Application of Atomic Force Microscopy to the Study of Size Fluctuation in E-Beam Patterned Quantum Wire Structures

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We report, for the first time, a quantitative study on the size fluctuation in e-beam patterned quantum wire structures using atomic force microscopy. By numerically treating the high resolution three-dimensional data obtained with an atomic force microscope, we determine the average wire width and evaluate standard deviations of wire widths. Using these data, we investigate the intra and interwire fluctuations separately. Results show that intrawire fluctuation is greatly reduced by reverse-mesa etching but that the interwire fluctuation remains. This shows that atomic force microscopy is a very powerful tool for the investigation of semiconductor multi-dimensional quantum confined structures.