Fabrication of Nanopillars based on Silicon Oxide Nanopatterns Synthesized in Oxygen Plasma Removal of Photoresist

We report for the first time a facile lithography-free approach for fabricating nanopillars over large areas or in patterns. The key technique of this approach is that randomly-distributed nanoscale SiO₂ patterns can be synthesized on substrates simply by removing photoresist with oxygen plasma bombardment. Those SiO₂ nanopatterns may further function as masks in the following etching process for nanopillars. Based on this approach, a variety of microstructures containing nanopillars with diameters of 30~200 nm, which include surface micro channels, micro-cantilever probes and nanofences, have been fabricated. This approach can be applied both to silicon and metal substrates compatible with conventional micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication.