Light and matter co-confined multi-photon lithography
Lingling Guan, Chun Cao, Xi Liu, Qiulan Liu, Yiwei Qiu, Xiaobing Wang, Zhenyao Yang, Hui-Ying Lai, Qiuyuan Sun, Chenliang Ding, Dazhao Zhu, Cuifang Kuang, Xü Liu, Xü Liu, Xü Liu
Abstract
Mask-free multi-photon lithography enables the fabrication of arbitrary nanostructures low cost and more accessible than conventional lithography. A major challenge for multi-photon lithography is to achieve ultra-high precision and desirable lateral resolution due to the inevitable optical diffraction barrier and proximity effect. Here, we show a strategy, light and matter co-confined multi-photon lithography, to overcome the issues via combining photo-inhibition and chemical quenchers. We deeply explore the quenching mechanism and photoinhibition mechanism for light and matter co-confined multiphoton lithography. Besides, mathematical modeling helps us better understand that the synergy of quencher and photo-inhibition can gain a narrowest distribution of free radicals. By using light and matter co-confined multiphoton lithography, we gain a 30 nm critical dimension and 100 nm lateral resolution, which further decrease the gap with conventional lithography.