Plasmonic lithography for patterning high aspect-ratio nanostructures

US11874480B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN · US

Inventors

• Lingjie Jay Guo · Ann Arbor, US
• Xi Chen · New York, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 20, 2018
• Grant date: Jan 16, 2024
• Expiry date: Aug 30, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B82Y20/00
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A plasmonic device incorporating a special hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) metamaterial is used for plasmonic lithography, including ultraviolet (UV) lithography. It may be a Type II HMM (ϵ∥<0 and ϵ⊥>0) whose tangential component of the permittivity ϵ∥ is close to zero. Due to the high anisotropy of the Type II epsilon near zero (ENZ) HMM, only one plasmonic mode can propagate horizontally with low loss in a waveguide system with ENZ HMM as its core. In certain aspects, a Type II ENZ HMM comprises alternating layers of aluminum/aluminum oxide films and the associated unusual mode of light transmission is used to expose a photosensitive layer in a specially designed lithography system. Methods for making patterns of nanofeatures via such plasmonic lithography are also provided, including as a plasmonic roller device.