"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
The objective of this research is to demonstrate a new table top photolithography scheme capable to print sub-50 nm features. The approach is based on projection holographic lithography, consisting of printing photoresist with the reconstructed image of a computer-designed digital holographic mask. The illumination source is a highly coherent table-top extreme ultraviolet (EUV) laser. The project is significant as it promises to realize a nano-patterning scheme with nano-scale resolution thereby extending laser manufacturing to wavelengths only available until now at large synchrotron facilities. The holography projection lithography approach will allow printing in a matter of seconds patterns with arbitrary motives. Since the pattern smallest feature is mainly determined by the wavelength of the illumination, which for the table top EUV lasers used in this project ranges from 47 to 13 nm, the proposed scheme promises writing resolution in the few tens of nanometers. This project will have a broader impact in education through the training of graduate students in an innovative technology that combines optical engineering and metrology, laser design and material science. The proposed research also will provide exciting learning opportunities for undergraduate students through summer internships organized every year in CSU. The implementation of the proposed nanopatterning scheme will impact other areas of nanoscience and technology, including the development on nano-structured materials, nano-photonics, plasmonic structures, etc.. It promises the realization of a table-top patterning tool with similar capabilities as large synchrotron facilities that could be integrated with other processing tools in a small laboratory environment.
