A control approach to high-speed probe-based nanofabrication

In this paper, an inversion-based feedforward control approach for achieving high-speed, large-range probe-based nanofabrication is proposed. Probe-based nanofabrication has attracted great interest recently. This technique, however, is still limited by its low throughput, due to the challenges in compensating for the existing adverse effects. These adverse effects include the nonlinear hysteresis as well as the vibrational dynamics of piezoactuators used to position the probe in 3D axes, and the dynamic coupling in multi-axis motion during high-speed nanofabrication. The main contribution of this paper is the utilization of the recently developed model-less inversion-based iterative control technique to overcome these challenges in scanning probe microscope-based nanofabrication. By using this advanced control technique, precision position control of the probe can be achieved during high-speed, large-range multi-axis nanofabrication. The proposed approach is demonstrated in experiments by implementing it to fabricate large-size (∼50 µm) pentagram patterns via mechanical scratching on a gold-coated silicon sample surface at high speed (∼4.5 mm s−1).