Through research sponsored by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), MIT scientists have developed a Nanoruler that is 10 to 1,000 times faster and more precise than other methods for patterning parallel lines and spaces (known collectively as gratings) across surfaces more than 12 inches in diameter. The technology could foster breakthroughs in areas such as semiconductor manufacturing, metrology, and diffractive optics. The Nanoruler combines two conventional methods to create gratings: mechanical ruling and interference lithography. Mechanical ruling involves dragging a very sharp tool across the surface to form the sets of lines and spaces. Among other drawbacks, however, it is time-consuming.
In interference lithography, two beams of light interfere with each other to produce interference "fringes," or parallel planes of high and low light intensity. These fringes can then be recorded in the surface as lines and spaces, using the same techniques common to the patterning of miniscule designs on computer chips. Interference lithography is much faster than mechanical ruling since all the grooves are formed simultaneously in a single exposure.
posted by Marcus Zillman |
5:15 AM
