By Kevin Laughlin, Hao Wang, Barry M. Lunt,
Robert C. Davis, and Matthew R. Linford
Abstract: Most data today, including pictures, videos, documents, technical data, etc., is stored digitally. Much of this information is of great importance both to individuals, e.g., pictures and video, and to governmental organizations and corporations, e.g., documents and technical data. Unfortunately, almost all of the data storage options available today show high degrees of volatility – they are for the most part ephemeral, lasting in general only a few years to about a decade.1 Our group has been actively working in this area to develop new materials and data storage options that will offer greater permanence. In particular, we have recently been developing permanent solid-state storage devices that use nanofuses as the basic storage elements. Clearly, to be competitive with current data storage densities, features sizes will need to be around those in current Flash technology. Accordingly, tools are need for prototyping at these dimensions. Here we will present electron beam lithography as an effective patterning/prototyping tool for this kind of work, and then describe its use in the fabrication of contact pads and carbon nanofuses for permanent solid-state storage devices.