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Process and apparatus for optical near field microlithography

  • US 5,384,464 A
  • Filed: 05/07/1992
  • Issued: 01/24/1995
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1989
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. Direct scanning microlithography process on a wafer-shaped substrate having a surface by at least one of an optical beam and an electronic beam for achieving photomechanical or electromechanical lithography of submicrometric structures on the surface of the substrate, the process comprising:

  • holding a source of at least one of an optical beam and an electronic beam for lithography at a close distance to the substrate using a waveguide proximity probe comprising a fiber optic proximity probe having an end, with the source being aligned with the end of the waveguide;

    aligning a point of impact of the at least one of an optical beam and an electronic beam with a point of impact of a coherent light wave which is injected into the waveguide, so that, in positioning the end above the surface of the substrate, a coupling coefficient between a propagation mode of the waveguide and a propagation mode of an electrical field of a light wave reflected by the surface and guided in return by the waveguide, is assimilated with a rapidly decreasing function that depends upon the distance.

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