Fabrication of controllable form submicrometer structures on positive photoresist by one-photon absorption direct laser writing technique

Abstract

We demonstrate a very simple and low-cost method based on one-photon absorption direct laser writing technique to fabricate arbitrary two-dimensional (2D) polymeric submicrometer structures with controllable form. In this technique, a continuous-wave green laser beam (532 nm) with very weak power is tightly focused into a positive photoresist (S1805) by a high numerical aperture (NA) objective lens (OL), depolymerizing the polymer in a local submicrometer region. The focusing spot is then moved in a controllable trajectory by a 3D piezo translation stage, resulting in desired structures. The low absorption effect of the photoresist at the excitation wavelength allows obtaining structures with submicrometer size and great depth. In particular, by controlling the exposure dose, e.g. the scanning speed, and the scanning configuration, the structures have been created in positive (cylindrical material in air) or negative (air holes) form. The 2D square structures with periods in between 0.6 μm and 1 μm and with a feature size of about 150 nm have been demonstrated with an OL of NA = 0.9 (air-immersion). The fabricated results are well consistent with those obtained numerically by using a vectorial diffraction theory for high NA OLs. This investigation should be very useful for fabrication of photonic and plasmonic templates.