Microscope Projection Photolithography of Polymeric Optical Micro- and Nanocomponents

authored by: Lei Zheng, Carsten Reinhardt, Bernhard Roth
Abstract: Lithography is one of the key technologies employed for the fabrication of optical devices and components, which could be applied in fields as diverse as optical sensing, communication and information technologies. Microscope projection photolithography (MPP), as a low-cost, simple and flexible lithography method, lends itself for versatile applications. Its feasibility in realizing various microstructures has been verified already. However, the improvement of the quality and resolution of structures still remains challenging. Here, we present an MPP method for the controlled generation of high-quality and high-resolution 2D optical micro- and nanostructures. Particularly, an improved process chain, which significantly shortens the time from structure design to the realization to less than one day, is introduced. The structures, first designed with vector-graphics software, are printed on a commercial transparency film. Then, the film is placed into a self-developed setup, and the structure patterns are transferred onto a chromium photomask with a demagnification of 10:1, for example. The last step is to place the chromium photomask into the MPP arrangement and implement the fabrication using a microscope objective to demagnify and project structure patterns onto photoresist which is simultaneously exposed to UV light. With this process chain, periodic structures with a minimum feature size of 150 nm were realized using an objective with NA of 1.4. Furthermore, various photonic components such as micro ring resonators and arrayed waveguide gratings with high quality were generated with application potential, e. g. in sensing and monitoring.
Organisation(s): Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT)
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines
External Organisation(s): Bremen University of Applied Sciences
Type: Conference contribution
No. of pages: 7
Publication date: 28.02.2020
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Condensed Matter Physics, Computer Science Applications, Applied Mathematics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2546679 (Access: Closed)