Controlling the duty cycle of holographic crossed gratings by in situ endpoint detection during development.

Abstract

A method of in situ development endpoint detection is proposed to control the duty cycle of holographic crossed gratings. Based on the observation that after the developer first touches the substrate surface the topography of the crossed grating undergoes an evolution process from a hole array of increasing diameter to a pillar array of decreasing diameter, we set up a development model. In this model, the shapes of both holes and pillars are assumed to have square in-plane cross sections, rotated 45° with respect to the main periodic directions, and straight side walls perpendicular to the grating plane. Thus, the main development process, including the transition from a hole array to a pillar array, can be characterized by a single parameter continuously, and the change of diffraction efficiency during the process can be theoretically calculated. Two different in situ development monitoring conditions were simulated and tested experimentally. Using this method, crossed gratings with various duty cycles were fabricated under different incident and monitoring conditions.