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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Nanometer Resolution in Two-Beam Direct Laser Writing Lithography

Objective

Two-photon direct laser writing (DLW) lithography is a powerful tool to fabricate 3D structures with feature sizes of ~100 nm. This technique is based on the quadratic dependence of the absorption of near-infrared (NIR) light (two-photon absorption, 2PA) by molecules called photoinitiators which trigger the photopolymerization of curable resins. With the aim of downsizing the structures to the nanometer resolution, a requirement of the microelectronics industry, a new strategy has been added to the DLW lithography, the two-beam approach (excitation and inhibition beams) based on the reversible saturable optical fluorescence transition (RESOLFT) concept. This approach is borrowed from the field of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and consists in the reversible depletion of some intermediate excited state of the photoinitiators only at some specific areas of the point spread function (PSF) of the excitation beam. The objective of this project is to further develop the two-beam DLW lithography to make it more competitive compared to other advanced nanofabrication techniques. The project is conducted to overcome the limitations of the two-beam DLW lithography: 1) the large feature size, the state-of-the-art has recently been pushed to 9 nm line width from a previous value of 55 nm, and 2) the large spatial resolution (Abbe´s resolution limit) due to the so-called “memory effect”, this value always exceeds 2–5 times the feature size, with a lowest value of 52 nm. The approach is based on the investigation of the photophysics and photochemistry involved in the photopolymerization by means of the ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy to shed some light on the inhibition processes. The expected results are the decrease of the actual size of the written features to the real nanometer resolution, ~1 nm and even more important to reduce the minimal distance of two adjacent yet separated lines (spatial resolution) to the same order of the feature size.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

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FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-CIG - Support for training and career development of researcher (CIG)

Coordinator

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA
EU contribution
€ 100 000,00
Address
VIA MOREGO 30
16163 GENOVA
Italy

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Region
Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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