Lasers for interferometric lithography
The Skylark Lasers NX series delivers wavelengths at 320 and 349 nm - offering ultra-low noise < 0.1% RMS, and ultra-narrow linewidths < 0.5 MHz while maintaining up to 200 mW output power in the UV range.
The 320 and 349 nm wavelengths are compatible with industry standard UV photoresists, and with coherence lengths > 100 m, they are the ideal laser source for your interference lithography application.
CW C-DPSS single frequency lasers for interferometric lithography
Single frequency continuous wave laser sources at 320 and 349 nm offer unrivalled wavelength stability and a narrow linewidth. Our lasers have high degrees of spectral purity (>70 dB) with the added benefit of a narrow linewidth <1 MHz. Lasers can be tailored for more demanding applications reaching high output powers on a small footprint.
Contrary to mask lithography, which uses a series of photomasks to imprint a pattern onto a photosensitive material from a UV source, interference lithography (IL)uses laser sources to create periodic patterns. These patterns are formed by either interfering a single or multiple laser beams. Currently, IL is most widely used in the nanosciences, where it has enabled the creation of periodic structures on the nanoscale! IL has also relaxed the costly boundaries imposed by mask lithography.
A traditional setup may involve a single beam in a Lloyds configuration, although setups with as much as seven beams have been reported in literature.
Because most setups use the same laser source, the constraints on stability, coherence length and linewidth are massive, since tiny disturbances in the laser output, or environment can be detrimental, regardless of the setup. Additionally high powers are needed in order to reduce the necessary exposure times.
To meet the demands of rapid production, the characteristics of lasers for maskless lithography are similar to those used in photomask applications:
Continuous-wave light sources with long-term power and wavelength stability and narrow linewidth mean that mask features have less variation.
Long lifetime stability with virtually no maintenance or disruption to the production cycle are important to both applications.
Ideal laser specifications for interferometric lithography
Lithography applications
Our customers select our ultra-stable, high precision laser sources to support their work across several interferometric lithography applications.
Nanofabrication of high-resolution periodic structures
Diffraction grating fabrication
Diffractive optical element (DOE) fabrication
Optical filter fabrication
Nanophotonic applications