Patent ID: 8691102

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a plasmon generator, the plasmon generator including a propagation part for propagating a surface plasmon that is excited based on light, the propagation part having a lower surface, an upper surface opposite to the lower surface, a first side surface and a second side surface that are opposite to each other and connect the upper surface and the lower surface to each other, and a front end face that connects the upper surface, the lower surface, the first side surface and the second side surface to each other, the front end face including a near-field light generating part that generates near-field light based on the surface plasmon, the method comprising the steps of: forming a dielectric layer having an upper surface; forming an etching mask on the upper surface of the dielectric layer; etching the dielectric layer by using the etching mask and thereby forming in the dielectric layer an accommodation part for accommodating the plasmon generator; and forming the plasmon generator to be accommodated in the accommodation part, wherein the step of forming the etching mask includes the steps of: forming an etching mask material layer on the upper surface of the dielectric layer, the etching mask material layer having an upper surface; forming a patterned layer on the upper surface of the etching mask material layer by photolithography, the patterned layer having a first opening, the first opening having a sidewall lying outside outer edges of a planar shape of the accommodation part to be formed later; forming a structure by forming an adhesion film on the sidewall, the structure being composed of the patterned layer and the adhesion film and having a second opening smaller than the first opening; and etching a portion of the etching mask material layer exposed from the second opening of the structure so that the etching mask material layer becomes the etching mask.