Metallic resist for phase-change lithography

Abstract

Currently, the most widely used photoresists in optical lithography are organic-based resists. The major limitations of such resists include the photon accumulation severely affects the quality of photolithography patterns and the size of the pattern is constrained by the diffraction limit. Phase-change lithography, which uses semiconductor-based resists such as chalcogenide Ge2Sb2Te5 films, was developed to overcome these limitations. Here, instead of chalcogenide, we propose a metallic resist composed of Mg58Cu29Y13 alloy films, which exhibits a considerable difference in etching rate between amorphous and crystalline states. Furthermore, the heat distribution in Mg58Cu29Y13 thin film is better and can be more easily controlled than that in Ge2Sb2Te5 during exposure. We succeeded in fabricating both continuous and discrete patterns on Mg58Cu29Y13 thin films via laser irradiation and wet etching. Our results demonstrate that a metallic resist of Mg58Cu29Y13 is suitable for phase change lithography, and this type of resist has potential due to its outstanding characteristics.

Non-binary Colour Modulation for Display Device Based on Phase Change Materials

“…Laser illumination has been used in many ways, for example in optical media and in display and phase-change lithography293031, hence, we employ this technique to demonstrate our optically enabled display technology. The final colour appearance is associated with the amount of crystallized PCMs in the illuminated area.…”

Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Film as a Promising Heat‐Mode Resist for High‐Resolution Direct Laser Writing Lithography

“…The obtained minimum linewidth is smaller than those of MgCuY and PrAlNiCu metallic resists. [21,22] Thereby, GST thin film is a promising heat-mode resist for highresolution direct laser writing lithography.…”

“…Interestingly, heat-mode resist can readily reduce the k value and thus break through the diffraction limit because of its clear thermal-threshold effect. [18] So far, various heat-mode resists have been proposed for high-resolution direct laser writing lithography, such as organic polymers, [19,20] metallic glasses, [21,22] and chalcogenide phase-change thin films. [18,[23][24][25][26] Among others, chalcogenide thin film is a promising candidate as heat-mode resist owing to high resolution, clear phase-change thermal-threshold effect, broad wavelength range of exposure response, and simple preparation procedure.…”

Mechanism of Corrosion Selectivity of NSb2Te Thin Films in the H3PO4/HNO3 Developer for Direct Laser Writing Nanolithography

“…The exposure process does not require any darkroom or yellow light environment . So far, various heat-mode resists have been investigated such as metallic glass, , polymeric photoresist, and copper–hydrazone–complex thin films . Among others, the SbTe phase change thin film, as a heat-mode resist, is a promising candidate owing to the simple fabrication procedure and clear phase change thermal threshold. − Currently, Wang et al successfully achieved multiscale structural fabrication with the feature size from 90 nm to 2.7 μm in the AgInSbTe resist.…”