Zone-plate-array lithography: A low-cost complement or competitor to scanning-electron-beam lithography
Mask-based lithography is ideal for high-volume manufacturing because it enables enormous data transfer rates. Low-cost is achieved by amortizing mask cost over large numbers of products. However, for low-volume manufacturing, experimentation, design verification, research, and the exploration of novel applications of lithography, maskless lithography systems have significant advantages in cost and convenience. Single-beam scanning-electron-beam lithography (SEBL) systems are widely used in research and some low-volume manufacturing. Zone-plate-array lithography has produced extensive experimental results and appears promising as a mask making tool, for direct writing and as a complement to SEBL. Photon-based systems achieve pattern fidelity with greater ease than electron-beam systems, but achieving comparable resolution requires novel approaches, which remain to be demonstrated.
zone-plate-array lithography maskless lithography