Barrier-free absorbance modulation for super-resolution optical lithography

Absorbance-Modulation-Optical Lithography (AMOL) enables super-resolution optical lithography by simultaneous illumination of a photochromic film by a bright spot at one wavelength, λ1 and a node at another wavelength, λ2. A deep subwavelength region of the transparent photochromic isomer is created in the vicinity of the node. Light at λ1 penetrates this region and exposes an underlying photoresist layer. In conventional AMOL, a barrier layer is required to protect the photoresist from the photochromic layer. Here, we demonstrate barrier-free AMOL, which considerably simplifies the process. Specifically, we pattern lines as small as 70nm using λ1 = 325nm and λ2 = 647nm. We further elucidate the minimum requirements for AMOL to enable multiple exposures so as to break the diffraction limit.