Analysis of point fabrication model for near‐field photolithography with experimental study

Abstract

For the Gaussian beam, the power density distribution of the aluminum-coated optical tapered fiber probe is discussed and a theoretical fixed-point fabrication model for near-field photolithography is established. The energy density theorem is used to explore the surface exposure of photoresist, which is divided into multiple grids to evaluate the changes in the concentration of photoactive compounds at specific nodes of the interior layer. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the contour of the photolithograph following development are then calculated. The fixed-point lithographic experiment and aperture verification of the optic fiber probe are performed to confirm the reliability of the present model, and Dill A, B, C parameters are first measured in this article. According to the experimental results, a better image of the probe aperture can be achieved by increasing the conductivity of the measured articles and reducing the electric charges during the image taken by field-emission scanning electron microscope. The FWHM measured is 166.6 nm, while the measured average probe aperture size is 317.4 nm and the FWHM simulated by the proposed model is 151.3 nm. The error between experiment and simulation is <-9.2%. It is thus concluded that the proposed theoretical model is reasonable and acceptable.