Focused laser lithographic system with sub-wavelength resolution based on vortex laser induced opacity of photochromic material.

A focused laser lithographic system combines with vortex laser induced opacity of photochromic layer to write patterns with linewidth below wavelength. A photochromic layer is formed by coating the mixture of metanil yellow and aqueous PVA solution on the photoresist layer. In our system, the center of a lithographic laser with a 405 nm wavelength coincides with the center of vortex laser with a 532 nm wavelength. When a photochromic layer is illuminated by both lasers simultaneously, the absorbance for the lithographic laser decreases at the hollow region of the vortex laser but increases at its annular region, so that a transparent aperture for the lithographic laser is created and its size could be tuned by changing the power of vortex laser; therefore, the linewidth of written patterns is variable. Experimentally, using a 20× lens (NA = 0.4), this system condenses the linewidth of written patterns from 6614 to 350 nm.