Apparatus and method of direct writing with photons beyond the diffraction limit

摘要

Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.

主权项

1. A direct-write lithography apparatus for printing sub-resolution pixels in a photoresist layer on a substrate, comprising:
a movable stage system configured to movably supports the substrate; an illumination system configured to provide illumination light of an exposure wavelength capable of activating the photoresist; at least one image transducer having an array of configurable transducer pixels arranged to receive and selectively modulate the illumination light; an objective lens arranged to receive the modulated illumination light from the at least one image transducer and form on the photoresist layer a transducer image having an arrangement of bright spots; an interference pattern generator arranged relative to the objective lens and adapted to generate light beams of an inhibition wavelength capable of inhibiting the activation of the photoresist, wherein the objective lens is configured to receive the light beams to form therefrom on the photoresist an interference image having a grid pattern that defines an array of dark spots, wherein the bright spots are larger than the dark spots, and wherein the transducer image is formed after or simultaneously with the interference image; and wherein the stage system and the interference pattern generator are configured to respectively move the substrate and the interference image in synchrony relative to the transducer image to expose the photoresist, with the dark spots traversing at least a portion of corresponding ones of the bright spots so that each first dark spot trims a periphery of the corresponding first bright spot without smearing to form the sub-resolution pixels in the photoresist.