ABSTRACT
As the technology revolution evolves into the twenty-rst century, two key revolutions stand out: the revolution of micro-and nanotechnology and the revolution of information technology. Information technology is relying on the advancement of micro-and nanotechnology to provide the infrastructure for growth, while the rapid exchange of information also propels the development of next generation micro-and nanotechnology. The increased demand for capacity and speed in information technology really pushes the fabrication technologies to unprecedented complexity. In the middle of the twentieth century, when the microelectronic industry was just out of its infancy, microfabrication technology was the darling on the street and it provided devices and systems that met the need for the information industry. In the 1990s, as the Internet took off, the fast exchange of large amounts of information, for example a video game or movie, became a reality and necessity, which again calls for advancement in micro-and nanotechnology. With the market-driven demand, the revolution of nanotechnology experienced its best boom ever since Richard Feynman’s famous lecture “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” in 1959.1 Both fundamental research in academics
13.1 Nanotechnology as a Revolution .......................................................................................... 349 13.2 Material Fabrication Processes in Nanotechnology ............................................................. 353
13.2.1 The Need for Material Fabrication Process .............................................................. 353 13.2.2 Photolithography ....................................................................................................... 354 13.2.3 Limitations in Photolithography and the Development of Alternative
Nanofabrication Processes ........................................................................................ 357 13.3 Applications of Soft Lithography .........................................................................................360
