High speed e-beam writing for large area photonic nanostructures—a choice of parameters

Photonic nanostructures are used for many optical systems and applications. However, some high-end applications require the use of electron-beam lithography (EBL) to generate such nanostructures. An important technological bottleneck is the exposure time of the EBL systems, which can exceed 24 hours per 1 cm2. Here, we have developed a method based on a target function to systematically increase the writing speed of EBL. As an example, we use as the target function the fidelity of the Fourier Transform spectra of nanostructures that are designed for thin film light trapping applications, and optimize the full parameter space of the lithography process. Finally, we are able to reduce the exposure time by a factor of 5.5 without loss of photonic performance. We show that the performances of the fastest written structures are identical to the original ones within experimental error. As the target function can be varied according to different purposes, the method is also applicable to guided mode resonant grating and many other areas. These findings contribute to the advancement of EBL and point towards making the technology more attractive for commercial applications.