Interference lithography: a powerful tool for fabricating periodic structures

Abstract

In this review the basic principles of interference lithography (IL) are described. IL is emerging as one of the most powerful yet relatively inexpensive methodologies for creating large-area patterns with micron-to sub-micron periodicities.-dimensional periodic structures ( ) can be obtained by interfering ( ) non-coplanar beams in a photoresist. The symmetry and shape of the "unit cell" can be conveniently controlled by varying the intensities, geometries, polarizations, and phases of the beams involved. IL done with shorter wavelength lasers and/or liquid immersion lithography can create features with sub-50 nm dimensions. Such periodic structures are beginning to find wide use in photonic crystal science, optical telecommunications, data storage, and the integrated circuit industry. Newer innovations such as diffraction element assisted lithography or DEAL and phase-controlled IL for making twodimensional structures are also discussed.SEM images of two-dimensional patterns created by three-beam non-coplanar interference lithography. The upper left hand image corresponds to the case when the phases of the three beams used to make the exposure are equal. The remaining images correspond to situations where one laser beam has been given a different phase relative to the other two beams when making the exposure.

Fabrication of sub-10 nm gap arrays over large areas for plasmonic sensors

“…substrate. With an appropriate lowcost lithography tool, e.g., displacement Talbot lithography 23 or laser interference lithography, 24 one could easily pattern and evaporate nanogap arrays over a full wafer, which was, however, not a part of this study.…”

Fabrication of hierarchical photonic nanostructures inspired by Morpho butterflies utilizing laser interference lithography

“…Laser interference lithography (LIL) is used for decades to pattern surfaces with periodic structures ranging from micron to sub-micron scales [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. This technique allows to write 1D, 2D, and even 3-dimensional periodic patterns into a photoresist by adjusting the intensity, geometry, polarization, and phase of the applied laser light [6][7][8].…”

“…This technique allows to write 1D, 2D, and even 3-dimensional periodic patterns into a photoresist by adjusting the intensity, geometry, polarization, and phase of the applied laser light [6][7][8]. Since the fabrication of nano-and microstructured surfaces is a parallel process, LIL is competitive to other high-resolution lithographic techniques.…”

“…Since the fabrication of nano-and microstructured surfaces is a parallel process, LIL is competitive to other high-resolution lithographic techniques. Consequently, it is used for various industrial applications including but not limited to the field of solar cells and LED [10,11], laser technology [12], integrated optical design [1], data storage [13], optical communications [5], biomedical applications [14] and IC industries [8].…”

Fabrication of multilayer metamaterials by femtosecond laser‐induced forward‐transfer technique

“…Moreover, in order to fabricated multilayer plasmonic structures, the electron beam lithography process is very complicated and time consuming. For fabricating micro-and nanostructures with high throughput and efficiency, the laser direct writing (LDW) technique is one of the best candidates [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Recently, the LDW technique has been successfully applied to fabricate metamaterials [26,27] and plasmonic devices [28,29].…”