Super-resolution Imaging by Evanescent Wave Coupling to Surface States on Effective Gain Media
Optics
2012-06-20 v1
Abstract
Higher resolution demands for semiconductor lithography may be fulfilled by higher numerical aperture (NA) systems. However, NAs more than the photoresist refractive index (~1.7) cause surface confinement of the image. In this letter we describe how evanescent wave coupling to effective gain medium surface states beneath the imaging layer can counter this problem. At {\lambda}=193 nm a layer of sapphire on SiO2 counters image decay by an effective-gain-medium resonance phenomena allowing evanescent interferometric lithography to create high aspect ratio structures at NAs of 1.85 (26-nm) and beyond.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1206.4148,
title = {Super-resolution Imaging by Evanescent Wave Coupling to Surface States on Effective Gain Media},
author = {Prateek Mehrotra and Chris A. Mack and Richard J. Blaikie},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.4148},
year = {2012}
}