Analysis of line-edge roughness due to the stick/slip motion of a contact-mode scanning probe in plasmonic lithography

In plasmonic lithography, when using a scanning probe in contact mode, degradation of the line pattern quality occasionally occurs due to variations of probe tip velocity or a stick/slipmotion. To avoid poor pattern quality caused by such variations in probe tip motion, we analyzed the motion of the probe tip by using a frictional model based on conventional contact mechanics. The motion of the probe tip was numerically analyzed in terms of adhesion force and probe velocity, which are the dominant factors inmicro/nanoscale motion. It was found that stick/slip spacing has a roughly positive relationship with the maximum adhesion force between the substrate and probe tip, and a negative relationship with the probe velocity. Combining the probe tip motion with the exposure model of a near-field wave, we analyzed the quality of line patterns that resulted fromvarious stick/slip spacing in terms of lineedge roughness.