Using surface-plasmon effects to improve process latitute in near-field optical lithography

©2006 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.Surface Plasmon Enhanced Contact Lithography uses an underlying plasmonic layer to enhance image quality in Evanescent Near-Field Optical Lithography. This article details simulations aimed at finding optimum conditions and attempts to explain some underlying mechanisms. Parameters explored include resist thickness, metal permittivity and thickness, polarization, and grating period and duty-cycle