Building visible wavelength metalenses presents significant challenges for nanofabrication due to the high aspect ratio features and tight tolerances required for good performance. The requisite phase profiles often impart dramatic changes in nanostructure fill fraction, which are challenging to pattern via optical lithography. One metasurface of interest is a spatially-varying array of nanopillars ranging in diameter from 70nm - 180nm, with gaps between pillars ranging from 180nm - 70nm. To manufacture this and other metastructured devices in volume, Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) becomes a key enabling technology due to its demonstrated scalability and ability to reliably replicate nanostructures with extremely tight tolerances, even with variations in local spacing.
Another requirement for building metasurfaces for visible light applications, is the ability to pattern full wafers with good repeatability in high volume. Moxtek has therefore set up a 200 mm diameter manufacturing demonstration, where high aspect ratio nanopillars of varying diameter are etched from high refractive index material in order to make visible wavelength metalenses. In this work, metalenses designed for green light were fabricated with both a square grid arrangement and with a radially periodic arrangement. The metalenses were also given a protective coating and the focusing performance was characterized. The manufacturing process evaluation has three key components: 1) characterize the processing bias (from design dimensions to final nanostructure dimensions) at various stages; 2) monitor process stability and repeatability using metrology test devices distributed over the wafer; 3) characterize and verify functioning optical devices. Collectively, we have demonstrated volume manufacturing of metalenses for the visible regime, which was made possible by high precision NIL and Etch processes.
Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) has demonstrated its value in manufacturing nanostructures with extremely tight tolerances for the optics industry. Doing NIL process on single samples in the lab has been displayed for a long time in industry and academia. Scaling up from one good sample to full wafer and wafer to wafer uniformity for many wafers in a row, has some obstacles to overcome. In this paper, we discuss the process repeatability of manufacturing nanostructures starting from basic line/space through various other periodic and meta structures. Demonstrating the manufacturing capability using NIL for pattering also includes the other related process steps such as thin films and etching. We discuss key metrology, process control characterization, and process stability which include thin film RI uniformity, master to print replication uniformity, and post etch structural critical dimensions uniformity (CDU). Our NIL process has achieved 1.0nm σ on line widths at 45nm. This precision of replication includes all variation introduced from multiple stamps, wafer to wafer prints, and multiple sites within the wafer. This level of process control at the masking layer needs to be maintained for the finished structure.
200 mm diameter wafer-scale fabrication, metrology, and optical modeling results are reviewed for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors based on 2-D metallic nano-dome and nano-hole arrays (NHA's) as well as 1-D photonic crystal sensors based on a leaky-waveguide mode resonance effect, with potential applications in label free sensing, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and surface-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy (SEFS). Potential markets include micro-arrays for medical diagnostics, forensic testing, environmental monitoring, and food safety. 1-D and 2-D nanostructures were fabricated on glass, fused silica, and silicon wafers using optical lithography and semiconductor processing techniques. Wafer-scale optical metrology results are compared to FDTD modeling and presented along with application-based performance results, including label-free plasmonic and photonic crystal sensing of both surface binding kinetics and bulk refractive index changes. In addition, SEFS and SERS results are presented for 1-D photonic crystal and 2-D metallic nano-array structures. Normal incidence transmittance results for a 550 nm pitch NHA showed good bulk refractive index sensitivity, however an intensity-based design with 665 nm pitch was chosen for use as a compact, label-free sensor at both 650 and 632.8 nm wavelengths. The optimized NHA sensor gives an SPR shift of about 480 nm per refractive index unit when detecting a series of 0-40% glucose solutions, but according to modeling shows about 10 times greater surface sensitivity when operating at 532 nm. Narrow-band photonic crystal resonance sensors showed quality factors over 200, with reasonable wafer-uniformity in terms of both resonance position and peak height.
Moxtek has leveraged existing capabilities in wafer-scale patterning of sub-wavelength wire grid polarizers into the fabrication of 1D and 2D periodic aluminum plasmonic structures. This work will discuss progress in 200 mm diameter wafer-scale fabrication, with detailed emphasis within the realm of microarray based fluorescence detection. Aluminum nanohole arrays in a hexagonal lattice are first numerically investigated. The nanohole array geometry and periodicity are specifically tuned to coincide both with the excitation of the fluorophore Cy3, and to provide a high field enhancement within the nanoholes where labeled biomolecules are captured. This is accomplished through numerical modelling, nanofabrication, SEM imaging, and optical characterization. A 200mm diameter wafer, patterned with the optically optimized nanohole array, is cut into standard 1x3 inch microscope slide pieces and then subsequently printed with various antigens at 9 different concentrations. A sandwich bioassay is then carried out, using the corresponding conjugate antibodies in order to demonstrate specificity. The nanohole array exhibit a 3-4 times total fluorescence enhancement of Cy3, when compared to a leading commercial microarray glass slide.
Compound plasmonic resonances arise due to the interaction between discrete and continuous metallic nanostructures. Such combined nanostructures provide a versatility and tunability beyond that of most other metallic nanostructures. In order to observe such resonances and their tunability, multiple nanostructure arrays composed of periodic metallic gratings of varying width and an underlying metallic film should be studied. Large-area compound plasmonic structures composed of various Au grating arrays with sub-100 nm features spaced nanometers above an Au film were fabricated using extreme ultraviolet interference lithography. Reflection spectra, via both numerical simulations and experimental measurements over a wide range of incidence angles and excitation wavelengths, show the existence of not only the usual propagating and localized plasmon resonances, but also compound plasmonic resonances. These resonances exhibit not only propagative features, but also a spectral evolution with varying grating width. Additionally, a reduction of the width of the grating elements results in coupling with the localized dipolar resonance of the grating elements and thus plasmon hybridization. This newly acquired perspective on the various interactions present in such a plasmonic system will aid in an increased understanding of the mechanisms at play when designing plasmonic structures composed of both discrete and continuous elements.
Recently stacked metamaterial structures coupled to a conductive plane have been investigated and have been shown to
exhibit the same properties as stacked structures with double the layers, due to dipole mirror coupling. Here we study a
system of stacked subwavelength metallic grating layers coupled to a metal film and show that this system not only
supports the localized modes of a doubly layered structure, but also, for non-normal incidence, supports modes that
exhibit a clear propagation and in one case a simultaneous localization of the electromagnetic field in the region between
the metal film and the first grating layer. Furthermore we show that this hybridized propagating mode, excited for any N
number of periodic layers, is further influenced as it couples with the highest energy localized mode of the periodic
layered stack. Additionally it is found that the localized modes of the structure can be spectrally positioned in a directly
adjacent manner, resulting in wideband absorption that can effectively be tuned by varying the grating film spacing.
Due to their extreme sensitivity to refractive index changes, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have long been
established as extremely valuable tools for biosensing. In the past few years researchers have begun investigating various
other metallic nanostructures as candidates for localized SPR (LSPR) sensing. Although LSPR is not nearly as sensitive
to bulk refractive index changes as standard SPR, is has the advantage of being extremely sensitive to local refractive
index changes, thereby providing detection on the level of a single molecule. In practice such sensitivity criterion is of
paramount importance since the analyte layer under investigation is often only a few nanometers thick and deposited
directly on the surface of the metal. Most desirable, however, is a sensor that retains the total integrated sensitivity of a
traditional SPR sensor and at the same time localizes this sensitivity right at the sensor surface. For this reason, we have
investigated a hybrid structure composed of a 2D Au nanoparticle array coupled to a Au film. We show that this
structure, when excited in the Kretschmann configuration, retains to a surprising degree the total integrated sensitivity of
an ideal SPR sensor and is able to concentrate that sensitivity within a few nanometers of the sensor surface, thereby
yielding a hybrid sensor with the advantages of both LSPR and SPR sensing, i.e. both a high local sensitivity and a high
figure of merit (FOM).
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.