Patent ID: 8435415
Filing Date: 2013-05-07
Classification: B81B,B82Y,G03F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A nanofabrication process for use with a photoresist that is disposed on a substrate, the process comprising: a) exposing the photoresist to a grayscale radiation pattern of varied intensity; b) developing the photoresist to remove irradiated portions therefrom, in the case of positive tone photoresist or leave only irradiated portions, in the case of negative tone photoresist and thereby form a photoresist etch mask with a patterned topography having a plurality of nanoscale critical dimensions; and c) selectively etching the photoresist and the substrate by controlling an etching ratio between the substrate and the photoresist to thereby transfer a corresponding patterned topography having a plurality of nanoscale critical dimensions into the substrate wherein step (c) includes forming an elongated channel having a channel width of macroscale dimension, with the plurality of nanoscale critical dimensions as a stepped gradient across the channel width, and the elongated channel is covered and enclosed forming a nanofluidic device.