Sub‐3 nm Ruthenium Nanopatterns Enabled by Pattern Transfer From Supramolecular Dendrimer Templates
Abstract
ABSTRACT The fabrication of inorganic‐based nanopatterns with feature sizes below 3 nm remains a fundamental challenge in nanoscience and advanced manufacturing. Existing approaches, including extreme ultraviolet lithography, block copolymer self‐assembly, and colloidal nanocrystal patterning, struggle to reliably achieve such dimensions while maintaining long‐range order and structural fidelity. Here, we present a pattern transfer technique from a supramolecular dendrimer templating strategy that enables highly ordered sub‐3 nm ruthenium‐based nanostructures over large areas (1 µm × 1 µm). The pristine dendrimer template forms a hexagonally packed cylindrical morphology with sub‐5 nm periodicity, exhibiting structural stability and long‐range order. Thermal annealing induces cooperative self‐assembly into a single‐domain array, which is selectively stained with RuO 4 to generate an inorganic RuO 2 core while preserving structural registry. This Ru‐incorporated dendrimer architecture shows markedly enhanced thermal and structural stability. Electron microscopy and elemental mapping confirm vertically aligned cylindrical domains with high pattern fidelity. Subsequent calcination at 250°C removes unstained organic components without structural collapse, yielding periodic Ru‐based nanostructures with a characteristic feature size of ∼2.5 nm. This work establishes a versatile bottom‐up platform for ultrahigh‐resolution patterning beyond current lithographic limits and provides a scalable route toward next‐generation nanoelectronic, catalytic, and quantum device architectures.
Article Details
Authors (10)
Yeongjae Ham
National Laboratory for Organic Opto‐Electronics Materials Laboratory Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea
Gwangyeop Kim
National Laboratory for Organic Opto‐Electronics Materials Laboratory Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea
Kangho Park
National Laboratory for Organic Opto‐Electronics Materials Laboratory Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea
Wonmoo Lee
National Laboratory for Organic Opto‐Electronics Materials Laboratory Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea
Euijin Lee
National Laboratory for Organic Opto‐Electronics Materials Laboratory Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea
Aqil Jamal
Research and Development Center, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Issam Gereige
Aramco Research Center (ARC)
Ahyeon Cho
National Laboratory for Organic Opto‐Electronics Materials Laboratory Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea
Kiok Kwon
Green Chemistry and Materials Group Research Institute of Sustainable Manufacturing System Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Cheonan Republic of Korea
Hee‐Tae Jung
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon Republic of Korea