Development of soft lithography based non-planar and 3-D photo-patterning techniques
The fusion of soft lithography fabrication processes and optical lithography has been demonstrated in the literature. The focus of this thesis is on the adaptation of soft lithography protocols and further understanding of the materials chemistry of PDMS that allows for fabrication of soft optical lithography masks. A collection of new methods for fabrication of photolithography masks that are used in new forms of 3D patterning, such as patterning on non-planar (3D) surfaces and fabricating multi-height (3D) photoresist structures, is presented. The mask fabrication processes utilize novel approaches to soft lithography that allow for desired optical properties to be easily programmed into the masks. This body of work progresses from the simplest optics, binary modulation of intensity through optically dense mask elements, to grayscale mask elements that vary in optical density and thus allow for single step multi-intensity exposures, and finally to a stamp fabrication approach that results in features with triangular cross-sections that are then used to transfer the patterns into application enabling materials for use in a number of systems that require careful manipulation of light-matter interactions. By harnessing both the benefits of soft lithography and optical lithography, these new patterning protocols provide more efficient, lower cost, methods for achieving novel patterning in forms that prove to be extremely challenging with traditional lithographic processes.
soft lithography, non-planar photolithography, grayscale lithography, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign