Patent ID: 8642232

Claim:
A method of performing direct-write lithography in a photoresist layer, comprising: a) forming on the photoresist layer two or three interference fringe patterns oriented symmetrically to each other and having an inhibition wavelength that acts on the photoresist to inhibit exposure of the photoresist, the two or three interference fringe patterns forming an interference image that defines an array of dark spots; b) superimposing on the interference image a first transducer image formed at the photoresist layer and comprising first bright spots that are larger than the dark spots, wherein a minimum distance between adjacent bright spots equals a distance between the dark spots, the transducer image having an exposure wavelength that acts on the photoresist to expose the photoresist and is formed after or simultaneously with the interference image; and c) moving the interference image and the substrate in synchrony relative to the first transducer image so that the dark spots traverse at least a portion of corresponding ones of the first bright spots, wherein the each first dark spot trims a periphery of the corresponding first bright spot without smearing to form a first set of sub-resolution photoresist pixels.