Laser and Reactive Ion Etching Assisted Nanosphere Lithography Technique (LARIE NSL): Fabrication of Carbonaceous Nanoparticle Arrays

Nanosphere Lithography technique (NSL) used self-assemble Polystyrene Nanospheres (PSN) as lithography mask, where the voids between the self assembled nanospheres can be used to direct patterning metal particles or used as reactive ion etching mask. Polystyrene can act as polymer resist and recently we found out that it can be turned into carbonaceous nanoparticles or graphine nanodots by LASER treatment. Confirmation of the structural changes of the polystyrene nanospheres were done using FTIR and XPS analysis, confirming the modification of the irradiated polystyrene structures which are affected by laser irradiation and were later found to be resistant toward Ar-Oxygen plasma treatment. The fluctuating of formation and deformation of C=C bonding can be traced in the XPS spectrums indicating the zwitter characteristic of overexposure polymer resists such as polystyrene to laser irradiation, could be due to the fluctuation formation of C=C bonding in the irradiated polystyrene nanospheres.