title: Going far beyond the near-field diffraction limit via plasmonic cavity lens with high spatial frequency spectrum off-axis illumination.
abstract: For near-field imaging optics, minimum resolvable feature size is highly constrained by the near-field diffraction limit associated with the illumination light wavelength and the air distance between the imaging devices and objects. In this study, a plasmonic cavity lens composed of Ag-photoresist-Ag form incorporating high spatial frequency spectrum off-axis illumination (OAI) is proposed to realize deep subwavelength imaging far beyond the near-field diffraction limit. This approach benefits from the resonance effect of the plasmonic cavity lens and the wavevector shifting behavior via OAI, which remarkably enhances the object's subwavelength information and damps negative imaging contribution from the longitudinal electric field component in imaging region. Experimental images of well resolved 60-nm half-pitch patterns under 365-nm ultra-violet light are demonstrated at air distance of 80 nm between the mask patterns and plasmonic cavity lens, approximately four-fold longer than that in the conventional near-field lithography and superlens scheme. The ultimate air distance for the 60-nm half-pitch object could be theoretically extended to 120 nm. Moreover, two-dimensional L-shape patterns and deep subwavelength patterns are illustrated via simulations and experiments. This study promises the significant potential to make plasmonic lithography as a practical, cost-effective, simple and parallel nano-fabrication approach.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Zeyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Yunfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Changtao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Yanqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Mingbo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Chengwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-fabrication and Micro-engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Xiangang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Luo