| This Ph.D. thesis investigates two applications of nanostructure engineering based on direct-write high-resolution electron beam lithography. First, an innovative lithographically patterned magnetic medium, called a quantized magnetic disk (QMD), offers a new paradigm for ultra-high density magnetic recording. In a QMD, each bit is represented by a pre-patterned nanoscale single-domain magnetic pillar or bar that is uniformly embedded in a non-magnetic material on a disk. The size and shape of each magnetic bit is controlled during the fabrication to ensure single domain formation. Due to a large shape anisotropy and small size, the magnetization of each bit is quantized and has only two magnetization states which are equal in magnitude, but opposite in direction. Research is presented on fabricating a planar QMD structure using direct-write electron beam lithography, reactive ion etching, electroplating, and chemical mechanical polishing. The resulting QMD has a magnetic storage density of 65 Gbits/in.{dollar}sp2{dollar} which is over an order of magnitude larger than current state-of-the-art magnetic storage densities which use unpatterned magnetic films.; Second, there is a great need to develop low-cost, high-throughput lithography that has sub-50 nm line width resolution. Research is presented on a new lithographic method called nanoimprint lithography (NIL), which meets these criteria and has sub-10 nm resolution. In NIL, a mold with nanoscale topographical features on its surface is first pressed into a resist film on a substrate to create a thickness contrast pattern in the resist. After removing the mold, an anisotropic etching process is used to transfer the pattern through the entire resist thickness by removing the remaining resist in the compressed areas. Molded resist features have a high aspect ratio, a sidewall roughness less than 3 nm, and nearly perfect 90{dollar}spcirc{dollar} corners. Applications of NIL include a new information storage media called nano-compact disks that contain topographical bits with a storage density of 400 Gbits/in.{dollar}sp2.{dollar}... |
