In this paper, a direct and cost-effective sol-gel method to produce stable titanium dioxide and titanium oxynitride photoresists is described. This approach is compatible with many photolithographic techniques. We show that laser interference lithography and nanosphere lithography can be used, respectively, to obtain homogeneous TiO2 diffraction gratings and periodic nanopillars over large areas. Further developments permit to transform TiO2 microstructured based sol-gel to TiN metallic microstructured layer, with good optical properties, by using an innovative rapid thermal nitridation process, which opens the way towards plasmonics and NIR filters based on periodic metallic microstructured layers. Further technological processes were conducted to produce micro and nanostructured TiO2 and TiN layers from a NanoImprint approach.This work demonstrates the versatility of this complete process of soft chemistry new process of patterning TiO2 and TiN thin films avoiding expensive processes (etching, lift-off…) while preserving their diffractive properties and a high thermal stability, up to 1000°C. It is thus compatible to various types of substrates (of different shape and size). These results open up the opportunity to develop a cost-effective and low timeconsuming approach to address different fields of cutting-edge applications (metasurfaces, sensors, luxury and decorative industry…).
Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) is an intensively studied and used material due to its many remarkable physical and chemical properties. The high performances of ZrO2 allows its use in many applications such as coatings against corrosion, wear and oxidation, optical applications, anti-counterfeiting, or in medical applications such as dental or prosthesis. There are many methods to synthesize ZrO2 among which we can mention reactive sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition. These techniques are well known in thin film deposition processes. However, they do not allow to easily structure the coatings to produce complex patterns (shapes, micro-nanostructures) on variable substrates in shape and size. Another process of elaboration of ZrO2 thin films is the sol-gel method. This technique makes possible the micro-nanostructuring of the films by optical and nanoimprint-based lithography. In this paper, the authors will describe how the ZrO2 sol-gel can be used to obtain both complex patterns (shapes, micro-nanostructures) by optical lithography (mask lithography, colloidal lithography) and by nanoimprint lithography. The authors will also show the possibility to use this versatile sol-gel and the associated structuring methods to structure complex patterns on variable substrates in their nature and geometry, as well as the possibility of using this process in optical applications. Preliminary results will be presented through several microstructured ZrO2 demonstrators obtained from the microstructuring process on sol-gel layers. The produced layers have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy. The optical properties (transmittance, reflectance) have also been investigated and a study of the influence of a thermal treatment on the refractive index and thickness of the layer has been carried out.
Titanium nitride (TiN) combines plasmonic properties in the visible and near infrared spectral region with good mechanical properties, high thermal and chemical stability making it a very promising alternative to noble metals for optical applications at high temperature or in extreme environments. The authors present a new easy and fast process for the elaboration of micro-nanostructured TiN layers. This process combines photo-patternable TiO2 sol-gel by optical lithography and a nitridation process, by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). During this presentation, the elaboration of sol-gel, its structuring by different optical lithography methods, as well as its nitridation by RTA are presented.
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