In this research, the fabrication of mesoscopic device using atomic force microscope is described for the study of electron localization effect in a 2-dimensional disordered medium. In a 2-dimensional disordered and time reversal invariant system of length scale smaller than the electron dephasing length, the electron phase relations are preserved in the backscattered direction upon multiple scattering. A technique of localized electric field induced oxidation using atomic force microscope combined with the selective wet etching technique was employed to fabricate the study object - a 2-dimensional disordered medium with submicron size. Sample structures of less than 100 nm were successively fabricated on aluminum, titanium and silicon. The technical problems in realizing the electrical...[ Read more ]

In this research, the fabrication of mesoscopic device using atomic force microscope is described for the study of electron localization effect in a 2-dimensional disordered medium. In a 2-dimensional disordered and time reversal invariant system of length scale smaller than the electron dephasing length, the electron phase relations are preserved in the backscattered direction upon multiple scattering. A technique of localized electric field induced oxidation using atomic force microscope combined with the selective wet etching technique was employed to fabricate the study object - a 2-dimensional disordered medium with submicron size. Sample structures of less than 100 nm were successively fabricated on aluminum, titanium and silicon. The technical problems in realizing the electrical measurement of the 1 μm-sized device were solved. From the electrical measurements of the aluminum control sample, the device fabrication process was shown to be reliable. No electron localization effect has so far been observed in the aluminum device we made. We attribute it to large sample thickness and high proportion of the conducting region. Further improvement of the device will be discussed.