Abstract
High-speed maskless nanolithography is experimentally achieved on AgInSbTe thin films. The lithography was carried out in air at room temperature, with a GaN diode laser (λ = 405 nm), and on a large sample disk of diameter 120 mm. The normal width of the written features measures 46 ± 5 nm, about 1/12 of the diffraction allowed smallest light spot, and the lithography speed reaches 6 ~ 8 m/s, tens of times faster than traditional laser writing methods. The writing resolution is instantaneously tunable by adjusting the laser power. The reason behind the significant breakthrough in terms of writing resolution and speed is found as the concentration of light induced heat. Therefore, the heat spot is far smaller than the light spot, so does the size of the written features. Such a sharp focus of heat occurs only on the selected writing material, and the phenomenon is referred as the photothermal localization response. The physics behind the effect is explained and supported with numerical simulations.
Highlights
High-speed maskless nanolithography is experimentally achieved on AgInSbTe thin films
A direct writing system using a GaN diode laser may solve most of the aforementioned difficulties for high-speed nanolithography as it operates in air, at room temperature, and has virtually no limit on working area and scanning speed; on the other hand, the GaN diode laser is stable and low cost, and the wavelength of 405 nm is close to the limit of visible light
The only remaining hurdle is the diffraction limit imposed on the lithography resolution[16,17,18], for example, for a writing system operating at 405 nm wavelength with a focusing lens optics of numerical aperture (NA) 0.90, the resolution is limited to about 1.22λ/NA = 550 nm
Summary
There is a structural adjustment threshold temperature for AgInSbTe chalcogenides; further improving the pattern resolution by reducing laser power is limited. In order to demonstrate the capability of our writing system for instantaneously adjusting the pattern resolution, in Fig. 3c and d, 2D and 3D AFM images are presented with five adjacent traces, where the interval among trench lines is about 1.0 μm. The laser power is gradually reduced for five traces and the normal width changes from 156 nm to 48 nm This was realized when the writing speed was 6 ~ 8 m/s
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