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Optical lithography

Azopolymer option

Nature Photonics volume 5, page 649 (2011)Cite this article

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Making lithographic masks from azobenzene-containing polymers (azopolymers) rather than conventional photoresist provides a convenient and fast means of performing optical interference lithography. That's the view of researchers from Aalto University in Finland and Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, who have now used this technique to fabricate large areas of silicon nanostructures (Adv. Mater. 23, 4174–4177; 2011).

Azopolymer films are attractive because the efficient polarization reversibility of azobenzene makes it easy to create photo-induced surface patterns. Unlike traditional photoresist, which is sensitive to the intensity of short-wavelength visible light, mask formation in azopolymers is driven by polarization modulation within the incident interference pattern, and is therefore insensitive to stray light. Moreover, because azopolymers are sensitive to a wider wavelength band of light and exhibit better tolerance to overexposure than traditional photoresist, complex surface patterns can be created by applying multiple interference patterns.

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  1. Rachel Won
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Won, R. Azopolymer option. Nature Photon 5, 649 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.261

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