Ultramicroscopy 102 (2005) 215–219 A simple electron-beam lithography system Kristian Mølhave à , Dorte Nørgaard Madsen, Peter Bøggild Department of Micro and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Bldg. 345e, Lyngby 2800, Denmark Received 6 January 2004; received in revised form 19 August 2004; accepted 28 September 2004 Abstract A large number of applications of electron-beam lithography (EBL) systems in nanotechnology have been demonstrated in recent years. In this paper we present a simple and general-purpose EBL system constructed by insertion of an electrostatic deflector plate system at the electron-beam exit of the column of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The system can easily be mounted on most standard SEM systems. The tested setup allows an area of up to about 50  50 mm to be scanned, if the upper limit for acceptable reduction of the SEM resolution is set to 10 nm. We demonstrate how the EBL system can be used to write three-dimensional nanostructures by electron-beam deposition. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 41.85.Ne; 81.07.b; 85.40.Hp; 87.64.Ee Keywords: e-Beam lithography; Electron optics; SEM; Electron-beam deposition; Electron-beam-induced deposition 1. Introduction In recent years electron-beam lithography (EBL) has become a commonly used technique for defining nanostructures, often combined with traditional photolithography for patterning of larger surrounding structures. EBL-defined con- tacts to both carbon nanotubes [1,2] and semi- conducting nanowires [3,4] have enabled a systematic investigation of the electrical properties and creation of high-performance field-effect transistors. Furthermore, resist-based EBL tech- niques have been employed in the fabrication of nanomechanical structures, such as the carbon nanotube-based rotational actuator demonstrated by Fennimore et al. [5]. In addition to the resist- based EBL technique, electron beams can be used for constructive lithography, such as electron- beam deposition (EBD). Here, organic or organo- metallic vapors added to the specimen chamber are decomposed by the electron beam, leading to the formation of three-dimensional nanostructures, which in some cases can be conductive. The EBD metal deposition technique has been employed for fabrication of three-dimensional devices made ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/ultramic 0304-3991/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2004.09.011 à Corresponding author. E-mail address: krm@mic.dtu.dk (K. Mølhave).