Nanometer-Resolution Mask Lithography with Matter Waves: Near-Field Binary Holography

Imprinting the optical near field of microstructures with nanometer resolution.

Control over the optical near field is a pillar stone of material processing,PI microscopy ,121 and biosensingl :1 1 at the submicrometer scale. The same applies to scanning probe techniques,II AJ which produce an impressive spatial resolution, and to colloidallithographyl' l for casting large periodic nanostructure arrays. However, imaging near-field distributions with subwavelength detail[fi ...

Near-field nanopatterning Imprinting the Optical Near Field of Microstructures with Nanometer Resolution**

Binary mask optimization for inverse lithography with partially coherent illumination.

Recently, a set of generalized gradient-based optical proximity correction optimization methods have been developed to solve for the inverse lithography problem under coherent illumination. Most practical lithography systems, however, operate under partially coherent illumination. This paper focuses on developing gradient-based binary mask optimization methods that account for the inherent nonl...

Binary and Phase Shifting Mask Design for Optical Lithography

We propose a number of pre-distorted mask design techniques for binary and phase-shifting masks. Our approach is based on modeling the imaging mechanism of a stepper by the Hopkins equations and taking advantage of the contrastenhancement characteristics of photoresist. Optimization techniques such as the branch and bound algorithm and simulated annealing algorithm are used to systematically de...

Scanning near-field ellipsometric microscope-imaging ellipsometry with a lateral resolution in nanometer range

An apertureless optical near-field scanning microscope system has been created by combining a commercially available atomic force microscope and an ellipsometer without any prior changes in design of the respective devices. In preliminary experiments, an optical resolution of about 20 nm ~l/32! has been achieved using the combined microscope. The intensity of the measured optical signal has bee...