Semiconductor micro and nanofabrication lithography techniques for application in microelectronics as well as in micromechanics and optoelectronics can gain significantly from using a dry resist process, since it enables the deposition of a very uniform lithographically sensitive layer on a potentially very small area. This would otherwise be extremely difficult to achieve by using a traditional spin coated resist, such as poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA). We demonstrate the use of an electron sensitive sterol based evaporated electron beam resist to fabricate high-resolution features (down to 100 nm) on a small surface area. This electron beam resist has a sensitivity comparable to PMMA and is deposited using a simple thermal evaporation. Two practical applications are explored: first, this resist makes it possible to fabricate a Fresnel zone plate lens on the tip of an optical fiber in order to demonstrate the principle and the potential of highly efficient coupling of diode laser emission into the fiber; second, we use this evaporated electron beam resist in order to pattern an optical diffractive element on the facet of a semiconductor laser.
Amorphous silicon carbon nitride (a-SiCN:H) films were synthesized using vapor transport-chemical vapor deposition technique. Poly(dimethylsilane) was used as a single source for both Si and C. NH3 gas diluted in Ar is used as a source for nitrogen. The composition and bonding states are uniquely characterized with respect to NH3/Ar ratio by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Spectral deconvolution is used to extract the individual components of the FTIR and XPS spectra. For instance, the FTIR spectra show a remarkable drop in the intensity of SiC vibration accompanied by the formation of further bonds including SiN, CN, CN, CN, and NH with increasing NH3/Ar ratio. Moreover, the XPS spectra show the existence of different chemical bonds in the a-SiCN:H films such as SiC, SiN, CN, CN, and CC. Both FTIR and XPS data demonstrate that the chemical bonding in the amorphous matrix is more complicated than a collection of single SiC SiN, or SiH bonds.
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