EAGER: Massively Parallel, Maskless, Direct-Write Plasmonics Nanolithography

这一早期概念探索性研究补助金(AGER)的目的是证明激光诱导等离子体将提高分辨率、增加产量并降低纳米光刻工艺的成本，并将优于现有的基于光栅的、包含掩膜的等离子体系统。一束纳秒脉冲的激光将被放大并入射到由镀银的纳米多孔氧化铝组成的独特的等离子体透镜上，产生和传输等离子体；等离子体在近场的建设性干涉可以在硅衬底上产生大量的纳米点。然后，将利用压电致动器纳米定位系统以直接写入的方式移动这些纳米点，以图案化抗蚀剂或刻蚀硅，并以高速、大规模并行的方式制造丰富的任意形状的二维纳米图案。拟议的研究代表了基础科学的一个前所未有的应用领域，以及从激光诱导等离子体如何与材料相互作用以及可以获得什么特征尺寸和能力中学到的实际贡献。本研究中提出的新型纳米光刻系统有可能提高高密度集成电路器件制造所需的光刻能力，并可用于制造微电子、MEMS、摩擦学、光学、电光、磁学、通信和医学等纳米级器件。教育努力包括招募妇女和/或代表性不足的学生参与研究，并将研究成果吸收到本科制造课程的尖端实验室。

The objective of this EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) is to demonstrate that the laser-induced plasmonics would improve resolution, increase throughput and reduce cost of nanolithography processes and will be superior to the existing grating-based, mask-containing plasmonic systems. A nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser beam will be enlarged and impinged on a unique plasmonic lens that consists of nanoporous alumina deposited with silver to generate and transmit plasmons; the constructive interference of the plasmons in the near field can create numerous nanodots on the silicon substrate. A piezoelectric actuator nanopositioning system will then be utilized to move these nanodots in direct-writing fashion to pattern the resist or etch silicon and fabricate copious two dimensional nanopattern of arbitrary shapes in a high-speed, massively-parallel manner. The proposed research represents an unprecedented application area for basic science as well as practical contributions learned from how laser-induced plasmons interact with materials, and what feature sizes and capabilities can be obtained. The novel nanolithography system proposed in this study has potential to advance the capabilities of lithography required in high-density integrated circuit device fabrication and for producing nanoscale devices for microelectronics, MEMS, tribology, optics, electro-optics, magnetics, communication, and medicine. The educational efforts include recruitment and participation of woman and/or underrepresented student in the research and assimilation of the research outcomes into a cutting edge laboratory for the undergraduate manufacturing course.