Nanometer molecular lithography

We demonstrate a three‐step parallel process for the fabrication of a 1‐nm‐thick metal (Ta/W) film with 15‐nm‐diam holes periodically arranged on a triangular lattice of parameter 22 nm. In this process, a two‐dimensional crystalline protein monolayer is deposited on a smooth substrate, metal coated by evaporation, and then ion milled. Under ion milling this protein‐metal heterostructure exhibits differential metal removal and rearrangement which varies on a protein molecular length scale. The spatial ordering of the resulting holes has the same nanometer periodicity as the protein lattice.We demonstrate a three‐step parallel process for the fabrication of a 1‐nm‐thick metal (Ta/W) film with 15‐nm‐diam holes periodically arranged on a triangular lattice of parameter 22 nm. In this process, a two‐dimensional crystalline protein monolayer is deposited on a smooth substrate, metal coated by evaporation, and then ion milled. Under ion milling this protein‐metal heterostructure exhibits differential metal removal and rearrangement which varies on a protein molecular length scale. The spatial ordering of the resulting holes has the same nanometer periodicity as the protein lattice.