Distortions of parabolic mirror optics for stereophonic lithography and prospects of compensations

Abstract

The distortions of parabolic mirror optics used for stereophonic projection lithography were investigated. It has already been demonstrated that resist patterns are replicable on gently curved surfaces using mirror optics composed of faced paraboloids of revolution. However, it was found that replicated resist patterns were somewhat distorted from the original patterns. The distortions were caused by characteristics of projection optics. For this reason, the distortions were first calculated by tracing light rays. The calculation procedures are explained in detail. The calculated distortions almost coincide with the ones obtained by experiments. Next, the influences of distortions on the distributions of image intensity and replicated pattern widths were investigated. The maximum distortions reached 29% of the original size at the right-side corners of a 12 mm square, and the light intensity was lowered by 30%. For this reason, printed 200 μm pattern widths reached more than 500 μm on the right side. This was considered to be unfavorable for applying the method universally in various uses. For this reason, methods for compensating or modifying the optics distortions were investigated, and light intensity distributions were discussed.