Fluctuation limitations on the voxel minimal size at laser nanopolymerization

Laser (or two-photon) nanopolymerization is an effective way of producing 3D polymeric submicron structures. The mainstream in developing this technology is improvement of the spatial resolution of nano-objects. Fluctuation-induced inhomogeneities are studied as the main physical reason limiting the spatial resolution of polymeric structures obtained by nanopolymerization. Typically, complex polymeric structures have the form of a raster composed of many elements, voxels, about 100 nm across. Monte Carlo simulation of a spherically symmetric polymeric voxel is carried out. It is shown that, when the voxel size becomes less than critical, the position and size of a voxel vary from realization to realization (become irreproducible). This effect is attributed to the disappearance of the voxel??s core??part of a voxel that has macroscopic properties. Irreproducible formation of the single voxels may lead to distortions of the fine features of complex microstructures and, hence, to a deterioration of the spatial resolution. Estimates are made of the minimal size of voxels that can be reproducibly produced in real laser experiments.