Flexible Micro- and Nano-Patterning Tools for Photonics

LumArray, Inc. is developing, and in 4 months will deliver to NIST, a maskless photolithography system of low cost that will meet the specifications for resolution, placement accuracy, overlay, throughput and multilevel alignment required in photonic devices. In Phase I, complex and dense patterns of arbitrary geometry, of relevance to photonics and optoelectronics, will be written, including ring resonators, waveguides and grating-based waveguide couplers. LumArray proposes to enable its ZP-150TM maskless photolithography system to pattern 3-dimensional structures in SU8 and other photoresists by developing, in collaboration with the University of Utah, a 3D proximity-effect correction algorithm. In Phase II this capability will be demonstrated. For patterning non-flat flexible substrates, LumArray will investigate, in Phase I, schemes for increasing the depth of focus, and in Phase II will demonstrate such writing. Although LumArray currently guarantees dense patterns only down to 200 nm using the ZP-150TM, the company is pursuing 3 independent paths to sub-100 nm resolution, two of which are the subject of proposals to other agencies. In Summary, LumArray asserts that all of the requirements of Topic # ODD10-T006 can be met by the ZP-150TM and the enhancements that we propose.