Stiction-free fabrication of lithographic nanostructures on resist-supported nanomechanical resonators

The authors report a highly flexible process for nanostructure lithography to incorporate specific functions in micro- and nanomechanical devices. The unique step involves electron beam patterning on top of released, resist-supported, surface micromachined structures, hence avoiding hydrofluoric acid etching of sensitive materials during the device release. The authors demonstrate the process by creating large arrays of nanomechanical torque magnetometers on silicon-on-insulator substrates. The fabricated devices show a thermomechanical noise-limited magnetic moment sensitivity in the range of 5 × 106 μ B at room temperature and can be utilized to study both magnetostatics and dynamics in nanomagnets across a wide temperature range. The fabrication process can be generalized for the deposition and patterning of a wide range of materials on micro-/nanomechanical resonators.