title: Maskless plasmonic lithography at 22 nm resolution.
abstract: Optical imaging and photolithography promise broad applications in nano-electronics, metrologies, and single-molecule biology. Light diffraction however sets a fundamental limit on optical resolution, and it poses a critical challenge to the down-scaling of nano-scale manufacturing. Surface plasmons have been used to circumvent the diffraction limit as they have shorter wavelengths. However, this approach has a trade-off between resolution and energy efficiency that arises from the substantial momentum mismatch. Here we report a novel multi-stage scheme that is capable of efficiently compressing the optical energy at deep sub-wavelength scales through the progressive coupling of propagating surface plasmons (PSPs) and localized surface plasmons (LSPs). Combining this with airbearing surface technology, we demonstrate a plasmonic lithography with 22 nm half-pitch resolution at scanning speeds up to 10 m/s. This low-cost scheme has the potential of higher throughput than current photolithography, and it opens a new approach towards the next generation semiconductor manufacturing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1740, USA.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Yongshik
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ulin-Avila
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Shaomin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Junsuk
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rho
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Bogy
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang