Fabrication of LIGA masks for microfluidic analytical systems

Preliminary results of fabrication and testing of LIGA mask samples for deep x-ray lithography in the spectral range of 3.5–13.5 keV are presented. The mask fabrication method is based on direct mask patterning with minimum element sizes of ≥ 10 μm by a synchrotron radiation x-ray microbeam. Such a method does not require an intermediate mask, which significantly simplifies fabrication and reduces the laboriousness and cost of LIGA masks.     

Fabrication of a 256-bits organic memory by soft x-ray lithography

This paper reports a procedure of soft x-ray lithography for the fabrication of organic crossbar structure. Electron beam lithography is employed to fabricate the mask for soft x-ray lithography, with direct writing technology to lithograph positive resist, polymethyl methacrylate on the polyimide film. Then Au is electroplated on the polyimide film. Hard contact mode exposure is used in x-ray lithography to transfer the graph from the mask to the wafer. The 256-bits organic memory is achieved with the critical dimension of 250~nm.     

Features of the manufacture of deep X-ray lithography masks in the siberian synchrotron and terahertz radiation center

The development of a low-cost technology to manufacture high-contrast X-ray LIGA masks is topical because this technology is important for various applied research on microstructured products with minimum element sizes of 10–50 μm, such as microfluid analytical systems, selective waveguide mesh-based elements to control terahertz (THz) radiation, microshaped optical elements for the visible range, etc. Technological particularities of mask manufacture are considered. A method to check the quality of masks is presented. Test microproducts manufactured using the produced deep X-ray lithography masks are demonstrated.     

Electron beam duplication of integrated optical circuits and masks

An electron beam duplication technique has been developed that permits the rapid (2–15 min) fabrication of masks suitable for integrated optical elements (2000 A precision over a 5 × 5 cm area). The technique is based on the use of a master mask, which, when exposed to UV light emits electrons in the desired pattern. The electrons are then accelarated and focused onto the substrate. We have used this technique to duplicate complex optical waveguide structures in electron resist (polyphenylsiloxane) and to prepare masks for the fabrication of waveguides in inorganic materials (SiO₂).     

Focusing high-energy x-rays by a PMMA compound x-ray lens on Beijing synchrotron radiation facility

The x-ray compound lens is a novel refractive x-ray optical device. This paper reports the authors' recent research on a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) compound x-ray lens. Firstly the designing and LIGA fabrication process for the PMMA compound x-ray lens are briefly described. Then, a method for theoretical analysis, as well as the experimental system for measurement is also introduced. Finally, the focusing spots for 8keV monochromatic x-rays by the PMMA compound x-ray lens are measured and analysed. According to the experimental results, it is concluded that the PMMA compound x-ray lens promises a good focusing performance under the high-energy x-rays.     

Fabrication of seeded substrates for layer transferrable silicon films

The layer transfer process is one of the most promising methods for low-cost and highly-efficient solar cells, in which transferrable mono-crystalline silicon thin wafers or films can be produced directly from gaseous feed-stocks. In this work,we show an approach to preparing seeded substrates for layer-transferrable silicon films. The commercial silicon wafers are used as mother substrates, on which periodically patterned silicon rod arrays are fabricated, and all of the surfaces of the wafers and rods are sheathed by thermal silicon oxide. Thermal evaporated aluminum film is used to fill the gaps between the rods and as the stiff mask, while polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA) and photoresist are used as the soft mask to seal the gap between the filled aluminum and the rods. Under the joint resist of the stiff and soft masks, the oxide on the rod head is selectively removed by wet etching and the seed site is formed on the rod head. The seeded substrate is obtained after the removal of the masks. This joint mask technique will promote the endeavor of the exploration of mechanically stable,unlimitedly reusable substrates for the kerfless technology.     

灰阶编码掩模制作微光学元件

提出一种基于改变灰阶编码掩模的单元形状和位置的掩模设计新方法,并根据成像过程中的非线性因素,用这种方法对掩模图形进行了预畸变校正,根据部分相干光成像理论和抗蚀剂曝光显影模型,模拟计算了这种灰阶编码掩模产生的空间光强分布和光刻胶上的浮雕结构,采用电子束曝光系统制作了这种掩模,并在光刻胶上获得具有连续面形的微透镜的阵列。     

Mapping the x-ray emission region in a laser-plasma accelerator

The x-ray emission in laser-plasma accelerators can be a powerful tool to understand the physics of relativistic laser-plasma interaction. It is shown here that the mapping of betatron x-ray radiation can be obtained from the x-ray beam profile when an aperture mask is positioned just beyond the end of the emission region. The influence of the plasma density on the position and the longitudinal profile of the x-ray emission is investigated and compared to particle-in-cell simulations. The measurement of the x-ray emission position and length provides insight on the dynamics of the interaction, including the electron self-injection region, possible multiple injection, and the role of the electron beam driven wakefield.     

Large scale ordered topographical and chemical nano-features from anodic alumina templates

We have used ordered anodic alumina membranes as masks to create large scale ordered arrays of either holes or chemical islands on silica. Regularly spaced holes were obtained by direct etching of silica/silicon or glass substrates through the membranes used as etching masks. To create an array of chemically functional islands, the membrane is first glued on the substrate using a soft polymer and subsequently the polymer is etched gently though the mask. Finally organo-silane molecules are deposited through the alumina/polymer hybrid mask and the mask is removed chemically leaving nanoislands on the substrate. We anticipate that this technique will be useful in future biological and biomedical applications.     

Variable resolution with pupil masks

There are many applications in which pupil-plane masks are useful for point-spread-function (PSF) apodization or superresolution. A limitation of this technique is that once a mask is fabricated, the corresponding PSF characteristics are fixed. To overcome this drawback we introduce a technique for easily varying the performance of pupil-plane masks. This technique is based on the modification of the transmittance of each of the mask zones and, thus, can be implemented using a spatial light modulator or linear polarizers, e.g., we apply the technique to binary phase-only masks and we check that the figures of merit that characterize the PSF can be easily controlled. We study different configurations that allow us to modify resolution or peak intensity in a continuous way and we derive analytical expressions for these figures of merit.     

聚合物阵列波导光栅的制作技术

研究了聚合物阵列波导光栅AWG制作的几个关键技术.首先,为了克服反应离子刻蚀过程中单独使用光刻胶作掩膜而导致的光波导形状和尺寸偏离设计的缺点,采用了光刻胶与金属掩膜相结合的双掩膜技术进行器件制作.详细介绍了双掩膜技术制备聚合物AWG的过程,并得出铝膜作为掩膜的最佳厚度为100nm左右.测试给出了使用和没有使用双掩膜的对比结果,该结果表明使用双掩膜技术制作的波导质量明显好于单独使用光刻胶作掩膜制作的结果.其次,采用蒸气回溶技术来减小反应离子刻蚀产生的波导表面和侧壁的起伏,从而降低了波导的散射损耗.结果表明,蒸气回溶技术使所制作的波导表面的均方根粗糙度从41.307nm降低到24.564nm.     

用于扩展目标自适应光学校正的相关波前传感器的理论和实验

研究了使用非相干、扩展光源的波前误差测量技术，分析了使用强度透过串型像面掩模的扩展目标相关波前探测原理，讨论了模拟目标的选择问题，探讨了根据目标图像生成像面掩模图像、进而制作像面掩模的方法，给出了所生成的像面掩模图像的典型结果，进行了以强度透过率型掩模为特征的单子孔径扩展目标波前传感器原理实验，比较了两种不同掩模的波前探测效果，获得了与理论分析一致的实验结果。     

LIGA technology for the synthesis of diffractive refractive intraocular lenses

The manufacturing of test diffractive refractive intraocular lenses is illustrated by means of LIGA (deep X-ray LIthography and GAlvanoplastics and polymer forming). Dynamic X-ray lithography used while rotating the substrate versus an X-ray mask fixed in a beam of synchrotron radiation (SR) yields smooth optical 3D surfaces with roughnesses of 10–30 nm rms in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layers. The axisymmetric diffractive refractive profile of a lens is predetermined by the radial angular function of the X-ray mask topology. The quality of the optical surface is reproduced for the nickel master form, which is electroplated onto a gold layer atop the PMMA relief. The optical quality also remains high for replicated lenses synthesized in this manner during silicon polymerization.     

Graphite foil as the supporting membrane of LIGA masks

The first results of using manufactured available graphite foil as a material for supporting membranes in X-ray LIGA masks are presented, and a comparison of them with analogues is carried out.     

Analytical and experimental demonstration of depth of field extension for incoherent imaging system with a standard sinusoidal phase mask

The wavefront coding technique is used to enlarge the depth of field（DOF）of incoherent imaging systems. The key to wavefront coding lies in the design of suitable phase masks.To date,numerous kinds of phase masks are proposed.However,further understanding is needed regarding phase mask with its phase function being in a standard sinusoidal form.Therefore,the characteristics of such a phase mask are studied in this letter.Deriving the defocused optical transfer function（OTF）analytically proves that the standard sinusoidal phase mask is effective in extending the DOF,and actual experiments confirm the numerical results.At the same time,with the Fisher information as a criterion,the standard sinusoidal phase mask shows a higher tolerance to focus errors（especially severe focus errors）than the classical cubic phase mask.     

Single-shot soft x-ray laser-induced ablative microstructuring of organic polymer with demagnifying projection

We report on a single-shot micropatterning of an organic polymer achieved by ablation with demagnifying projection using a Ne-like Zn 21.2 nm soft x-ray laser. A nickel mesh with a period of 100 microm was approximately 10x demagnified and imprinted on poly(methyl methacrylate) via direct ablation. The quality of the ablated microstructure was found to be mainly dependent on the quality of the projected mask. This first demonstration (to our knowledge) of single-shot projection, single-step lithography illustrates the potential of soft x-ray lasers for the direct patterning of materials with a resolution scalable down to submicrometer domain.     

Gyrator transform-based optical image encryption,using chaos

We propose a new method for image encryption, using gyrator transform and chaos theory. Random phase masks are generated using chaos functions and are called as chaotic random phase masks. In the proposed technique, the image is encrypted using gyrator transform and two chaotic random phase masks. Three types of chaos functions have been used to generate the chaotic random phase masks. These chaos functions are the logistic map, the tent map and the Kaplan-Yorke map. The computer simulations are presented to verify the validity of the proposed technique. The mean square errors have been calculated. The robustness of the proposed technique to blind decryption in terms of rotation angle and the seed values of the chaotic random phase mask have been evaluated. The optical implementation of the encryption and the decryption technique has been proposed.     

可调谐相位板空域频域联合分析

波前编码系统采用在传统光学系统中加入相位板来扩大光学系统的景深而避免传统景深延拓技术的不利影响. 由于相位板的参数不可调, 整个系统的景深延拓扩展率也不能动态可调. 采用两相位板组合的方法可以有效克服这一点. 本文首先从光线差的角度提出了两三次相位板组合下的光线像差分布以及点扩散函数尺寸的具体关系表达式, 直观体现了系统的光线结构, 指出了光线结构和点扩散函数尺寸受两三次相位板的面型和相对位移量的影响. 其次采用稳相法从空间域给出了系统点扩散函数表达式, 依据点扩散函数的振荡性质给出了有效带宽表达式, 提出了点扩散函数在像面的位置会随两相位板面型参数以及相对于光瞳中心的位移量而发生平移. 最后利用菲涅耳积分给出两三次相位板任意面型参数和相对位移组合下的准确光学传递函数. 在得到的调制传递函数中直观体现出了面型参数和相对位移量对调制传递函数和相位传递函数以及有效带宽的影响, 并说明了此系统相位传递函数的非线性性质. 通过空间域与频率域相结合的方法分析验证了传统的两三次相位板组合具有景深可调和带宽可调的性质, 为设计可调谐波前编码系统提供了理论依据.