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Maskless Plasmonic Lithography at 22 nm Resolution

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...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pan, Liang, Park, Yongshik, Xiong, Yi, Ulin-Avila, Erick, Wang, Yuan, Zeng, Li, Xiong, Shaomin, Rho, Junsuk, Sun, Cheng, Bogy, David B., Zhang, Xiang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240963/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22355690
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep00175
Descripción
Sumario: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.