Nano-Gaps Fabricated by Thermal Evaporation and Stripping Techniques

The fabrication of inexpensive nano-gaps is vitally important for the research and application of nanochannel-based devices. This study presents a low-cost and simple method for the fabrication of nano-gaps using thermal evaporation and stripping techniques. The structural morphology of metal films deposited on the convex structures of photoresist by sputtering and thermal evaporation was studied. The effect of angles of thermal evaporation on the width of nano-gaps was investigated. The characteristics of metal film deposited on the convex structures of photoresist and spaces between these convex structures after stripping were investigated, and the adhesive force between the metal film and silicon substrate was also analyzed. Finally, a metal film of Cu was deposited on the convex structures of photoresist by thermal evaporation. After stripping, nano-gaps with a width of 187 nm were fabricated. The method proposed in this paper can be employed to mass-produce two-dimensional nanochannels based devices at low cost.