Controllable Formation of Zinc Oxide Micro- and Nanostructures via DUV Direct Patterning

Various kinds of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures, such as ZnO nanowires, ZnO nanobelts, ZnO nanosheets, and ZnO nanorods are promising building blocks for nanoscale systems. However, to precisely control the size, shape, and to make a controlled assembly of synthesized ZnO nanostructures are major difficulties in the development of bottom-up devices. To overcome the challenge regarding reproducibility and positioning, a new method is proposed, deep ultra-violet (DUV) direct photo-patterning, to create ZnO micro- and nanostructures. A sol–gel formulation sensitive to DUV light and based on zinc methacrylate precursor is developed, and the photoreactions of zinc methacrylate under DUV light are carefully investigated by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry, in situ FTIR, and XPS analysis. Then, the sol–gel solution is used as a negative tone resist in DUV lithography to evaluate its performance in producing high-resolution patterns. The results indicate that small patterns from micro- to nanoscale can be obtained in a simple and direct way.