Enhancement of near-field phase-shifting contact lithography by immersion technique

Near-field phase-shifting contact lithography is theoretically modeled incorporating the immersion technique for improvement of photoresist features. The absorption patterns in the photoresist layer, which correspond to the resolution of features after development, are found to be localized in a more compact and uniform fashion with the immersed lithographic system than with the dry system. Therefore, the resolution and profiles of the high-aspect-ratio features can be notably enhanced by immersion lithography.     

分辨力增强技术的频谱分析

离轴照明和衰减型相移掩模作为重要的分辨力增强技术,不仅可以提高光刻的分辨力,同时还可以改善成像焦深,扩大光刻工艺窗口,实现65~32 nm分辨成像。从频谱的角度分析了离轴照明和衰减型相移掩模对成像系统交叉传递函数和像场空间频率分布的影响,研究这两种技术的物理光学本质,由此进一步优化光学成像系统设计、分辨力增强技术和确定设备使用的参量。对分辨力增强技术的频谱分析研究表明,分辨力增强技术通过调整像场频谱分布,改善了光学光刻的图形质量。对于65 nm密集图形,离轴照明和相移掩模结合后可以使成像衬比度最高达到0.948,工艺窗口在5%曝光范围内焦深达到0.51μm。     

Fabrication of high-aspect-ratio silicon nanostructures using near-field scanning optical lithography and silicon anisotropic wet-etching process

A new process in which near-field scanning optical lithography (NSOL) is combined with anisotropic wet-etching of (110) silicon is developed for the fabrication of high-aspect-ratio (HAR) nanochannels. In the proposed process, NSOL is applied to produce nanopatterns on a commercial positive photoresist as in an optical lithography. The use of a commercial photoresist is an advantage of this process because it allows the direct application of many photoresists currently available without pretreatment, saving cost and time. A bare (110) silicon wafer coated with a thin Si₃N₄ layer, of approximately 10 nm thickness, is used as the sample and the photoresist is spincoated on the Si₃N₄ layer to a thickness of about 50–80 nm. Nanopatterning of the photoresist using a contact mode NSOL, transfer of the photoresist pattern onto the Si₃N₄ layer by reactive ion etching, and anisotropic wet etching of the silicon wafer using the patterned Si₃N₄ layer as an etch mask, lead to the intended HAR nanostructures. Fabrication of silicon nanochannels with a channel width below 150 nm and an aspect ratio greater than 3 is demonstrated. PACS 81.16.Nd; 81.16.Rf; 85.40.Hp     

极紫外光刻离轴照明技术研究

离轴照明技术(OAI)是极紫外光刻技术中提高光刻分辨率的关键技术之一。为了实现考虑掩模阴影效应情况下离轴照明的优化选择,构造了一种新型实现OAI曝光的成像模型。将照射到掩模上的非相干光等效为一系列具有连续入射方向的等强度平行光,基于阿贝成像原理分别对掩模进行成像,最终在像面进行强度叠加实现OAI方式下空间成像的计算;并通过向投影系统函数添加离焦像差项实现不同离焦面上空间成像计算。该模型极大地简化了OAI条件下对掩模阴影效应的计算,提高了成像质量计算效率。结合光刻胶特性及投影曝光系统焦深设计要求,以显影后光刻胶轮廓的侧壁倾角为判据,获得了采用数值孔径为0.32的投影系统实现16 nm线宽黑白线条曝光的最优OAI参数。     

Undercut structures fabricated by microtransfer printing combined with UV exposure and their applications

In this paper, the undercut structures were fabricated by microtransfer printing of metal films on the surface of photoresist combined with UV exposure and photoresist film developing. The patterned metal films were used as mask to realize the selective UV exposure of photoresist firstly. The undercut structures, which consist of the top metal films and the patterned bottom photoresist, formed in the subsequent developing process because of the lateral dissolving of photoresist at the edge of the unexposed regions. The method proposed in this paper has wider tolerance to the changing of the patterning parameters, but without effect on the patterning resolution since the metal film was used as the top layer. The undercut structures were used as separators to pattern passive-matrix display of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). No visible difference of the device performance was observed compared with the OLEDs patterned by the shadow mask.     

高数值孔径光刻成像中双层底层抗反膜的优化

在高数值孔径光学光刻中,成像光入射角分布在较大范围内,传统的单底层抗反膜不足以控制抗蚀剂-衬底界面反射率(衬底反射率)。考虑照明光源形状以及掩模的影响,提出了一种新的双层底层抗反膜优化方法,依据各级衍射光光强求衬底反射率的最小权重平均值来配置膜层。针对传统掩模、衰减相移掩模以及交替相移掩模的情况,用该方法优化双层底层抗反膜。结果表明,如果成像时进入物镜光瞳的高阶光越多,高阶光光强越大,则掩模对底层抗反膜优化的影响越大。在某些成像条件下,如使用交替相移掩模实现成像,有必要在底层抗反膜优化中考虑掩模的影响。     

自集成透镜InGaAsP／InPDHLED及其离子束铣技术

本文报道在国内首次采用离子束铣技术研制自集成透镜InGaAsP/InP DH LED的实验结果。采用烘烤正性光致抗蚀剂来形成球状掩膜适合于离子束铣,且重复性很好。为了获得光洁的刻蚀表面,刻蚀条件均已最优化。     

Analog micro-optics fabrication by use of a two-dimensional binary phase-grating mask

The utilization of phase-mask technology for the fabrication of an analog micro-optics profile with a thick photoresist was investigated. A two-dimensional phase-grating mask with pi phase depth can produce a desired analog variation of exposure intensity, which allows one to vary the thickness of an analog photoresist after its exposure by a photolithographic stepper and development of the photoresist. A two-dimensional phase-grating mask of square pixels was simulated, designed, and fabricated. The fabrication of analog micro-optics in a thick SPR-220 photoresist by use of this phase mask was also demonstrated.     

Magnetic hexapole lens focusing of a metastable helium atomic beam for UV-free lithography

Sources of rare gas atoms in excited metastable states have been used to expose photoresist-coated substrates to demonstrate atom lithography. These thermal atomic beams are usually created by discharge sources that also produce copious amounts of UV radiation. The UV radiation simultaneously illuminates the substrate and may play a complementary role in altering the photoresist together with the metastable atoms. In the experiments reported here, we have isolated the UV component using a magnetic hexapole lens to focus a thermal beam of metastable helium atoms around a fiducial mask that blocks the UV light. This creates an atom lithography exposure that is the result of illumination by the atoms alone. We have also modelled the performance of the magnetic hexapole lens as a potentially useful device for atom lithography. PACS 39.25.+k; 81.16.Nd     

Rigorous model of multiwave exposure in optical lithography

A theoretical model of contactless optical lithography with simultaneous participation of several different light waves one of which is incident along the normal to the exposure mask and the remaining are incident obliquely and symmetrically on both sides is considered. The model is based on rigorous solution of the problem of diffraction of a plane optical wave for a simplified 2D diffraction structure consisting of a perfectly conducting finite-thickness screen with a single slot (mask) and a semi-infinite absorbing dielectric located behind the screen (photoresist). The total diffraction field arising in this medium as a result of super-position of different diffraction fields generated by differently directed waves incident on the screen with a slot is analyzed. The quality of reproduction of the optical image of the slot is evaluated using several integrated parameters introduced by the authors earlier. An important case of nanolithography is considered, when the slot width, the screen thickness, and the distance to the medium are on the order of the illumination wavelength. It is found that the optimal value of the slot image quality in this case is attained for two-wave and three-wave regimes of exposure for identical initial phases of incident waves and for angles of incidence of lateral waves from 10° to 20°.     

Fabrication of Nanoimprint Stamp Using Interference Lithography

Interference lithography is used to fabricate a nanoimprint stamp, which is a key step for nanoimprint lithography. A layer of chromium in thickness of about 20 nm is deposited on the newly cleaned fused silica substrate by thermal evaporation, and a layer of positive resist in thickness of 150nm is spun on the chromium layer. Some patterns, including lines, holes and pillars, are observed on the photoresist film by exposing the resist to interference patterns and they are then transferred to the chromium layer by wet etching. Fused silica stamps are fabricated by reactive ion etching with CHF3/O2 as etchants using the chromium layer as etch mask. An atomic force microscope is used to analyse the pattern transfer in each step. The results show that regular hole patterns of fused silica, with average full width 143nm at half maximum （FWHM）, average hole depth of 76nm and spacing of 450nm, have been fabricated. The exposure method is fast, inexpensive and applicable for fabrication of nanoimprint stamps with large areas.     

Fabrication of an integrated optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on refractive index modification of polymethylmethacrylate by krypton fluoride excimer laser radiation

It is known that deep ultraviolet (UV) radiation induces a refractive index increase in the surface layer of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) samples. This effect can be used for the fabrication of integrated optical waveguides. PMMA is of considerable interest for bio and chemical sensing applications because it is biocompatible and can be micromachined by several methods, e.g. structuring by photolithography, ablation and hot embossing. In the presented work direct UV irradiation of a common PMMA substrate by a krypton fluoride excimer laser beam through a contact mask has been used to write integrated optical Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI). MZI are used as sensitive bio and chemical sensors. The aim was to determine contact mask design and laser irradiation parameters for fabricating single-mode MZI for the infrared region from 1.30 μm to 1.62 μm. Straight and curved waveguides have been generated and characterized to determine the optical losses. The generation of channel waveguide structures has been optimized by a two step irradiation process to minimize the lithographic writing time and optical loss. By flood exposure to UV laser radiation in the first step the optical absorption of PMMA can be increased in the irradiated region. The required refractive index profile is then achieved with a second lithographic irradiation. The spectral behaviour of an unbalanced, integrated optical MZI fabricated by this excimer laser based contact mask method is shown for the first time. Further the optical intensity at the output port of a MZI has been measured while the optical path length difference was tuned by creating a temperature difference between the two arms of the MZI.     

Enhancing the ultraviolet-visible-near infrared photovoltaic responses of crystalline-silicon solar cell by using aluminum nanoparticles

We report to apply Al nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance the photovoltaic response of crystalline- or c-Si solar cell from the ultraviolet (UV) throughout the visible and near infrared (NIR) regimes. Al NPs were induced by solid thermal annealing and embedded in a SiO₂ layer that was to passivate the front side of solar cell. Upon the excitation of surface plasmons (SPs) on the Al NPs under light illumination, an enhancement of broadband absorption of the solar cell was observed. The incorporation of Al NPs led to a relative 13.8% increase in photoelectric conversion efficiency of c-Si solar cell, and an external quantum efficiency enhancement from the UV throughout the visible and NIR regimes. The improvement of c-Si solar cell performance was attributed to both effects of absorption and scattering by SPs.     

Exposure and etching time optimalization in GaAs grating fabrication

The details of the fabrication of diffraction gratings in photoresist and GaAs, are reported. Optimum exposures, resulting in uniform, deep gratings in photoresist and GaAs have been found. Also, different etching times have been examined in order to define the best conditions for GaAs grating fabrication. Furthermore, the behaviour of the GaAs grating is shown in comparison with the adequate photoresist mask.     

Large-area micro/nanostructures fabrication in quartz by laser interference lithography and dry etching

Laser interference lithography (LIL) has the capability to fabricate large-area microstructures on the photoresist with only a couple of minutes’ exposure and development. In this study, LIL was adopted to fabricate micro/nanostructures in quartz by combining the following dry-etching process either reactive ion etching (RIE) or inductively coupled plasma (ICP). A layer of gold film was coated on the quartz to act as a hard mask during the dry-etching process. A microhole array in quartz with a thin gold film covered on the surface was fabricated when choosing RIE. Each hole in the microhole array was surrounded with gold nanoparticle capped silica (Au/SiO₂) cones when using ICP instead of RIE. This is due to the thin gold film that serves as the mask for creating the surface roughness required for creating the silica cone structure.     

纳米金属掩膜和离子辐照技术制备高温超导约瑟夫森结

研究了一种利用纳米金属掩膜和离子辐照技术在高温超导YBCO薄膜上制备Josephson结的方法.首先用在YBCO薄膜甩上一层800nm左右的光刻胶(PMMA),继而在光刻胶上用直流磁控溅射的方法镀上一层大约300nm左右的Cr膜,利用紫外曝光和离子刻蚀的方法在YBCO薄膜上形成覆盖有Cr膜的微桥,然后,利用聚焦离子束系统(FIB)在微桥上刻出一个50nm左右的狭缝,最后利用120keV的H2 对狭缝内的材料进行辐照,从而使狭缝部分的材料超导电性减弱,形成类似SNS型的Josephson结.     

Top contact organic field effect transistors fabricated using a photolithographic process

This paper proposes an effective method of fabricating top contact organic field effect transistors by using a pho-tolithographic process.The semiconductor layer is protected by a passivation layer.Through photolithographic and etching processes,parts of the passivation layer are etched off to form source/drain electrode patterns.Combined with conventional evaporation and lift-off techniques,organic field effect transistors with a top contact are fabricated suc-cessfully,whose properties are comparable to those prepared with the shadow mask method and one order of magnitude higher than the bottom contact devices fabricated by using a photolithographic process.     

Design of periodic metal-insulator-metal waveguide back structures for the enhancement of light absorption in thin-film solar cells

To increase the absorption in a thin layer of absorbing material (amorphous silicon, a-Si), a light trapping design is presented. The designed structure incorporates periodic metal-insulator-metal waveguides to enhance the optical path length of light within the solar cells. The new design can result in broadband optical absorption enhancement not only for transverse magnetic (TM)-polarized light, but also for transverse electric (TE)-polarized light. No plasmonic modes can be excited in TE-polarization, but because of the coupling into the a-Si planar waveguide guiding modes and the diffraction of light by the bottom periodic structures into higher diffraction orders, the total absorption in the active region is also increased. The results from rigorous coupled wave analysis show that the overall optical absorption in the active layer can be greatly enhanced by up to 40%. The designed structures presented in this paper can be integrated with back contact technology to potentially produce high-efficiency thin-film solar cell devices.     

Broadband LWIR and MWIR absorber by trapezoid multilayered grating and SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> hybrid structures

A broadband metamaterial absorber with high absorption simultaneously in mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) was proposed. In the MWIR, the absorption higher than 0.8 is from 4 to 6.3 µm, while the absorption in the LWIR is from 8.7 and 9.6 µm. The absorber is insensitive to the incident angle. The broadband absorption in the MWIR is due to the slow-light effect of the trapezoid multilayered grating structure. And the broadband absorption in the LWIR is due to the phonon polariton resonant of trapezoid SiO₂ layer. In the broadband high absorption region, the atmosphere is transparent, which may greatly promote the practical application of the absorber in double-color IR imaging, detecting, infrared stealth and thermal emitting.     

一种基于3D打印技术的结构型宽频吸波超材料

设计了一种三层宽频吸波超材料,其表层和中间层为单元尺寸不同的周期阵列结构,底层为吸波平板结构,优化后的总厚度仅为4.7 mm,并采用三维(3D)打印技术成功制备了该吸波超材料.吸波体反射率测试结果表明,在电磁波垂直入射条件下,宽频吸收峰分别出现在5.3和14.1 GHz,两峰叠加使得其在4-18 GHz频率范围内反射损耗均小于-10 dB.采用S参数反演法计算了每一层的等效电磁参数,并利用多层结构反射率公式推导得出该模型的理论反射率,理论计算结果与实测结果基本一致.通过研究能量损耗、电场分布和磁场分布揭示了吸波机理,分析表明该吸波体的宽频吸收效果源于三层结构产生的吸收带宽叠加.本文提出的吸波超材料具有良好的宽频吸收效果,尤其在低频范围吸波性能较佳,结合3D打印快速成型技术,可获得结构精细的三层吸波超材料,具有重要的实际应用价值和广阔的应用前景.