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Journal of Modern Optics

Recent progress in quantum and nonlinear optical lithography

Robert W. Boyd, Sean J. Bentley

Published Feb 21, 2006• 32 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We review the status of the field of quantum lithography, that is, the use of quantum-mechanical effects to write lithographic features with resolution finer than that achievable according to the Rayleigh criterion. In particular, we first review the original quantum lithography proposal by Boto et al., and we then describe the status of research aimed at realizing this process.

DOI
10.1080/09500340500283722

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•Aug 15, 2016•6 citations
We review the status of the field of quantum lithography, that is, the use of quantum-mechanical effects to write lithographic features with resolution finer than that achievable according to the Rayleigh criterion. In particular, we first review the original quantum lithography proposal by Boto et al., and we then describe the status of research aimed at realizing this process.
The advantages of using nonclassical states of light for optical imaging are discussed, with special emphasis on the new field of quantum optical lithography. The classical resolution limit given by the Rayleigh criterion is approximately half of the optical wavelength. However, it has been argued that, by using special quantum states of light and a multiphoton-sensitive material or detector, this limit can be broken. Here, a brief and rigorous overview of this problem is provided, some particularly widespread misconceptions are addressed, and turning quantum lithography into a practical technology is discussed.
Summary form only given. Recently, Boto et al. (see Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 85, p. 2773, 2000) showed that using N entangled photons and an N-photon responsive lithographic recording medium, one could potentially write lithographic gratings with a resolution that is N times better than the classical Rayleigh criterion. An anticipated experimental difficulty is that such beams are weak, yet strong fields are needed to excite the N-photon absorption process. For the case of N=2, which was described in detail by Boto et al., we propose a method to overcome this problem. We also propose to use this idea "in reverse" to perform microscopy with better resolution than aloowed by the Rayleigh limit.
Quantum lithography promises, in principle, unlimited feature resolution, independent of wavelength. However, in the literature, at least two different theoretical descriptions of quantum lithography exist. They differ in the extent to which they predict that the photons retain spatial correlation from generation to absorption, and although both predict the same feature size, they vastly differ in predicting how efficiently a quantum lithographic pattern can be exposed. Until recently, essentially all quantum lithography experiments have been performed in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish between the two theoretical explanations. However, last year an experiment was performed that gives different outcomes for the two theories. We comment on the experiment and show that the model that fits the data unfortunately indicates that the trade-off between resolution and efficiency in quantum lithography is very unfavourable.