175 nm period grating fabricated by i-line proximity mask-aligner lithography

We report the fabrication of periodic structures with a critical dimension of 90 nm on a fused silica substrate by i-line (lambda = 365 nm) proximity mask-aligner lithography. This realization results from the combination of the improvements of the optical system in the mask aligner (known as MO exposure optics), short-period phase-mask optimization, and the implementation of self-aligned double patterning (SADP). A 350 nm period grating is transferred into a sacrificial polymer layer and coated with an aluminum layer. The removal of the metal initially present on the horizontal surfaces and on top of the polymer grating leaves a 175 nm period grating on the wafer, which can be used as a wire grid polarizer. A computation of the efficiency is performed from the measured profile and confirms the deep-blue visible to infra-red operation range. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America