Polarization-controlled efficient and unidirectional surface plasmon polariton excitation enabled by metagratings in a generalized Kretschmann configuration.

In this paper, we propose a generalized Kretschmann configuration that employs a metagrating to replace the prism, realizing polarization-controlled efficient and unidirectional surface plasmon polariton (SPP) excitation. This dielectric phase gradient metagrating on the top surface of a silica substrate is designed to deflect incident light, which subsequently launches SPP wave by means of momentum matching on the metal film coated on the bottom surface. A series of metagratings is designed to enable the SPP excitation by circularly or linearly polarized incident light. The flexibility and tunability of this design to efficiently control SPPs show potential to find wide applications in diverse integrated optics and SPP devices.

Super-resolution photolithography using dielectric photonic crystal.

Although plasmonic photolithography can break through the diffraction limit and produce super-resolution patterns, the intrinsic high loss from metal severely obstructs its application in practice. Here we proposed a novel photolithography method based on a dielectric photonic crystal (PC) structure, where the nanofilms are analyzed systematically. It is shown that the PC can efficiently transmit the desired high-k waves, which is advantageous in generating deep subwavelength patterns and realizing super-resolution lithography. Typically, a PC composed of stacked nine films of a multilayer is demonstrated. The nanopatterns with a period of 60 nm are formed in the photoresist layer. Furthermore, this PC-based lithography system is tolerant to the surface roughness in a multilayer. The analyses indicate that this dielectric PC-based design is applicable for super-resolution lithography to produce periodic patterns with strong field intensity, high aspect ratios, and great uniformity.

Nanoimprinting ultrasmall and high-aspect-ratio structures by using rubber-toughened UV cured epoxy resist.

A simple and robust scheme is proposed for the fabrication of nanoscale (20 nm line width) and high-aspect-ratio (9:1) structures by using modulus-tunable UV curable epoxy resists. Additionally, the ability to control the Young's modulus of the imprinted material from hard to rigiflex using these epoxy resists is demonstrated. The physical properties of the new epoxy resists were controlled by adjusting the ratio of bisphenol F-type epoxy resin and acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber-based epoxy resin in the formulation of the resist. The mechanical properties of the resist were tuned to obtain various aspect ratios as well as mold flexibility for conformal contact over non-planar surfaces and large areas. In order to reduce the line width of the imprinted patterns, a process to conformally coat the mold structure by atomic layer deposition of alumina was also developed. Narrow lines with high-aspect-ratio features and with very low defect density were achieved via the new approach and the high mechanical strength of the new resist formulation.

Ultrathin-metal-film-based transparent electrodes with relative transmittance surpassing 100.

Flexible transparent electrodes are in significant demand in applications including solar cells, light-emitting diodes, and touch panels. The combination of high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity, however, sets a stringent requirement on electrodes based on metallic materials. To obtain practical sheet resistances, the visible transmittance of the electrodes in previous studies is typically lower than the transparent substrates the electrode structures are built on, namely, the transmittance relative to the substrate is <100%. Here, we demonstrate a flexible dielectric-metal-dielectric-based electrode with ~88.4% absolute transmittance, even higher than the ~88.1% transmittance of the polymer substrate, which results in a relative transmittance of ~100.3%. This non-trivial performance is achieved by leveraging an optimized dielectric-metal-dielectric structure guided by analytical and quantitative principles described in this work, and is attributed to an ultra-thin and ultra-smooth copper-doped silver film with low optical loss and low sheet resistance.

Continuous fabrication of scalable 2-dimensional (2D) micro- and nanostructures by sequential 1D mechanical patterning processes.

We present a versatile and simple methodology for continuous and scalable 2D micro/nano-structure fabrication via sequential 1D patterning strokes enabled by dynamic nano-inscribing (DNI) and vibrational indentation patterning (VIP) as well as a 'single-stroke' 2D patterning using a DNI tool in VIP.

A hybrid mask-mould lithography scheme and its application in nanoscale organic thin film transistors.

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has stimulated great interest in both academic research and industrial development due to its high resolution, high throughput and low cost advantages. Though NIL has been demonstrated to be very successful in replicating nanoscale features, it also has its limitations as a general lithography technique. Its fundamental moulding characteristics (i.e. physically displacing polymer materials) frequently lead to pattern defects when replicating arbitrary patterns, especially patterns with broad size distribution. To solve this problem, we have developed a combined nanoimprint and photolithography technique that uses a hybrid mould to achieve good pattern definitions. In this work, we applied this technique to fabricate finger-shaped nanoelectrodes, and demonstrated nanoscale pentacene organic thin film transistors (OTFTs). Methods of the hybrid mask-mould (HMM) fabrication and results on the device electrical characteristics are provided. With combined advantages of both photolithography and NIL, and the applicability to general nanoscale device and system fabrication, this method can become a valuable choice for low cost mass production of micro- and nanoscale structures, devices and systems.