oxide film is to be formed under a humid atmosphere; (b) contacting the electrode with the substrate while applying voltage between the electrode and the substrate; and (c) applying pressure to the electrode while applying voltage between the electrode and the substrate and forming the oxide film on the surface of the substrate due to anodic oxidation. Accordingly, the oxide film fabrication method may be used to fabricate an electronic device with a nanometer scale.

1 . A method of fabricating an oxide film on a surface of a substrate, the method comprising: 
 (a) placing an electrode adjacent to a first region of the substrate on which the oxide film is to be formed under a humid atmosphere;    (b) contacting the electrode with the substrate while applying voltage between the electrode and the substrate; and    (c) applying pressure to the electrode while applying voltage between the electrode and the substrate and forming the oxide film on the surface of the substrate due to anodic oxidation.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure applied to the electrode is less than a pressure required to create inelastic deformation of the substrate.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the pressure applied to the electrode is greater than a pressure required to create inelastic deformation of the substrate.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the pressure required to create inelastic deformation of the substrate is at least sufficient to create a groove with a  1  to  2  nm depth through natural oxide on the surface of the substrate when the electrode is moved in relation to the surface of the substrate.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the pressure for creation of inelastic deformation ranges from 10 5  to 10 9  N/m 2 .  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 moving the electrode to a second region on the surface of the substrate and performing operations (a) through (c).    
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 varying the pressure applied to the electrode at different regions on the surface of the substrate.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the tip is moved while in non-contact with the surface of the substrate.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the pressure is applied at a 0.1 Hz time interval.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the tip is moved while in contact with the surface of the substrate.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the pressure is applied at a 10 6  Hz time interval.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises semiconductor material or metal.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the semiconductor material is selected from the group consisting of Si, GaAs, Ge, InAs, GaN, and SOI, and the metal is selected from the group consisting of Al, Ti, Ru, and Cu.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the voltage is less than 25 V.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the voltage ranges from 4 to 15 V.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electrode is a conductive tip.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the tip is an atomic force microscope probe tip.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising forming the oxide film with a humid layer on the surface of the substrate.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the humid layer is comprised of at least one material selected from the group consisting of H 2 O and C 2 H 5 OH.