Plasmonic Structures, Materials and Lenses for Optical Lithography beyond the Diffraction Limit: A Review

Abstract

The rapid development of nanotechnologies and sciences has led to the great demand for novel lithography methods allowing large area, low cost and high resolution nano fabrications. Characterized by unique sub-diffraction optical features like propagation with an ultra-short wavelength and great field enhancement in subwavelength regions, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), including surface plasmon waves, bulk plasmon polaritons (BPPs) and localized surface plasmons (LSPs), have become potentially promising candidates for nano lithography. In this paper, investigations into plasmonic lithography in the manner of point-to-point writing, interference and imaging were reviewed in detail. Theoretical simulations and experiments have demonstrated plasmonic lithography resolution far beyond the conventional diffraction limit, even with ultraviolet light sources and single exposure performances. Half-pitch resolution as high as 22 nm (~1/17 light wavelength) was observed in plasmonic lens imaging lithography. Moreover, not only the overview of state-of-the-art results, but also the physics behind them and future research suggestions are discussed as well.

Design and Analysis of A Complete Full Adder Based On Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) Waveguide-Based Plasmonic Waves

“…Although the thermo-optic effect and dispersion effect of free carriers have been dynamically employed to control the optical properties of silicon, these technologies have adverse effects on velocity, losses, costs, and so on. However, by optimizing the dimensions of the structure, we managed to reduce the losses, and achieve a transmission coefficient of about 0.62, thus reducing the losses down to 25% less than the design in [12].…”

“…However, the intensity of the research activities decreased due to some limitations of materials used in the manufacture of optical chips that prevented the manufacture of small and inexpensive optical chips for laboratory researches. The main reason for this is the problem of optical diffraction in optical devices that could be overcomed using plasmonic waves [12,13]. With the advent of plasmonic structures as well as the approach of technology towards the integrity of optoelectronic circuits, manufacturing problems and phenomena that helped prevent further compression of the structure led to the study and use of plasmonic structures and plasmonic waves.…”

Plasmonic Lithography: Recent Progress

“…Their momentum ( k sp ) however would be confined by the particular geometries and material properties of the coupling prism or gratings. On the other hand LSPR methods offer higher k sp modes but are highly dissipative and evanescent, limiting fabrication throughput …”

Manufacturing of molds by multiphoton polymerization for micro-replication of optically enhanced surfaces

“…Optical nano-structures are gaining enormous interest lately, due to their potential to overcome the limits of conventional optics, namely dispersion, chromatic aberration, diffraction limit or diffraction angle 1 . Diffractive optics are being used as the solution for compact, thin and lightweight alternatives to standard optical systems, but the interest is shifting from incremental improvements of existing optics, towards high efficiency nanostructures that can handle phase, amplitude and polarization of the input light in extremely precise ways.…”