Self-Assembled Nanocrystal Structures as High-Resolution Shadowmasks for Low Energy Electron Beam Lithography

A process for forming a nanocrystal nanostructure is repeated for growing the nanostructure disposed on an electron beam resist layer that is disposed on a substrate for forming an electron beam shadowmask from the nanostructure on the electron beam resist layer prior to electron beam exposure for patterning the electron beam resist layer in advance of subsequent processing steps. The nanocrystals are semiconductor materials and metals such as silver. The nanostructure enable the creation of ultra-fine nanometer sized electron beam patterned structures for use in the manufacture of submicron devices such as submicron-sized semiconductors and microelectromechanical devices.