Nanolitografia de sonda local per a la fabricació de dispositius electrònics de dimensions nanomètriques

In this project, nanolitographic technniques based on proximal probe microscopes (scanning tunneling microscope STM and atomic force microscope AFM) will be developed in order to fabricate electronic devices with lateral dimensions in the nanometer range. Firstly, the technique to locally oxidize silicon and metallic surfaces by AFM will be optimized, so that oxide structures with lateral dimensions smaller than 50 nm will be created. This technique will be used to locally oxidize amorphous silicon layers deposited on different substrates. The oxidized region of amorphopus silicon will be employed as a mask against several kinds of etchings, to define nanostructures on the substrate. Once the nanolitographic system has been optimized, the fabrication of different kinds of devices and nanometer scale structures will be tackled. Their electrical characterization will be performed in order to show their quantum behaviour. Likewise, nanostructures based on metal/SiO\sub 2\nosub Si systems will be developed in order to evaluate its applicability in nanoelectronics.