MRI: Development of a Complex Topography Photolithography Tool for Micro-Patterning on Non-Flat Substrates.

0923506GeertsTexas State University-San Marcos“该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。”技术总结：在具有任意地形的样品上创建中、微和纳米尺度结构的需求正在显现。这一能力将使新的设备得以实现，例如：用于媒介数量的传感器，用于军事或监视应用的无盲点的ccd摄像机，以及用于监视、虫害防治和种群研究的昆虫和其他小动物的被动跟踪电子集成。此外，衍射光学元件(DOE)系统、光子带隙材料、超材料系统和微机械系统(MEMS)都产生了非平面结构。因此，将这些技术集成到智能设备中需要使用非平面光刻工具。该项目旨在开发一种独特的3D光刻工具。对现有的激光写入器进行改造，根据高速摄像机拍摄的衬底图像的对比度分布，实时确定衬底S的局部形貌，包括高度、坡度和曲率。光刻胶厚度和衬底S的局部光学性质将从实时光谱测量数据中估计出来。利用一种新型的高速液晶空间调制器对聚焦的激光光束进行整形、尺寸调整和定向，以校正形貌、光刻胶膜厚度和衬底S光学性质的变化，从而实现恒定曝光剂量。计算机成像和计算机图形学技术，如多重曝光、可变强度曝光、抖动和均衡将应用于光束，以生成几乎完美的像素。拟议中的仪器将由德克萨斯州立大学物理、电气工程和计算机科学系的教职员工和学生开发。它将为五个不同系的研究人员和学生提供工具和资源。这项研究开发的技术将与光刻和成像研究/工程社区共享。开发的原型仪器将用于光刻教学，并将其整合到相关的本科和研究生课程中。外行摘要：在过去的30年里，半导体制造业的生产率每年提高30%。光刻技术的改进贡献了大约一半的收益。光刻技术是用于制造集成电路的光学照相工艺。2009年，一款顶级的工业平版印刷工具以每秒10亿像素的速度打印出了45纳米(比人的头发还细1000倍)的结构。然而，目前可用的仪器只能在平板上工作，这使得它们不适合许多有趣的应用。该项目旨在开发一种光刻工具，可用于在具有任意地形的不平坦的样品上创建小型结构，如衬衫纽扣、沙粒或昆虫的翅膀。拟议的仪器将利用现有的激光光束写入器，其中包括通过光学显微镜聚焦在样品上的激光。通过将样品移动到聚焦的激光束下，将小结构直接写在样品顶部的光敏层上。将使用一种新型的高速液晶对聚焦的激光光束的形状和大小进行修正，以适应样品的局部性质。将使用计算机图形学和光学技术来确定这些局部属性。拟议的工具将促进集成电子、光学、机械和磁学的新项目，并使新的新设备得以实现，如无盲点的ccd摄像机、用于监测和防治虫害的被动昆虫跟踪电子设备、集成了光学和电子传感器的医疗手术工具，以及可穿戴计算机(智能电子美食家)。商业化是一种明显的可能性。这项研究的主要目标是与学术界和工业界就研究成果的发展及其传播进行合作。拟议的项目将吸引本科生，并将寻找少数族裔和妇女参与研究。

0923506GeertsTexas State University-San Marcos"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Technical Summary: There is an emerging need to create meso-, micro-, and nano-scale structures on samples with arbitrary topography. This capability would enable the realization of new devices such as: sensors for vector quantities, CCD cameras without blind spots for military or surveillance applications, and integration of passive tracking electronics on insects and other small animals for surveillance, pest control, and population studies. Moreover, Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) systems, Photonic Band Gap materials, Meta material systems, and micromechanical systems (MEMS) all create non-planar structures. Hence, integrating these technologies in a smart device necessitates access to a non-planar lithography tool. This project aims to develop a unique 3D lithography tool. An existing laser beam writer will be modified; the substrate?s local topography, including height, slope, and curvature will be determined in real time from the contrast distribution of substrate images taken with a high speed camera. The photoresist thickness and the substrate?s local optical properties will be estimated from real time spectroscopic measurement data. A novel high speed liquid crystal spatial modulator will be applied to shape, resize, and orient the focused laser beam in order to correct for topography, photoresist film thickness and substrate?s optical properties variations, and facilitate a constant exposure dose. Computer imaging and computer graphics techniques, such as multiple exposures, exposures with variable intensity, dithering, and equalization will be applied to the beam in order to generate almost perfect pixels. The proposed instrument will be developed by faculty and students from the physics, electrical engineering, and computer science departments of Texas State University. It will serve as a tool and resource for researchers and students in five different departments. Techniques developed from this research will be shared with lithography and imaging research/engineering communities. The developed prototype instrument will be used for teaching lithography by integrating it into relevant undergraduate and graduate courses. Layman Summary: Over the last 30 years, semiconductor manufacturing has seen a 30% annual increase in productivity. Improvements in lithography, the optical photographic process that is used to create integrated circuits, contribute for approximately half of this gain. In 2009, a top of the line industrial lithographic tool prints structures down to 45 nm (1000 times thinner than a human hair) with a speed of one billion Mega-pixels per second. Currently available instruments, however, only work on flat substrates making them unsuitable for many interesting applications. This project aims to develop a lithography tool that can be used to create small structures on not flat samples with arbitrary topography, such as shirt buttons, grains of sand, or the wings of an insect. The proposed instrument will make use of an existing laser beam writer which includes a laser that is focused through an optical microscope on the sample. Small structures are written directly on a photo-sensitive layer on top of the sample, by moving the sample under the focused laser beam. Corrections will be made to the shape and size of the focused laser beam using a novel high speed liquid crystal to adjust for the local properties of the sample. Computer graphics and optical techniques will be used to determine those local properties. The proposed tool will facilitate novel projects in integrated electronics, optics, mechanics, and magnetics, and enable the realization of novel new devices such as CCD cameras without blind spots, passive tracking electronics on insects for surveillance and pest control, medical operation tools with integrated optical and electronic sensors, and wearable computers (smart electronic gourmets). Commercialization is a distinct possibility. The major goal of this research is to collaborate with academia and industry on the development of the research findings and its dissemination. The proposed project will engage undergraduates and will seek out minorities and women to participate in the research.