Surface patterning by heavy ion lithography using self-assembled colloidal masks

Abstract: Heavy ion lithography using self-assembled colloidal particles as a mask enables micro- and nano-patterning of surfaces. The resulting patterns can be tuned by varying the mask configuration, i.e. packing geometry of the colloidal particles and number of particle layers. In this work we present several patterns, which can be transferred to rutile TiO2 single crystals by irradiating through self-assembled layers of silica micro-spheres with 25MeV Br ions. As the induced ion tracks in TiO2 have a very high etching selectivity the patterns can be developed in HF with very high contrast. This makes it possible to prepare large patterned areas which can be of interest for e.g. optical applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]